Solar Energy Dominates First Quarter With 74 Percent of New Electric Capacity

Solar energy was clearly the top choice when it came to new, electric generating capacity installed during this year’s first quarter.

Power generated from the sun accounted for 74 percent of that new capacity, according to aquarterly report produced by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. That figure outpaced all other forms of energy by at least 54 percent. Natural gaschecked in with a paltry 4 percent.

In all, 1,330 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaics (PV) were installed in the first three months of 2014. That figure—a 79-percent increase over the same period last year—brings the U.S. total installed solar capacity to 14.8 gigawatts. That’s enough to power 3 million homes.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/29/solar-energy-first-quarter-2014/

How does a biogas plant work?

How does a biogas plant work?

KENYA RENEWABLE ENERGY

Nigeria's private power industry

Selling Renewable Energy to the Kenyan National Grid

Kenya Govt seeking investment in green energy

UN forum launched to boost sustainable development

A UN sustainable development forum has been set up to provide “political leadership grounded in solid science”, secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said during an inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.

The high-level political forum (HLPF) has replaced the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), which was launched after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, with the aim of promoting sustainable growth and a responsible use of the planet’s finite resources.

Speaking at the launch of the forum, Ban said, “This forum can be the catalyst for a strengthened global partnership for sustainable development, providing political leadership grounded in solid science.”

He added that to strengthen the efforts made towards a more sustainable future, a scientific Advisory board, which includes experts from various fields, has been created by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

UN general assembly president John Ashe said, “We have created this HLPF for the express purpose of delivering more effectively on our aspirations and agendas at a time when we realize that the practice of sustainability provides the only real bridge from our past to our present and our future, and from our planet to our peoples and our prosperity.”

Together with the French government, the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) recently organised a conference that looked into the role tourism can play in the sustainable development of small islands.

Tourism – particularly ecotourism – was in fact one of the six areas that the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) identified as crucial to sustainable growth for emerging economies.

Further reading:

Conference calls for sustainable tourism as key factor for island development

The six industries that are crucial to sustainable economic development

PRI study: ESG factors influence countries’ economic development and sovereign debt

Kenya prepares to host major ecotourism event

http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2013/09/26/un-forum-launched-to-boost-sustainable-development/

Kenya to generate over half of its electricity through solar power by 2016

Masinga hydroelectric power plant. Kenya gets most of its power from hydroelectricity, but there are hopes solar will contribute more. Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images

Kenya has identified nine sites to build solar power plants that could provide more than half the country's electricity by 2016.

Construction of the plants, expected to cost $1.2bn (£73m), is set to begin this year and initial design stages are almost complete. The partnership between government and private companies will see the state contributing about 50% of the cost.

Cliff Owiti, a senior administrator at the Kenya Renewable EnergyAssociation, said the move will protect the environment and bring down electricity costs. "We hope that when the entire project is completed by 2016, more than 50% of Kenya's energy production will consist of solar. Already we are witnessing solar investments in Kenya such as a factory that was opened here in 2011 that manufactures solar energy panels."

He said that over $500m had already been invested in solar projects in Kenya. "The costs related with hydro electricity are very high, considering they are influenced by the low water levels in major supply dams. With high investments in solar, we will witness almost no blackouts and power charges will reduce because electricity will be in high supply."

Germano Mwabu, an economics professor at the University of Nairobi, said the solar plan could have a dramatic impact on energy prices. "When the project is complete and solar is in good use, electricity costs could go down by as much as 80%."

India installed over 1GW of grid solar in 2013

Source: PV Tech

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has released figures revealing more than 1GW of grid-connected solar was installed last year. 

As of 31 December 2012, a total of 1.176GW had been installed and grid connected in India. Throughout the 2013 calendar year, a further 1.004GW was added, taking the cumulative total to 2.180GW. 

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As of 31 December 2012, 106MW of off grid solar had been installed cumulatively, as of 31 December 2013; the cumulative total for installed off grid solar was 144MW. 

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Despite industry concerns, and trade disputes, India is still pushing forward with ambitious solar targets. In September the ministry set the target of 10GW of solar to be installed by 2017.

Read more: http://www.pv-tech.org/news/more_than_1gw_new_solar_installed_by_india_in_2013 

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Via http://ecowatch.com/2014/01/20/india-solar-energy-gigawatt-grid/ 

Kenya to build the largest solar Plant

Chinese firms have partnered with the Kenyan government to build the largest solar plant ever seen in Kenya. The firms, China Jiangxi Corporation for International Economic & Technical Co, Ltd. (CJIC) and the manufacturers of the Chinese photovoltaic (PV) JinkoSolar Holdings  have come together to build the 50 MW solar plant in Kenya.

The solar power facility is expected to be the largest solar power plant connected to a grid in the country and will be built on a 200 acre piece of land in Garissa County, North Eastern Kenya.

The plant is expected to produce about 76,470 MWH per year while contributing to reduced carbon emissions by 54, 190 tons per annum and reducing coal consumption by 24,470 tons per year.

With its arid climate and a wide piece of land mass under desert conditions, Garissa is geographically fit for harvesting solar power.

Under the construction agreement, the NYSE listed JinkoSolar will provide technical support needed for the project who are also preferred by CJIC to supply modules.

Good forecast for Dutch solar panels in Kenya

Spinning Blimp Wind Turbine

From Magenn power Inc comes an interesting new design for a wind turbine. This could be a goodyear for renewable energy. Called the 'M.A.R.S' - a fantastic acronym for the Magenn Power Air Rotor System - which promises lower costs, better performance, and enhanced environmental benefit. The turbine is a lighter than air blimp, which rotates around a horizontal axis. A unique design orients the blimp into the wind. One of the interesting facets of this technology, is that as it is anchored to the ground by a 1000 foot cable, the MARS could be anywhere up to 707 ft from its base.
The MARS blimp will come in a variety of sizes. First, in small applications that will produce around four kilowatts of power at roughly 20 cents per kilowatt. These, obviously, are useful only in off-grid situations. However, Magenn plans to create much larger MARS turbines that will produce up to 2000 kw per turbine (twice that of the world's largest wind turbines.) These would likely be cost effective in wind farms and, if implemented correctly, could even be combined with today's current farms.
This device is higher than your average turbine, but lower than other tethered turbines we've seen. Thus, you can neither see nor hear the MARS turbine, and it is able to harness unobstructed higher-altitude wind currents. But, unlike some kite- turbines that we've seen, the MARS turbine won't interfere with commercial air traffic any more than cell tower would.
We see a lot of potential for these blimp turbines in the future of wind power, and we'll be following Magenn closely in the coming months.

East African Community States to Have a Renewable Energy Centre

PLANS to have a centre for renewable energy and energy efficiency in the East African Community have been completed, according to Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors Jesca Eriyo.

The Deputy Secretary General told a meeting of EAC Energy ministers in Arusha, Tanzania, Friday the feasibility study and project documents for the establishment of the EAC Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency had been completed.

Eriyo informed the ministerial session of the 8th Meeting of the EAC Sectoral Council on Energy that the Austrian Government had committed one million euros towards the establishment of the centre, which she said would be instrumental in advancing the development of renewable energy in the region.

She added the project would also provide a channel for implementing energy efficiency programmes and thus called for its expeditious approval.

The meeting also discussed the East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition, selecting Rwanda as the host for the seventh edition of the event due in 2015, while the ministers directed the EAC Secretariat to develop a concept paper on establishing an energy fund as a window under the EAC Development Fund.

Other matters the meeting discussed included the establishment of the East African Community Power Pool, new and renewable sources of energy and energy conservation and efficiency, the Regional Clean Energy Programme, and the Energy and Environment Partnership programme.

In attendance were Irene Muloni, Uganda's Minister for Energy and Mineral Development and chairperson of the sectoral council, Come Manirakiza, Minister for Energy and Mines (Burundi), Emma Francoise Isumbingabo, Minister of State for Water and Energy (Rwanda), George Simbachawene, Deputy Minister of Energy and Minerals (United Republic of Tanzania) and Davis Chirchir, Cabinet Secretary for Energy & Petroleum (Kenya).

http://allafrica.com/stories/201306250090.html

Obama Unveils $7 Billion ‘Power Africa’ Electricity Plan

That is OUR $7 billion he is spending on another nation. Because of the sequester, he wanted, this country doesn’t have the funds to help vets in need, fund White House tours or Independence Day festivities but is ready to help Africa out! This is the same guy who promised his policies on Cap & Trade would bankrupt coal companies and that under his plan electricity prices would necessarily skyrocket!

This is what you call social and economic justice. What the MARXIST in Chief is doing is raising the lifestyle of lower classes around the world with US taxpayer dollars while taking steps in the US to bring Americans lifestyle down to the rest of the world!
We are broke and this govt as a whole, both sides, just keeps blowing money. The Fed is printing/ digitizing money we don’t have while emperor 0 and the progressives leave the American taxpayers on the hook for their “good deeds”!

This is all part of the emperors promise to fundamentally transform the USA!

Obama Unveils $7 Billion ‘Power Africa’ Electricity Plan

What can Barack Obama’s “Power Africa” program achieve?

Seven billion dollars is a lot of money—except when it goes into infrastructure. Then, $7bn, the sum that the US has committed to spend over the next five years on the Obama administration’s newly-announced Power Africa initiative, does not sound like so much at all. Even considering that Power Africa will roll out in only six countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania), the project’s funding feels slender. Power plants are expensive: in Tanzania, for example, a Sumitomo-built 240 MW gas-fired plant that just secured Japanese financing will cost $414m; in Ghana, the 400 MW Bui hydroelectric plant, now under construction with Chinese financing, costs $622m. Transmission and distribution networks are expensive in their own right.Announced by President Obama himself during his current Africa tour, Power Africa arrives with the pomp of a legacy-building initiative; measured against these industrial costs, it risks appearing tentative and small-bore, like much of the administration’s Africa policy.

That said, all infrastructure investment should be considered a good thing unless proven otherwise—especially in Africa, where the need is so great. At present, continent-wide installed capacity and power generation are roughly equivalent to those of Germany or Canada. Remove South Africa and Egypt, and you are left with about 63 GW supplying 260 billion kWh, scarcely more than Australia or Iran. In this context, if the first phase of Power Africa succeeds in its stated goal of adding 10 GW of generation capacity and connecting 20 million new residential and commercial customers, it will represent a major expansion—albeit not near the doubling of access that, according to the White House fact sheet on Power Africa, is the program’s ultimate aim. Indeed, the same fact sheet soberly estimates that it would cost $300bn to secure universal access to power on the continent by 2030.