This is a repost from one of our sister publications, Windermere Sun, below:
(Please click on red links & note magenta)
On Monday, September 20, 2021, the share of renewable energy (solar, wind, and hydro) on Australia’s main electricity grid shot above 60% (at 60.1%) for the first time at 12:10 pm, exactly one day and 15 minutes after its previous peak and record of 59.8% on Sunday, September 19, 2021, according to Dylan McConnell of the Climate Energy College in Melbourne, Australia, using data from OpenNEM. This new peak highlights the increased pace of transition into the clean or renewable energy and the shrinking output of coal as more solar and wind are rolled out across Australia. According to another data watcher, Geoff Eldridge from NEWLog, Sunday, September 19, 2021, did not just break the record for the share of renewable energy, but also the record for instantaneous wind and solar at 57%. The Australian Energy Market Operator also noticed: NSW record maximum rooftop solar PV (2,694.4 MW) and corresponding lowest minimums for network demand (4,867.4 MW) and Operation Demand (5,065.0 MW) and tweeted on Friday, September 24, 2021, “Spring is the season for records to bloom! Forecast mild temperatures and sunny weather in NSW and QLD on Sunday may see rooftop solar drive down energy demand from the grid to a new record low!” With such occurrence, NSW, the Australian state grid with the highest dependency on coal generation, would find it easier to align with the state government’s push to replace the aging coal fleet of more than 10GW with wind, solar, and storage under its renewable infrastructure plan. According to Eldridge of NEMLog, coal output on the main grid was at a record minimum of 9,161.6 MW at noon on Sunday, September 19, 2021 (or, at leas the lowest since Nov. 1, 2020), and was down 153.57 MW on the previous minimum on Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021. It was also a record low share of coal generation (38.97%) on the main grid and for combined coal and gas (40.05%). The share of solar and wind could have been significantly higher were it not for the level of curtailment, either economic (switching off to avoid negative prices) or network (being forced to switch off due to grid issues or capacity constraints). On Sunday, September 19, 2021, the level of curtailment was more than 3.5 GW when that short-lived record was set. As the rollout of solar, wind, and storage (both battery and pumped hydro) continues to enter the grid, more records will change. AEMO forecasts that the rooftop solar, alone, will be able to reach 100% of demand in the state of South Australia some time this Spring (of Australia), around October, a FIRST for any gigawatt scale grid in the world! AEMO is also predicting that rooftop solar could meet up to 75% of demand on the entire main grid within next five years and is preparing the national grid to accommodate times of up to 100% solar and wind by 2025. ABC News: South Australia’s renewable energy boom has achieved a global milestone, in the video published on Oct. 25, 2020, “ABC News: South Australia runs purely on solar power in world first“, below:
Australia is preparing to build the world’s most powerful solar power plant. Engineers and builders will have to solve complex problems to cover an area equal to 17 thousand football fields that accommodate photovoltaic panels with a total capacity of 10 Gigawatts. The second challenge will be to transfer this energy to Singapore, the main consumer of electricity. There is also talk of exporting energy to Indonesia and various parts of Asia. But how exactly will the power plant be able to power a country more than three thousand kilometers away? In the video published on Sep. 21, 2021, “How Australia’s Most Powerful $16 Billion Solar Power plant Will Power Singapore“, below:
To begin with, it is worth understanding why energy problems have arisen in one of the most developed countries in the world. Australia faces regular power outages, and, unfortunately, South Australia suffers the most. There may be a lot of reasons: for instance, in September 2016, due to a storm, almost the entire state was left without electricity. One reason for the outages is that there are not enough storage facilities on the territory to supply more electricity during peak loads. The local authorities could not ensure the commensurate development of their own energy or storage capacities capable of providing electricity supplies during calm or cloudy weather. And it is quite difficult to restore the network because of the climatic conditions and long distances – Australia is not a tiny country. At the same time, electricity prices in the country are considered one of the highest in the world, in the video published on Jan. 13, 2021, “HOW ELON MUSK MANAGED TO SOLVE THE ENERGY CRISIS IN AUSTRALIA“, below:
In the video published on Oct. 29, 2017, “Elon Musk gets emotional over Australia’s energy emergency (Part Two) | 60 Minutes Australia“, below:
Australian Renewable Energy Agency CEO Darren Miller told Sky News Australia has made “incredible progress” in the transition to renewable energy sources, in the video published on May 18, 2021, “Australia making ‘incredible progress’ in the transition to renewable energy”, below:
Internationally recognized leader on global climate change, Christiana Figueres tells Liz Hayes we have just three years to get our renewable energy house in order, in the video published on Oct. 31, 2017, “Australians have just three years to get our renewable energy house in order | 60 Minutes Australia“, below:
This is a repost from one of our sister publications, Windermere Sun, below:
Elon Musk, 2018 (Attribution: The Royal Society, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en, Presented at: WindermereSun.com & sunisthefuture.net)
Elon Musk talks about his plan for the sun. It’s already very normal day when Elon Musk talks about some revolutionary idea and this speech is no exception, in the video published on Sep. 12, 2021, “Elon Musk – Sun is The Future“, below:
In order to be sustainable, we have to have sustainable means of production and consumption of energy, to drive electric cars in order to reduce CO2 emission, and to generate sustainable energy. Sustainable energy may be in the form of solar, nuclear, hydro-thermal, hydro, and wind energy. The primary form of energy to be generated will be solar. Sustainable or solar energy production combined with stationary storage, the world can be powered many times over by solar energy. About a third of our energy use is electricity, about a third of energy use is for for heating, and a third of energy use is in transport. There is enough energy from the sun to support all three areas of energy use/need. There is 1 gw per square km amount of energy coming from the sun. The earth is already almost entirely solar powered. The amount of energy needed to power our civilization is tiny compared to energy from the sun (1 gigabit per square kilometer). At 20% efficient solar panels, that’s 200 Mw per square kilometer. There would be plenty of energy for all three areas of energy use from solar, with some contribution from wind, geothermal, and tidal. And we need to stop subsidizing burning fossil fuels. For more about the use of solar energy, please visit: Sun Is The Future and Sun Is The Future youtube channel. Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
This is a repost from one of our sister publications, Windermere Sun, below:
Terrific, on Thursday, Sep. 9, 2021, Australia has once again beaten its previous record for the share of renewables on its main grid, reaching instantaneous 58.3% , and also setting a new record for the share of wind and solar in the grid. According to OpenNEM’s data, the new record was set at 12:30 pm, and easily beat the previous record of 57.3% set just a few days earlier. Since such records are usually set on weekends when industrial use is lower, it is quite telling when this new record was set on a weekday.
Wind and solar reached 56.1% at 12:30 pm, also a record of total output, although the aggregate total of about 14.5 GW was not a record. At the time of the record, rooftop solar alone contributed 32.4% of the total demand of about 24 GW while wind farms contributed 12.9%, and utility scale solar farms 10.8%. Coal was reduced to 40% of the output, with black coal in Queensland and NSW providing 29.4% and brown coal in Victoria 10.4%.
Aerial view of Apple Park, the corporate headquarters of Apple Inc., located in Cupertino, CA. The roof is covered in solar panels with an output of 17 MW, making it the biggest solar roofs in the world. Photo is taken from a Cessna 172M. (attribution: Daniel L. Lu (user: dllu), presented at: WindermereSun.com)
In China, solar panels are mounted high off the ground to let sunlight shine through so grass can grow and local yaks can eat it. (credit/attribution: Apple Inc., presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Apple’s headquarter in Cupertino, CA is powered by 100% renewable energy in part from a 17 megawatt onsite rooftop solar installation (credit/attribution: Apple Iinc., presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Ibiden, a component supplier outside Nagoya, Japan, maintains a floating solar photovoltaic facility to power 100 percent of its manufacturing. (credit/attribution: Apple, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
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This week, Windermere Sun is devoting several posts on how some of the individuals, groups, or companies commit to help combat climate change and to create a healthier environment. Back in April of this year (2018), Apple announced its global facilities being powered with 100% clean energy. This was achieved through retail stores, offices, data centers and co-located facilities in 43 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and India. Apple also announced nine additional manufacturing partners committed to power all of their Apple production with 100% clean energy, bringing the total number of supplier commitments to 23.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it. After years of hard work we’re proud to have reached this significant milestone. We’re going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it.”
Excerpt from Apple’s press release, in italics, from April of 2018, below:
Apple and its partners are building new renewable energy projects around the world, improving the energy options for local communities, states and even entire countries. Apple creates or develops, with utilities, new regional renewable energy projects that would not otherwise exist. These projects represent a diverse range of energy sources, including solar arrays and wind farms as well as emerging technologies like biogas fuel cells, micro-hydro generation systems and energy storage technologies.
Apple currently has 25 operational renewable energy projects around the world, totaling 626 megawatts of generation capacity, with 286 megawatts of solar PV generation coming online in 2017, its most ever in one year. It also has 15 more projects in construction. Once built, over 1.4 gigawatts of clean renewable energy generation will be spread across 11 countries.
Since 2014, all of Apple’s data centers have been powered by 100 percent renewable energy. And since 2011, all of Apple’s renewable energy projects have reduced greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) by 54 percent from its facilities worldwide and prevented nearly 2.1 million metric tons of CO2e from entering the atmosphere.
Apple’s renewable energy projects include:
Apple Park, Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino, is now the largest LEED Platinum-certified office building in North America. It is powered by 100 percent renewable energy from multiple sources, including a 17-megawatt onsite rooftop solar installation and four megawatts of biogas fuel cells, and controlled by a microgrid with battery storage. It also gives clean energy back to the public grid during periods of low occupancy.
Over 485 megawatts of wind and solar projects have been developed across six provinces of China to address upstream manufacturing emissions.
Apple recently announced plans to build a 400,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art data center in Waukee, Iowa, that will run entirely on renewable energy from day one.
In Prineville, Oregon, the company signed a 200-megawatt power purchase agreement for an Oregon wind farm, the Montague Wind Power Project, set to come online by the end of 2019.
In Reno, Nevada, Apple created a partnership with the local utility, NV Energy, and over the last four years developed four new projects totaling 320 megawatts of solar PV generation.
In Japan, Apple is partnering with local solar company Daini Denryoku to install over 300 rooftop solar systems that will generate 18,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy every year — enough to power more than 3,000 Japanese homes.
Apple’s data center in Maiden, North Carolina, is supported by projects that generate 244 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy per year, which is equivalent to the energy used by 17,906 North Carolina homes.
In Singapore, where land is scarce, Apple adapted and built its renewable energy on 800 rooftops.
Apple is currently constructing two new data centers in Denmark that will run on 100 percent renewable energy from day one.
To get to 100 percent renewable energy for its own facilities, the company worked to set an example for others to follow. Apple also announced that 23 of its suppliers are now committed to operating on 100 percent renewable energy, including nine new suppliers. Altogether, clean energy from supplier projects helped avoid over 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases from being emitted in 2017 — the equivalent of taking more than 300,000 cars off the road. In addition, over 85 suppliers have registered for Apple’s Clean Energy Portal, an online platform that Apple developed to help suppliers identify commercially viable renewable energy solutions in regions around the world.
New supplier commitments include:
Arkema, a designer of high-performance bio-based polymers, which manufactures for Apple at its facilities in France, the United States and China.
DSM Engineering Plastics, which manufactures polymers and compounds in the Netherlands, Taiwan and China that are used in many Apple products, including connectors and cables.
ECCO Leather, the first soft goods supplier to commit to 100 percent clean energy for its Apple production. The leather that ECCO produces for Apple is of European origin, with tanning and cutting occurring at facilities in the Netherlands and China.
Finisar, a US industry-leading producer of optical communication components and vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), which power some of Apple’s most popular new features like Face ID, Portrait mode selfies and Animoji.
Luxshare-ICT, a supplier of accessories for Apple products. Luxshare-ICT’s production for Apple is predominantly located in Eastern China.
Pegatron, which assembles a number of products, including iPhone, at its two factories in Shanghai and Kunshan, China.
Quadrant, a supplier of magnets and magnetic components in a number of Apple’s products.
Quanta Computer, one of the first Mac suppliers to commit to 100 percent renewable energy for Apple production.
Taiyo Ink Mfg. Co., which produces solder masks for printed circuit boards in Japan.
You may also be interested in these articles below:
Today, I’d like to introduce you to Tony Seba, the Stanford Professor with 20+ years of solid operating experience in fast growing clean tech companies. He was the vice president, corporate development at “Utility Scale Solar, Inc.” where he helped the company grow from the garage-stage through growth strategy, fundraising, business development with plant developers and partners. He was the founder and CEO of PrintNation.com (a B2B ecommerce site which he established as the undisputed leader in its market segment, winning much top industry awards as the Upside Hot 100 and the Forbes.com B2B ‘Best of the Web.’ Seba led two venture capital rounds raising more than $31 million in funding from well-known venture funds, hired a complete management team, 100+ employees, and managed the development of strategic partnerships with some of the world’s top companies.
Tony Seba demonstrates “Why do smart people at smart organizations consistently fail to anticipate or lead market disruptions?” He helps us to understand why so-called experts tend not to be able to correctly make correct forecast about technological disruption. In these cases, the Clean Disruption of Energy & Transportation:
Technology Cost Curves: exponential growth, with example of lithium ion battery storage technology and solar PV costs
Technology Convergence: disruption caused by the convergence of several technologies, enabling functionalities that may not have existed in the past (2007 for smartphone.
Exponential Market Adoption S-Curve: upon reaching the tipping point, technological disruption would grow exponentially and continue to grow at a steeper rate (growing even more quickly). This phenomenon was/is observed in technologies such as colored tv, smartphones, tablet, and will also be true in solar and EV.
Business Model Innovation: examples such as Uber (started in 2009 and now has more bookings than whole taxi industry in USA), Didi, Lyft, Ola, AirBnb…
Five technologies (below), plus business model innovation will be disrupting, within the coming decade, all of the energy and transportation system as we know it for purely economic reasons. It will be the: Clean Disruption of Energy & Transportation:
Batteries: Li-on battery costs dropping exponentially (cost dropped 14% per year between 1995 – 2010, 16% per year between 2010 – 2014, due to other industries’ (IT, Electronics, Automotive, and Energy) investment). With more investments continue to come from BYD, Foxconn, Samsung SDI, Dyson, and 12+ megafactories coming online by 2020, cost curve, cost will continues to drop about 20% after 2014. Furthermore, the grid works like a just-in-time supply chain without inventory. This inefficient use of assets designed for peak is waiting to be disrupted. NextEra Energy CEO Jim Robo commented, “Post 2020 there may never be another peaker built in the U.S.” In Feb. 2017, Southern California Edison contracted the system to meet PEAK Demand needs using battery technology following its Alyson Canyon natural gas leaks. Tesla’s 80 MWh system was built in 88 days that no natural gas peaker could have competed. There are also business model innovation that treats storage as a service, reducing utility bills by 10%. By 2020, it will cost American families about $1.2 per day for a full day of electricity storage. People will do this because it will save people money, purely for economics.
Electric Vehicles (EV’s): Consumer reports gave Tesla Model S an evaluation of 103 out of possible 100 for Car of the Year in 2013. Electric Vehicle (EV) is 5x more energy efficient than Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). It is also cheaper to transmit/distribute electrons than atoms, therefore EVs are 10x cheaper to charge/fuel than ICE vehicles. EVs are also cheaper to maintain (ICE vehicles have 2000+ moving parts whereas EVs have 18-20 moving parts). EVs lifetime is about 2.5x greater than ICE vehicles. In 2017, GM’s Chevy Bolt EV has 200-mile range and costs $37,500 whereas Tesla Model 3 has 215-mile range and costs $35,000. By 2025, every new vehicles will be of EV.
Autonomous Vehicles: the biggest disrupter. The World’s first self-driving taxi debuted in Singapore in 2016. Uber’s self-driving fleet arrived in Pittsburgh in August of 2016. 33 corporations are investing billions and working on autonomous vehicles. Tesla also announced that by the end of 2017, all Tesla vehicles can go from CA to NY without needing human controls (level 3). Elon Musk also said that Tesla will be able to transition to level 5 (fully self-driving, no pedals nor steering wheel) in 2019. Two technologies making autonomous vehicles possible: 1. LIDAR (laser+radar) price dropped from about $70,000 in 2012 to $1,000 in 2014, and $250 in 2016, and soon to be $90. 2. Super computing power priced at $46 million in 2000, $59 in 2016. These technologies are improving at 1,000x in the next 8 years. Open source is also responsible much of the growth in the future.
Ride-Hailing:“Transportation As A Service” initiated from a think tank founded by Tony Seba, a disruption of transportation. Reason behind this concept: most American family spend about $10,000 to own and use a car per year that is only used about 4% of the time. Disruption: 1. electric vehicles 2. self-driving 3. ride-hailing. These are convergence of multiple business and technology models. The day the regulatory agency approves the autonomous vehicle is the day when the cost of per mile transport will be 10x cheaper for transport as a service than it is to own a car for consumers. Consumers will be giving up car ownership and henceforth the collapse of ownership of ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles and IO (individual ownership) of vehicles. Therefore there will be 80% fewer cars on the road, parking lots, and insurance for vehicles. Annual demand for new vehicles will also decrease by 70% and demand for oil will also decrease by 2021 (around the time when oil costs about $25 per barrel).
Solar: example: Denmark’s Copenhagen International School generating 50% of its power need from solar (even the side of the building is part of this solar power plant). Solar PV cost dropped from $100./W in 1970’s to $0.33/W now. This is about 303x improvement. Globally, solar installations have doubled every 2 years since 2000. At the time of Tony Seba’s presentation, solar represented 1.5% of the power generation (it is now about 2%). If we use the 1.5% to calculate, at the doubling rate every 2 years (1.5%, 3%, 6%, 12%, 24%, 48%, 96%), it would only take 6-7 doublings (or 12-14 years) to reach 100% of the world’s energy generation (around 2030). Since 1970’s, the price or cost all conventional resource-based energy sources (such as oil, natural gas, or coal) have gone up by 6x-16x while solar has gone down by 303x. The cost of solar will continue to drop. According to Deutsche Bank, solar will be below Grid Parity for 80% of the global market by the end of 2017, meaning 80% of the solar world market will be at or below utility rate. According to PWC, 69% of corporations (Apple, Facebook, etc.) are actively pursuing solar purchase because it makes economic sense to go solar. Solar growth rate will accelerate. By 2020, it is expected that the cost of rooftop solar will cost less than the cost of transmission, without any subsidy for solar. Central generation will be obsolete. There will be no other form of energy generation that will be cheaper than “solar+storage”. By 2020, it is expected that the solar growth rate will really take off. Utility scale solar will drop below 3 cents per kWh (nothing will be able to compete with solar at 3 cents per kWh). Solar at 5.8 cents per kWh is competitive with oil at $10 per barrel and gas at $5 per MMBtu. In 2016, solar costed: in Chile was at 2.91 cents per kWh (unsubsidized) & Dubai at 2.99 cents per kWh. In 2016 Dubai PPA at 2.42 cents per kWh (unsubsidized). Tucson Electric has just announced that Solar+Storage PPA at 4.5 cents per kWh. It no longer makes sense to build peaker plants when solar generation costs so much less. Distributed solar, due to economics, will make sense and will become the rule. In Australia, 25% of the homes are already using solar (it costs 12 cents for transmission while solar cost 7 cents to generate in Australia)
Economics is already here: Unsubsidized Solar & Autonomous EVs are No Longer the Transition but Disruption For Our Energy & Transportatioin! Tipping point will be around 2020.
Besides pure economics, think of the: decrease in pollution, slowing in climate change, decrease in international conflicts, and increase in local job opportunities as a result of these disruptions! Bravo For Clean Disruptions!
I originally planned on posting another topic today, but after a short discussion on Amendment 1 of Florida with some people I’ve just met at NEC (National Entrepreneurship Center) , I would like to remind our fellow Sunshine Staters/Floridians that we have serious responsibility in assuring the growth and development of Solar Industry (utility scale as well as distributed solar) here in Florida, for solar energy is the solution to not just for the energy crisis but also environmental pollution, international conflicts, and climate change. Given that state of Florida is frequently visited by hurricanes, we need to insure the development of distributed solar (solar rooftops). Therefore, it is utmost important that we should Vote “NO” on Amendment 1 ! For further explanations as to why we should vote “NO” on amendment 1, please refer to one of my earlier posts, Vote “NO” On Amendment 1 In November!!!
To better understand the need of urgency for our earthly transition toward renewables, I’d like to share some videos below:
To watch the movie “Chasing Ice“, click HERE ( to rent SD $3.99, to buy SD $9.99)
Yes, I believe that once each individual is out of the fog of confusion, he/she will choose the right way in helping to reach the solution. In this case, quick transition to renewables such as Solar and Wind Energy is what we should all aim for. Remember to share with your fellow neighbors, family members, friends, to Vote “NO” On Amendment 1 and be more conscious of how you live and how you vote. For such actions would help to determine the survival of millions of our fellow earthlings.
I’ve received quite a few response from this post through various social media, mostly positive and supportive. But there were few responses that are not supportive. I appreciate those who are on the opposing side to take the time to respond because it helps me to better understand where their belief came from. For example, one of the opposing side remarked below (in italics):
1. Looks, via net metering, non solar folks are having to pay for all the grid upkeep. Solar users pay nothing. You somehow say that not receiving this large subsidy is unfair. Not penalizing others so you can sell your product that can’t stand on it’s own is some how bad? You better learn to stand on your own. We are sick of holding you up.
My response: Firstly, I am not selling any solar product nor services and there is no discussion about subsidy here. I am simply a conscientious American and Floridian who cares about the planet earth and fellow Floridians and would like to see Homo Sapiens to occupy this planet for as long as possible and as few Floridians to become homeless as possible. If insisting on Floridian solar installers to pay extra fees (under Amendment 1), it would encourage solar users to go completely off grid. This would increase more difficulty for the grid (because if more solar users are connected to the grid the more they can help to relieve the grid pressure and reduce the cost or need of additional power plants to be build…this would help to reduce the utility cost for every one!) So, it would be wise for utility and Floridians to try to entice solar users to be connected to the grid rather than implementing measures to encourage them to go off grid. In terms of fairness, I believe it is not fair to have legislation to insist that you pay for the mortgage or rent of your neighbors when you are not using the house of your neighbors. This is the issue that is being addressed: why should solar users pay for the grid if they are not using it? It would be much wiser for every one to treat one another fairly, because only under sphere of fairness, cooperation is more likely to occur. This is why we need our regulatory agency to conduct research on Fair Value of Solar: http://windermeresun.com/2016/09/08/we-need-fair-value-of-solar-not-amendment-1/
2. This is pure crack. For all you fear mongers, how can you change the climate? The change in climate is normal and has been doing so for billion of years since the world was created. nothing can be done to change it, GOD’s CREATION IS PERFECT!!!
My response: It is the rate (how fast) of change that we are addressing because when it changes too quickly, human beings are not able to respond fast enough;therefore you end up having frequent flooding in Miami and some of the island countries are in the process of disappearing (so they have to look for homes for their people), as Floridian coastal residents….As for changing the climate: did you know that scientists can already modify/change weather conditions? The dramatic increase in CO2 emission is one of the main contributing factors to increased rate of climate change and global warming. The CO2 emission is due to human activity and our standard of living. So, it is our responsibility to try to slow down this rate of change if we care at all about our fellow human being (the poor in Africa, Asia, Europe, and USA/Florida). For it is the poor who will be paying the price of the wealthy who can afford to easily move to a different location. The irony is: it is those of us in the wealthy developed nations that have contributed the most to increased rate of climate change. Don’t you think your God would want you to help your fellow human being, by slowing down the climate change and be fair to all ?
3. The worst hurricane and flooding in Miami was 1926 when over 6,000 people were killed. Miami Beach is subsiding due to pumping out trillions of gallons of water over the last century. Sea level has risen about 9″ in each of the last 3 centuries and is not increasing no matter what AlGore is telling you. All of the alarmist are making dire predictions that never happen. James Hansen, the Father of Global Warming predicted in 1988 that in 25 years, Manhattan Island would be under water. That was 2013 and the actual sea level went up several inches. Did you know that most of Manhattan is lower than most of Florida. The US has not been struck with a major (Cat 3 hurricane or higher) in over 4,000 days. Media hype used by people who make their living from global warming. 18,000 years ago (a wink in geologic time), sea level was 270 feet lower than now and Florida was 900 miles wide. Chicago and NY were covered with over a mile of ice. Global warming has been going on in spits and starts since then and the notion that man kind is increasing the rate is not proven. Fear mongering is used to sell stuff by agenda driven people.
My response: I have been an engineer and a math professor for over 20 years. I am not selling any solar product or services, just a conscientious American and Floridian who felt compelled to try my best to help my fellow human being on planet earth by slowing down the climate change via advocating for solar energy and modifying my life style. If Amendment 1 is passed, it will very likely be able to destroy solar industry in Florida. Yes, climate has always been changing, but now we are particularly concerned about its rate (how fast) of change that will potentially be increasing the frequency of hurricanes (such as that of 1926). We had just been visited by Hurricane Matthew (up to Category 5 at certain parts of FL) within the last month. You need to view this film by Leonardo DiCaprio, explaining much about the issue of climate change, encouraged by Pope and UN and various scientific communities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90CkXVF-Q8M To give hope and optimism for our future generations, we need to play an active part in helping to slow down the climate change and encourage the growth of solar/renewable energy industries.If you are not afraid of truth and reality, you need to see this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90CkXVF-Q8M
VOTE “NO” ON AMENDMENT 1 IN NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTION
Taiwain (the island at right), Taiwan Strait (Public Domain)
First Solar Powered Stadium in the World: Dragon-shaped Solar Stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (credit:http://imgur.com/a/duB8w )
Dragon-shaped Solar Stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (credit: Peellden)
The First Solar Powered Stadium in the World: Dragon-shaped Solar Stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (credit: Peellden)
(Please click on red links & note magenta)
Positioned with People’s Republic of China to the West, Japan to the Northeast, and the Philippines to the South, Taiwan is the most populus non-UN state and the largest economy outside of the UN.
This beautiful island of what used to be called Formosa, is progressive in many ways. In May of 2016, Taiwan has elected its first female president, Tsai Ing-Wen, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Soon after the election, the new government formed by the DPP announced its ambitious plans to install 20GW of solar, while phasing out nuclear. Installing 20 GW of solar would mean using land on the island or in a country where land is an expensive commodity. The new government is tackling this issue by releasing 10,000 hectares of government controlled agricultural land for utility scale PV installations and dual use systems. Its policies also enable water-based solar installations.
Early in October of this year, Taiwan’s Bureau of Energy issued its plan for Feed-in-Tariffs (FIT) in 2017.Within this plan:
the residential rooftops (1 kW to below 20 kW) would receive a FIT of NT$6.103/kWh (US$0.193/kWh)
the ground-mounted PV power plant would receive a FIT of US$0.144/kWh
the floating solar power plants would receive a FIT of US$0.156/kWh
As some of the solar companies in USA such as First Solar and Sun Power, many Taiwanese formerly dedicated solar cell producers are shifting their attentions or businesses to also include manufacturing modules and PV project developers. One can imagine that such a shift will pick up its speed as the new FIT system becomes implemented in 2017.
To better understand such a group/country of wonderfully resilient people, I will share some videos about this beautiful island, Formosa or Taiwan, below, with you:
Watching the list of solar energy companies to appear and disappear over the years is almost like watching a revolving door….as solar energy industry continues to evolve. Yes, cost and efficiency are the two areas where many solar companies are concentrating their energy and effort in at the moment. In recent years, many companies are directing their effort toward kerfless technology. One of these companies, 1366 Technologies, is worth keeping an eye on. The company’s name is referenced to the solar constant, representing the watts of solar energy that hits each square meter of the surface of the earth. It is a company based in Bedford, Massachusetts that has developed a technique to produce siliconwafers by casting them in their ultimate shape directly in a mold, rather than the prevailing standard method in which wafers are cut from a large ingot. The company aims to manufacture multi-crystalline silicon wafers, the building blocks of solar cells, at half the cost of current methods.
Traditional solar technologies may be replaced by thin and kerfless wafter technologes (credit: Smallman12q/Wikipedia)
1366 Technologies casts wafers with a conventional thickness from molten silicon, creating a more uniform wafer quality than the current industry standard. (credit: Bob Frechette of 1366 Technologies)
The company used a $4 million grant obtained from the United States Department of Energy‘s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program in December 2009 to fund research over an 18-month period. Grants from ARPA-E are designed to provide money to relatively small projects offering the potential for high-payoff results in fostering advanced techniques. 1366 Technologies was able to announce eight months into the grant period that it had achieved success in its casting technology, in which molten silicon is poured directly into a mold to produce wafers in their final form, a square 6 inches (15 cm) on each side that is 200 micrometers thick and are then extracted from the mold using a proprietary technique to ensure that the wafer doesn’t break while being removed from the mold. In traditional methods, wafers of this size are cut from a large single ingot or crystal, in an approach that leaves as much as half of the original silicon ingot as waste.
Below, a video that was published back in 2009 on the basics behind silicon-based solar cell technology by 1366 Technologies:
David Danielson, program director for solar energy at ARPA-E said that “early indications show this could be one of our great success stories.” ARPA-E’s first director Arun Majumdar estimated that current techniques generate solar power at a cost of $4 per watt, and that bringing down that cost to $1.50 per watt could lead to the widespread adoption of solar energy (solar industry is evolving very fast and is currently already at the cost level of slightly over $1.00 per watt). Company president Frank van Mierlo estimated that solar power generated using wafers from 1366 Technologies would be cheaper than power generated using coal. The company is now on their third generation of wafer-producing machines, which are full-sized, industrial line machines. The company will open a commercial-scale factory in upstate New York, slated for completion in 2017. This plant will start producing 50 million wafers annually, totaling 250 megawatts of output. It will eventually scale to 600 million wafers and 3,000 MW of annual production.
1366 Technologies has raised $70 million in capital to commercialize their innovation, from such investors as South KoreanHanwha Chemical, a major user of silicon wafers, as well as from Ventizz Capital Fund, North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris Venture Partners.
As the revolving door continues to rotate during Solar Evolution/Revolution, perhaps the name of a solar constant will bring forth a longer stay than other abbreviated variables.
Just received a video that I trust all of us Solar Enthusiasts would enjoy, below, esp. from these three segments:
1. 0:48-2:05
7:50-9:10
12:25-13:40
Elon Musk concurs with our effort and interest in helping our planet Earth to transition into Solar/Renewable Energy! He is definitely our Peops!
In this next video, below, please especially note these segments where Elon Musk discusses carbon tax, battery technology, solar/renewable energy, and our sustainable future.
8:28-9:30
24:45-28:20
31:54-33:30
40:00-41:00
Our coverage on Elon Musk will continue in the next episode/post.
Just spent part of the day learning about Solar Edge’s (NASDAQ: SEDG) HD Wave Inverter Technology. This novel power conversion topology may potentially represent one of the most significant advancements in solar technology in the past 20 years. Inverters of a solar energy system converts the solar power into usable energy and its functionality is determined by the size, reliability, and efficiency.
To have a better understanding of how the new HD Wave Inverter Technology differs from the traditional systems, let’s take a look at the internal view of a traditional solar inverter, with many large capacitors (blue cylinders seen in the photo below) used to store energy briefly and improve the output waveform (diagram below The Guts of the Sunny Boy 3000 inverter) . The new HD Wave Inverter technology eliminates the need for the electrolytic capacitors. It also uses less magnetics and fewer cooling components, smaller, lighter, with higher efficiency, and greater reliability.
The guts of the Sunny Boy 3000 inverter. Internal view of a solar inverter. Note the many large capacitors (blue cylinders), used to store energy briefly and improve the output waveform. Russell Neches – http://www.flickr.com/photos/rneches/2541181118/
Square waveform with fundamental sine wave component, 3rd harmonic and 5th harmonic
Most of the reports I’ve come across discussed the space and weight that will be reduced as a result of replacing those traditional large capacitors (blue cylinders in photos above). In reality, it is even more critical the fact that the replacement by the new HD wave technology (thin film technology) means much lower chance of failure and may potentially allow the inverter to last as long as the complete solar system itself. Keep in mind that, now, most of the solar panels have warranty period of about 25 years, batteries typically have limited warranties of 5-10 years, and inverters have coverage of 5-10 years. So, if one takes all into consideration (longevity as well as the reduction of space, weight, and transport cost, etc.), this new HD Wave Inverter technology may potentially massively (greater than 50%) reduce the cost of inverter and overall solar system.
This is a perfect example of why cost of solar systems may continue to drop despite the fact that much had already occurred (cost of solar had already dropped tremendously these past 5 years). So, let the growing demand of solar to continue. We are ready for a sunny world!
Gathered, written, & posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Any suggestions, concerns, questions will be welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.sunisthefuture.net
For more on solar energy topics, please feel free to check into links below:
