Smart Power Grid

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
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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
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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
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08/27/2014
Doble Engineering Company, an ESCO Technologies company, released a new, all-inclusive monitoring solution designed to evaluate overall transformer condition called doblePRIME. Providing a comprehensive picture of transformer health, doblePRIME offers electric power organizations information critical to the sa
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08/26/2014
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
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08/26/2014
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
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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
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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
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08/20/2014
American Electric Technologies, a leading supplier of power delivery solutions for the global energy industry, announced it completed the sale of its American Access Technologies (AAT) business to Fabricating Technologies, LLC on August 15, 2014 for $2.3 million in cash. The sale did not include AAT's real
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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
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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
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Date:
08/19/2014
Due to the growing demand of energy, existing power plants and grids are stretched to their limits. To ensure operational safety, critical factors such as temperature has to be monitored in generators and transformers. High power generators are often filled with hydrogen in order to cool effectively. Besides th
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08/18/2014
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
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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
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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
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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
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Date:
08/14/2014
Learn the fundamentals of interpreting data from oil analysis during this interactive seminar that combines theoretical background with practical experience.   Highlights: Learn to analyze your reports Properly diagnose asset health based on your test data Find out how to get the most out of v
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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
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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
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Date:
08/11/2014
Energy Storage North America (ESNA), an influential gathering of policy, technology and market leaders in energy storage, announced that the 2014 Conference and Expo will offer the most comprehensive program ever put together on the topic. ESNA 2014 takes place September 30th to October 2nd, at the San Jose Co
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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
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08/08/2014
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
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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
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Date:
08/07/2014
ABB, a leading power and automation technology group, is proud to announce it will host a free tour and half-day educational seminar showcasing the latest advancements and best practices for protection and control prior to the inaugural PAC World Americas conference. The PAC World Americas conference, to be hel
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Date:
08/06/2014
The Building Technologies Office (BTO) has awarded $6 million to fund projects that will: Measure current residential energy code compliance rate using a methodology that provides statewide results with 90% reliability. Implement an education, training, and outreach program designed to increase residential buildin
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Date:
08/06/2014
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Date:
08/01/2014
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