Average pricing for Chinese-manufactured photovoltaic (PV) solar modules couldsurge by 45 percent in June, cutting some solar project IRRs to below 7 percentand further dampen demand in Europe as a result of the preliminary antidumpingduties imposed in the European Union, according to IHS (NYSE: IHS).

High Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal system able to convert 80 percent of the collected solar energy. System can deliver electricity, fresh water and cool air in remote locations. Design based on a low-cost, large dish-like concentrator and microchannel cooled high performance photovoltaic chips suitable for mass-production. Scientists have announced a collaboration to develop an affordable photovoltaic system capable of concentrating, on average, the power of 2,000 suns, with an efficiency that can collect 80 percent of the incoming radiation and convert it to useful energy. The proposed system can be built anywhere sustainable energy, drinkable water and cool air are in short supply at a cost of three times lower than comparable systems.

 

In the next ten years to come, the worldwide market for pumped-storage power plants will grow stronger than ever before. More than 100 new plants with an installed capacity of about 74 Gigawatts will be developed by 2020 – which is around 50 per cent of the plants existing today and adds up to an investment volume of about 56 billion euros. When also considering the upcoming maintenance measures, the investment volume will even increase to over 73 billion euros.

After the euphoria of 2011, the European Union’s photovoltaic (PV) market slowed  right down in 2012. EurObserv’ER puts newly-connect ed capacity in 2012 at 16.5  GWp compared to 22 GWp in 2011, which is a 25% slid e. At global level the market  generally held up, with just over 30 GWp installed, bolstered by the build-up of the  America and Asian markets.

Smart production process for natural gas from C02 and hydrogen ready for market. An innovative process for storing electricity generated from renewable energy sources is now market ready, a fourth patent application having been filed. The process, which was developed by Austrian company Krajete GmbH and is based on microorganisms, enables a highly efficient and environmentally friendly conversion of climate-damaging CO2 and hydrogen into - storable - methane.

The construction of the photovoltaic power industry since 2000 has required an enormous amount of energy, mostly from fossil fuels. The good news is that the clean electricity from all the installed solar panels has likely just surpassed the energy going into the industry's continued growth, Stanford researchers find. BY MARK GOLDEN

Hydropower has long been a competitive form of electricity production from renewable energy sources. It is available round the clock and can also be used to store energy – in future in combination with wind and solar energy.

In the wake of the Fukushima disas­ter wind power has increased in importance in energy transition. The problem, of course, was never a lack of wind but the dependence of most societies on the old energy economy, and some have only too happily continued to operate their old nuclear plants. I recently gave a talk at the World Wind Conference in Bonn, Germany. I have in recent decades rarely experi­enced greater optimism at events. The industry believes in its future. ‘The future belongs to renewable energy, as it delivers not only ecological but also economic benefits. And it can be ethically justified – unlike coal, gas, oil and nuclear energy’, a keynote speaker said at the Bonn conference.

The $77 billion solar-energy industry is forecast to expand the most since 2011, as China becomes the biggest market for the first time and drives annual global installations to a record.

Towards much-needed energy. In a few decades the industrial countries have consumed as much coal, gas and oil as nature has accumulated in 300 million years. We face an unavoidable necessity to plot a course for a one hundred per cent shift to renewable energies in the coming decades. The energy sources gas, oil, coal and uranium to drive the nuclear power stations will run out in the coming decades. There is no doubt also that in the 20th century the global climate has warmed by 0.8 degree already!