Smart Power Grid
October 2014
Due in part to the Energy Department’s long-term investments and partnerships with private industry, academia, and DOE National Laboratories, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels now cost 50 percent of what they did three years ago. To accelerate the development of next generation PV technologies that will further dr
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Date:
10/31/2014
After falling by about 50 percent from 2009 through 2014, pricing for solar glass is set to commence a rebound starting next year, as anti-dumping duties levied by the European Union go into effect on Chinese suppliers. Average global pricing for glass used in photovoltaic (PV) solar is expected to fall to $4.60 pe
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Date:
10/31/2014
The Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) today announced nine topics and 26 new subtopics under its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Technology Transfer (STTR) programs that will help small businesses develop and deliver market-driven clean energy technologies.
This year, EERE
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Date:
10/28/2014
PIKO 20 string inverters
KOSTAL Solar Electric offers a portfolio of one- and three-phase string inverters in performance categories from 3kW to 20kW. The familiar advantages of flexibility, communication and practicality of the inverter series can also be experienced with the PIKO 20.
The new PIKO 20 offers great flexibility, among oth
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Date:
10/28/2014
High performance power systems have now progressed to the point where designers are working with multiple input voltages, driving multiple rails for a wide variety of applications. With a need to ensure that the PoL regulators are located as close to the load as possible, designers need to pack a lot o
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Date:
10/27/2014
Smart Meter RX21A polyphase meter reference platform
Renesas Electronics Europe, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced the release of the “Bill It! – Smart Meter RX21A” polyphase meter reference platform. The reference platform enables engineers to save time by eliminating the need to design their own metrology and calibration ro
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Date:
10/27/2014
Power quality events are a common occurrence in industrial facilities and standard “industrial” power supplies typically provide a level of immunity to these events. The most common events are voltage sags (nearly 50%) followed by voltage transients and short duration overvoltage events or “swells” (a
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Date:
10/26/2014
Simple handheld multimeters often have two inputs for DC current measurements. One input is usually for ranges up to 200mA and the other is for high currents up to 10A or 20A. There is no 2000mA range. So if you need to measure currents in the order of 250mA, you need to use the 20A range, which offers limited ac
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Date:
10/26/2014
Hardware manufacturers are taking advantage of increasing integration and improvements in technology to pack more functionality into a smaller space. In servers and communications switches they are applying the benefits of multicore hardware to provide load balancing and resiliency as well as technologies such as
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Date:
10/26/2014
There are many factors driving an increased interest in low power semiconductor solutions. Battery-powered products and Internet of Things devices need to ensure a long lifetime to be of use in the consumer markets they target. Energy-harvesting modules, as an alternate source of energy, tend to provide either lo
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Date:
10/26/2014
Consider this near-perfect storm: Many utilities in the United States have some part of their infrastructure that is more than 50 years old and long past its predicted useful life. In addition, many utility workers are aging and approaching retirement, which means they will soon end their careers and take wi
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Date:
10/26/2014
The efficiency improvement of power converters is one of the major reasons why digital power is becoming increasingly popular. For specific requirements, digital control allows using the best fitted control strategy and comfortable, intricate tweaking of efficiency. This means the power supply can operate in mu
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Date:
10/25/2014
Kevin Mays, IUS Technologies
Smart grid technology can optimize power distribution in highly visible ways. End-of-line sensing and two-way communication capabilities allow utilities to boost efficiency through volt/VAR optimization, real-time peak demand response, and self-healing. Similar connected sensing technology can also be used to add
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Date:
10/25/2014
Adam Tappe of National Switchgear
The Professional Electrical Apparatus Recyclers League’s (PEARL) Technician Certification program helped to make the industrial and commercial electrical markets safer and more reliable in October when it certified Adam Tappe, a 22-year veteran at National Switchgear (Lewisville, Texas), as its first Level 1
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Date:
10/24/2014
Agip’s Italian electric energy production uses fuel obtained from the mineral oil extraction process that takes place in the Oil Center of Torrente Tona di Rotello, in the province of Campobasso. The electric energy produced here is used to advantage in the national electricity distribution main controlled by
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Date:
10/24/2014
ABB, a leading power and automation technology group, introduced three new members to its OTDC disconnect switch family specifically designed for DC applications. The UL98B listed offering will now go up to 600 amperes while the new IEC 60947 ratings are 630 and 800 amperes.
With these new products ABB is br
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Date:
10/23/2014
Governors and lawmakers in state capitals across the nation continue to take major steps to lower energy costs, reduce pollution, and save consumers money by increasing their states’ energy efficiency, according to the findings of the 8th edition of the State Energy Efficiency Scorecard released today by the Am
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Date:
10/22/2014
Connect it! – Wireless M-Bus kit
Renesas Electronics Europe, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced the release of the “Connect it! – Wireless M-Bus 868 MHz” and “Connect it! – Wireless M-Bus 169 MHz” solution kits. These platforms enable engineers to save time by re-using existing Wireless M-Bus solutions to
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Date:
10/22/2014
Tollgrade Communications, an industry leader in redefining the standard for reliability at the largest electric utilities and telecommunications providers, announced that is actively engaged in Ofgem funded projects with Western Power Distribution (WPD), Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution (SSEPD) an
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Date:
10/21/2014
Dramatically decreasing capital costs for solar and wind technologies present the prospect of an unprecedented boost for Texas companies. Sweetening the deal is the fact that "fuel" from the sun and the wind is free. Forever. No long-term contracts to negotiate and pay out ov
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Date:
10/21/2014
Distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) system prices dropped by 12% to 19% nationwide in 2013, according to the third edition of a jointly written report on PV pricing trends from the Energy Department's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). In addition, 201
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Date:
10/21/2014
Simon Müller von Technischen Universität München
In diesem PSDcast spricht Simon C. Müller von der Technischen Universität München mit Alix Paultre von Power Systems Design über die Entwicklung neuartiger Batteriespeicher-Systeme. Dezentrale stationäre Batteriespeicher sind ein entscheidender Baustein der Energiewende, da sie die Anforderungen an die Stromn
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Date:
10/17/2014
The E1 generates up to 25 kWe per 1,000 kWe engine
Alphabet Energy introduced the world’s most powerful thermoelectric generator, which captures exhaust heat and converts it into electricity. The company’s first product, called the E1, attaches to an exhaust stack and uses Alphabet’s patented thermoelectric materials to convert waste heat into electricity. Th
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Date:
10/16/2014
The magnetic coils inside the compact fusion experiment pictured in an undated photo provided by Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade.
Tom McGuire, who heads the project, said he and a small team had been
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Date:
10/16/2014
Atmel's SAM4Cx series are built on a dual-core 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 architecture
Atmel, a global leader in microcontroller (MCU) and touch technology solutions, announced the company has expanded its Atmel | SMART portfolio of energy metering products with the introduction of the SAM4C32 dual-core secure MCU, along with the SAM4CMS32 and SAM4CMP32 for residential, commercial and industrial me
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Date:
10/15/2014
Optimism is fast returning to the entire photovoltaic industry despite some still having approximately 20% over-capacity. The sales are up and the estimates for shipments in 2014 range from 41 to 49 GW, up from 30 GW in 2012. This is welcome news as the industry experienced several difficult years characterised by
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Date:
10/15/2014
Vishay's IGBT power modules are designed specifically for string solar inverters and medium-power-range uninterruptible power supplies
Vishay Intertechnology introduced four new IGBT power modules designed specifically for string solar inverters and medium-power-range uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). Combining Ultrafast Trench IGBTs, high-efficiency HEXFRED and FRED Pt diode technologies, and thermistors for easy thermal management in si
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Date:
10/15/2014
Is Texas' electricity grid the 21st century superhighway
needed to transport electrons "harvested"
on rural wind farms to growing urban markets? What are the grid impacts
of rooftop solar installations that add electrons at sunny times but
not at night? Can the grid be managed to accommodate t
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Date:
10/15/2014
ERHC Energy Chad has commenced an airborne
gravity/magnetic survey of BDS 2008 in Southern Chad.
ERHC has 100 percent of the interest in BDS 2008.
Bridgeporth is flying 4,720 line kilometers, focusing on two main areas
identified by ERHC's technical team:
-- North of Esso's Tega and Maku discoveries in
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Date:
10/14/2014
The Energy Department announced the 2014 winners of the National Geothermal Student Competition and the Geothermal Case Study Challenge last week at an industry gathering in Portland, Oregon. These competitions challenged college and university students to develop professional business solutions for public outreach as
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Date:
10/09/2014
Here, scanning electron microscope images show the solution: nanometer-sized rods of titanium dioxide (larger image) which cover the surface of a piece of titanium gauze (inset). The holes in the gauze are approximately 200 micrometers across, allowing air to enter the battery while the rods gather light.
Is it a solar cell? Or a rechargeable battery? Actually, the patent-pending device invented at The Ohio State University is both: the world’s first solar battery. Researchers report that they’ve succeeded in combining a battery and a solar cell into one hybrid device.
Key to the innovation is a mesh so
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Date:
10/07/2014
American Vanadium announced that Newfound Energies has signed a purchase order, subject to financing, for two 30KW-130KWh CellCube vanadium flow energy storage systems for integration into a remote microgrid fuel and logistics center. This is the first purchase order American Vanadium has received as the North Am
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Date:
10/06/2014
Energy Storage North America (ESNA), an influential gathering of policy, technology and market leaders in energy storage, opened to record attendance, a sold-out exhibition floor, and recognition of the 2014 ESNA Innovation Award winners. With more than 1,300 pre-registered attendees from 26 countries, 50 exhibitors, ne
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Date:
10/02/2014
Tollgrade Communications, an industry leader in redefining the global standard for reliability at the world’s largest electric utilities and telecommunications providers, announced that it has been named a finalist in the Platts Global Energy Awards, an annual program recognizing exemplary industry leadership. Th
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Date:
10/02/2014
EnFa – The Energy Factory
An office and workshop complex with a completely self-sufficient energy supply has been put into operation in Neuenstadt am Kocher (Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany). EnFa – The Energy Factory is not connected to the public grid and solely uses renewable energies. The photovoltaic and storage systems for the off-grid po
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Date:
10/02/2014
IAR Green Innovation Program
IAR Systems announced that Local Energy Appliances, a startup company specializing on smart systems and solutions for electrical grids in developing countries, joins the sponsor program IAR Green Innovation Program. IAR Green Innovation Program supports innovative development projects in eco-friendly technology. Wi
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Date:
10/01/2014
Schneider Electric now has five manufacturing facilities certified in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Superior Energy Performance (SEP) program and ISO 50001. Two Platinum level facilities—Smyrna, Tennessee, and Seneca, South Carolina—improved their energy performance by more than 15%. Three Silver lev
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Date:
10/01/2014
Quantum Materials announced that it is scaling volume production of photoactive quantum dots for use in next-generation photovoltaic solar power technologies. While offering numerous advantages for solar power generation, the high cost and difficulty of producing large quantities of quantum dots with which to de
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Date:
10/01/2014
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Bosch introduces third generation of SiC chips
Apr 22,2026
