Renewable Energy

August 2014
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Assistant Secretary David Danielson together with thought leaders from manufacturing, universities, national laboratories, and government will summarize key developments and recent successes in driving innovation and competitiveness for clean energy products and
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/29/2014
Crystal Solar and NREL team up to cut solar manufacturing costs

NREL researchers Harin Ullal, left, Steve Johnston, and Bhushan Sopori were part of the team that won the R&D 100 award with Crystal Solar

A faster, cheaper way to manufacture silicon solar cells, partially funded by the Energy Department and fine-tuned at its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has won a coveted R&D 100 award as one of the top technology innovations of 2013. Crystal Solar's approach to growing high-quality, high-effic
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/28/2014
Energy Storage North America (ESNA), an influential gathering of policy, technology and market leaders in energy storage, announced finalists for its 2014 annual Innovation Award, recognizing excellence in energy storage project development. The nine Innovation Award finalists represent excellence in installed en
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/27/2014
Transphorm announced that it is partnering with Tata Power Solar to introduce what will be India’s most efficient solar inverter using Transphorm’s patented EZ-GaN technology. This collaboration enhances Tata Power Solar’s position as a solar solutions and technology leader, by launching inverters based on
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/26/2014
Formula E course cars to be equipped with Qualcomm wireless charging

FIA Formula E Championship course cars will be fitted with Qualcomm Halo wireless charging tech

The all-electric FIA Formula E Championship has confirmed that its course cars for the inaugural season will be fitted with Qualcomm Halo™ wireless charging technology – an inductive charging system which allows the car’s battery to be charged without the use of cables. With the final specification of car se
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/22/2014
University of Michigan spin-off Sakti3 announced that it has produced a battery cell on fully scalable equipment with over 1100 Watt hours per liter (Wh/l) in volumetric energy density.  This translates to more than double the usage time in a wearable device like a smartwatch, from 3.5 h to more than 9 h.
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/21/2014
There’s an old saying in the biofuels industry: “You can make anything from lignin except money.” But now, a new study may pave the way to challenging that adage. The study from the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) demonstrates a concept that provides opportunities for th
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/21/2014
The Energy Department‘s Office of Indian Energy, Tribal Energy Program, and Western Area Power Administration will present a live webinar titled “Introduction to Facility and Community Scale Project Financing” on Wednesday, August 27, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The webinar will fo
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/21/2014
The future of phone chargers: self-aware and integrated into everyday objects

Novel approaches can improve battery charging performance

Here's a horror story everyone can relate to: You download a cool new app or an OS update, only to find that it eats through the phone's battery relentlessly, frequently leaving you with nothing but a tiny sliver of red on the gauge. While some aim to solve this issue by developing a new breed of batteries, a Ca
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/21/2014
Energy Department reports highlight strength of U.S. wind energy industry

The U.S. continues to be a global leader in wind energy

The U.S. continues to be a global leader in wind energy, ranking second in installed capacity in the world, according to two reports released by the Department of Energy. Wind power is a key component of the nation’s all-of-the-above strategy to reduce carbon pollution, diversify our energy economy, and bring in
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/20/2014
Quantum Materials announced the purchase of five diverse sets of patent families from Bayer Technology Services GmbH, the global technological backbone and major innovation driver for Bayer AG of Leverkusen, Germany. The patents acquired provide broad intellectual property protection for advances Quantum Materials ha
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/20/2014
In recent years, the number of patent applications for electrochemical energy storage technologies has soared. According to a study by the Technische Universität München (TUM), the largest volume of applications by far is submitted by developers of lithium batteries. The study offers a first differentiated an
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/20/2014
Caltech’s Resnick Sustainability Institute has announced that nominations are open for the 2015 Resonate Awards. The awards are designed to bring attention to unheralded innovators with provocative ideas that contribute to long term sustainability. These include meeting the world’s energy needs sustainably, pr
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/19/2014
ABB, a leading power and automation technology group, has been awarded a contract by Atlantis Resources Limited to provide the onshore grid connection for Phase I of the MeyGen tidal stream project in Scotland’s Pentland Firth. The MeyGen tidal stream project is at the forefront of world marine energy development an
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/18/2014
Dresser-Rand, a global supplier of environmentally friendly technology platforms in distributed power generation for the oil and gas, industrial, institutional, and commercial industries, will showcase its Guascor® biogas engines at the Green Expo Trade Fair at the Mexico World Trade Center in Mexico City. &nb
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/14/2014
The Energy Department will present a live webinar titled "Increasing Renewable Energy with Hydrogen Storage and Fuel Cell Technologies" on Tuesday, August 19, from 12:00pm to 1:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The webinar will feature representatives from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) pr
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/14/2014
NREL to commission the first CellCube vanadium flow energy storage system in the USA

CellCube vanadium flow energy storage system

American Vanadium announced that the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is currently commissioning the first CellCube vanadium flow energy storage system to arrive in North America. While there are more than 65 CellCube systems commercially installed globally, this will be
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/14/2014
Morgan Advanced Materials provides extended electrostatic chuck life through replaceable, wear-resistant films

Diamonex technical hard-coats

Morgan Advanced Materials announced their latest solutions in sacrificial wear layers to extend the life of alumina or beryllia electrostatic chucks (ESCs) for semiconductor, solar and LED applications. Applied as a final protective layer, the Diamonex technical hard-coats offer extended life benefits to new or
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/13/2014
Recognizing the rapid growth in energy storage market activity in California and Hawaii as well as the company’s continued growth, Greensmith announced the official opening of its California operating center in Emeryville, California at 6475 Christie Ave. Located in the Emeryville technology corridor near th
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/11/2014
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced up to $14.5 million in funding for two USDA bioenergy programs made available through the 2014 Farm Bill. USDA's Rural Development (RD) announced it is accepting applications from companies seeking to offset the costs associated with converting fossil fuel systems to
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/11/2014
As discussed by Cymbet, a developer of solid state energy storage solution, in a white paper published in 2008, the number of smart devices connected to the internet exceeded the number of people on the earth. By 2020 it is estimated that this number could reach over 50 billion, although one needs to bear in mi
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/08/2014
Greensmith, a leader in grid-scale energy storage technologies announced it is on track to successfully integrate an additional 4 new battery types in 2014, bringing the company’s total since inception to 12 using its battery-agnostic technology platform, now in its fourth generation. With over 23mW of energy st
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/08/2014
Stanford Team creates stable lithium anode

Stanford Professor Yi Cui

Engineers across the globe have been racing to design smaller, cheaper and more efficient rechargeable batteries to meet the power storage needs of everything from handheld gadgets to electric cars. In a paper published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, researchers at Stanford University report th
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/07/2014
FuelCell Energy, a leader in the design, manufacture, operation and service of fuel cell power plants, identified New Haven, Connecticut as the second installation site for the previously announced 5.6 megawatt (MW) in projects purchased by The United Illuminating, a subsidiary of UIL Holdings. Information regarding th
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/07/2014
Consumers Energy is taking steps to diversify its energy supply and help the environment by selecting four Michigan farms to produce renewable energy with anaerobic digesters. “We are excited to move forward with this new program to develop dependable, renewable energy produced here in our state for the M
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/07/2014
American Vanadium, an integrated energy storage company and the master sales agent in North America for GILDEMEISTER energy solution’s CellCube energy storage system, announced that CellCube vanadium flow energy storage systems are now included in HOMER Microgrid Software. HOMER is a software platform originally cr
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/06/2014
Geothermal energy is an affordable power source, according to an analysis of several government and private sector reports published in 2014. The Geothermal Energy Association released a paper titled “The Economic Costs and Benefits of Geothermal Power” that examines the public economic costs and benefits of
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/05/2014
The U.S. Department of Energy, together with the American Public Power Association (APPA), recognized the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OMPA) and Silicon Valley Power (SVP) of Santa Clara, California, as the winners of the 2014 Public Power Wind Awards. The awards, presented at the APPA National Conferenc
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/05/2014
Paniolo Power Company, a subsidiary of Parker Ranch, has announced plans for a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) from engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) providers for a pumped-storage hydroelectric (PSH) system on Parker Ranch lands. The RFQ process will open in September. This Request for Quali
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/04/2014
Spray-on solar cells could solve the ‘panel problem’

Spray-on technology currently achieves up to 11% efficiency

As is true of many technologies right now, the development of viable solar power is at an upward inflection point. Materials science in everything from mining to graphene production is furnishing researchers with better and better physical substrates for collection, while increasingly sophisticated electronics an
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/04/2014
Officials from the Mid-West Energy Research Consortium (M-WERC) joined Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and other key leaders today to formally unveil plans for the Energy Innovation Center (EIC), a facility that will accelerate the development of innovative technology in the energy, po
. . . Learn More
Date:
08/01/2014
Archives