Alstom and SSE Renewables have signed a new joint venture agreement to co-develop the world’s largest wave farm in the Costa Head Wave Project, off the coast of Orkney, Scotland. The farm will deliver up to 200 Megawatts of renewable energy utilizing AWS Ocean Energy Ltd’s (AWS) Archimedes Wave Swing III technology (AWS-III).

AWS is based in Inverness, Scotland, and the company’s stated purpose is to develop and deliver the technology of choice for utility scale generation of offshore wave power.

AWS-III is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0185721, entitled “Energy Conversion Device” (’721 Application) and directed to an array of interconnected compressible cells which convert wave energy into pneumatic energy by moving air between the cells. Turbines within the device convert the moving air into electricity.

Figure 1 of the ’721 Application illustrates the wave energy device. The device has twelve interconnected cells (20) arranged in a ring. The cells are connected to a ring-like air duct (not shown) and have a diaphragm (30) on their outer edge.

The diaphragm moves relative to the cell when wave action (40, 50) presses against the movable diaphragm surface. The movement of the diaphragm causes air within the cells to be pumped into and out of the air duct and between the cells. The moving air then spins a turbine, which produces electricity.

Each multi-cell array can produce up to 2.5 megawatts of electricity. Once in place, the devices are moored to the sea floor in depths ranging from 60 – 150 meters. Each device will be connected to the local utility grid from an offshore substation via a high voltage link.

According to a joint press release, a 1:9 scale model of the AWS-III was deployed in Loch Ness, Scotland in 2010. Full scale component testing will commence in 2012 and a full scale prototype is planned for deployment in 2014.

In the press release, Simon Grey, Chief Executive at AWS stated:

The selection of the AWS-III system for this exciting and ground-breaking project is a significant endorsement of our technology and team. We firmly believe that the AWS-III will become the established choice for utility scale offshore wave power generation. We look forward to working with Alstom and SSE to deliver Costa Head.

AWS and Alstom predict there is a potential worldwide market for renewable wave energy in the 200 to 300 gigawatt range. If successful, this 200 megawatt wave farm will be a large step in making that prediction a reality.

Article by David Gibbs, appearing courtesy Green Patent Blog.

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A UK report says that nearly half of the electricity consumed by British businesses is wasted when employees are not at work.

In an analysis of more than 6,000 smart meters, British Gas found that 46 percent of electricity use occurs from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., when most businesses are typically closed. Common examples of unnecessary electricity use include the lighting of parking areas during weekends, keeping the lights on at retail stores even after shopping centers are closed, and running vending machines around the clock.

The UK utility also released a series of thermal images illustrating how much energy is lost from energy-inefficient buildings in London, Manchester, and Liverpool during the evening hours. According to British Gas, the average business could save £1,200 ($1,900) on its annual electricity bill by simply switching off the lights at parking lots during weekends.

A recent report by Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute suggested that reducing energy waste will be a critical component of UK efforts to achieve its climate change targets.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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More than 9,600 megawatts of wind power capacity was installed in European Union member states in 2011, accounting for about 21 percent of all new power capacity installations, according to an industry report.

New offshore wind farms in the UK and land-based projects in Sweden and Germany pushed EU member states to a combined 93,957 megawatts of wind power capacity, an increase of about 10.5 percent from 2010, according to the European Wind Energy Association.

Overall, renewable energy installations accounted for more than 71 percent of all new installed power capacity, with more than 32,000 megawatts installed, according to the report. In the UK, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the offshore wind industry will unveil new policies today to encourage greater production of wind turbines within the UK, setting a new target requiring that more than half of the equipment for the next generation of wind farms will be made domestically.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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A new record has been set by the high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) solar module industry. A module made by Semprius, a company in which Siemens invested as a strategic partner in June 2011, reached 33.9 percent, breaking the previous record of 32 per cent. The module was tested by the Instituto de Energía Solar at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (IES-UPM). This efficiency result was certified by the IES-UPM and corroborated by outdoor measurements made at the Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC) in Puertollano, Spain.

“This is a significant milestone for Semprius and the entire PV industry,” said Scott Burroughs, vice president of Technology at Semprius. “For the first time, we have been able to convert more than one-third of the sun’s energy into usable electricity. This demonstrates how concentrated PV can leverage rapidly increasing efficiencies to continue driving down the cost of solar generated electricity.”

Semprius’ HCPV module design begins with its proprietary micro-transfer printing process. This process enables the company to fabricate the world’s smallest solar cell (approximately the size of a pencil point) to create solar modules with high efficiency and performance.

“This is the culmination of our emphasis on bringing smart design to solar,” said Joe Carr, chief executive officer of Semprius. “We looked carefully at each component of our module – cell, optics, enclosure and the manufacturing process – to develop a competitive solution that embodies high efficiency, performance and reliability.”

After developing its module with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Semprius is now ramping up global deployment of demonstration systems while completing construction of a pilot plant in Henderson, North Carolina. Commercial production at the plant will begin during the second half of 2012

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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Ecotricity, a British alternative energy provider, announced on its website that it is financing a new technology called Searaser. The company says the new technology tackles two of the main obstacles faced by the renewable energy industry: cost and intermittency.

The Searaser was invented by Alvin Smith, an engineer from Devon (UK). It uses ocean power, which is constant, to create electricity on demand.

“It’s such a simple design and we believe it’ll produce electricity cheaper than any other wave-power technology, or indeed any other type of renewable energy,” Ecotricity said on its website.

The difference between Searaser and existing wave technologies to produce power is that the former does not generate electricity in the water. Instead, it uses the constant motion of the ocean swell to drive seawater through an onshore turbine.

It pumps the water using a vertical piston between two buoys. One stays on the surface of the water, while the other is suspended underwater and tethered to a weight on the seabed. As the ocean swell moves, the buoys move up-and-down and the piston pumps pressurized seawater through pipes to an onshore turbine. This produces electricity.

Ecotricity said Searaser units could also supply energy on-demand by pumping seawater into a coastal reservoir, with a hydropower turbine, solving renewable energy’s problem of fluctuating output. The company is pumping money into the project to drive the next phase of development. The hope is to have a product ready for market in 2014. What do you think? Promising or not?

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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The European Environment Agency published a report on the cost and toll of air pollution due to industrial facilities to the European Union last November.

The costs are staggering as the 10,000 facilities induced up to 102 and 169 billion euros in 2009 alone.

However, only a small number of these plants are responsible for the vast majority of this pollution. The EEA notes:

Fifty per cent of the total damage cost occurs as a result of emissions from just 191 or 2 % of the approximately 10 000 facilities that reported data for releases to air.

Three quarters of the total damage costs are caused by the emissions of 622 facilities — 6 % of the total number.

This proves that solving the problem of industrial air pollution could be relatively easy.

The energy sector is the most polluting one as it is responsible for 66 to 112 billion euros of damages. Excluding carbon dioxide, the pollution still costs the 27 country members up to 26 to 71 billion euros.

Other sectors like production processes and manufacturing combustion are responsible for much less pollution, and thus much less induced: 23 to 28 billion euros and 8 to 21 billion euros respectively.

Meanwhile, the report notes that carbon dioxide contributes the most to the overall damage costs with approximately 63 billion euros in 2009. But this is not enough:

Air pollutants, which contribute to acid rain and can cause respiratory problems – sulphur dioxide (SO₂), ammonia (NH₃), particulate matter (PM₁₀) and nitrogen oxides (NO_x) – were found to cause €38-105 billion of damage a year.

The bottom line: the European Union needs to change the way it is producing electricity and to improve its few remaining plants to get much cleaner air.

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Some sectors and businesses have been more resilient than others to the economic crisis. But has the recession actually been a driver of growth for any? Apparently so – and they’re fast gaining investor attention, emerging as the ultimate recession-busting cleantech investment.

Unsurprisingly, the idea of reusing goods – extending their lives by trading used or refurbished items and thereby reducing energy use (compared to the manufacturing process of a new item), waste and most importantly, costs – is very much a theme of recessionary times.

Two opportunities in particular are opening up to investors (and they will be the focus of our next conference ‘Investing in Remanufacturing and Recommerce’ in London on March 9).

Recommerce is the increasing trend among consumers and businesses to trade used items for new or used goods, spend less and be more environmentally responsible. Regionally-focused, online trading houses with slick, easy-to-use websites offering good-as-new goods and instant credit or cash are making the most of the limited purchasing power of corporates and consumers. They buy used items, quality approve them, repackage them and sell them on – with a warranty. The speed and reliability of the service and products, compared with alternatives such as ebay, mean their fast building a fan base.

ReBuy is a high growth German company doing exactly this. It says the recession has actually had a positive effect on business and it’s looking to expand by adding more categories to its list which includes phones, video games and books.

Gazelle, ReBuy’s US counterpart, got $22 million in a series D round from a syndicate which included Craton Equity Partners Physic Ventures, Venrock Associates and RockPort Capital.

The second opportunity – remanufacturing – is when a product at end-of-life is refurbished and returned to like-new (with a warranty to match).

Remanufacturing is not to be confused with recycling, which refers to completely disassembling or breaking down an item into its various materials or components which are then separated and sold on to be used in the manufacture of new products. Nor is it a new concept.

Caterpillar, possibly the world’s largest remanufacturer, has been doing it for decades and increasing its capabilities as new generations of products reach end of life. One example being its recently signed deal with Vestas to refurbish wind turbines.

The benefits of remanufacturing can be huge, but they depend heavily on the product being considered for remanufacture. While a remanufactured item may have consumed much less energy (during remanufacturing) and produced less waste than a new one, the energy it consumes during its useful life is also a critical factor in assessing the case for remanufacture. A new item with energy efficient technology may consume a lot less energy during its useful life than an old – though remanufactured
model, thereby cancelling out any energy savings gained from remanufacturing. This is key to establishing whether remanufacturing services and technologies should be applied to new industries and whether they can be successfully maintained in others.

In the UK remanufacturing is a £5 billion dollar industry according to Oakdene Hollins which runs the UK Centre for Remanufacturing and Reuse. There are hundreds of companies providing services across the country – some, such as Infoteam, for big name clients like Apple and Sony.

Infoteam repairs electronic equipment that has been returned by customers to retailers or manufacturers. It was named the fastest growing company in the Southwest in October.

Cisco has also now caught onto the opportunity and is investigating new product offerings that realise the benefits of remanufacturing.

In the US. Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers thinks it’s onto a winner with eRecyclingcorp having led a $35m round in December. The company combines innovative software with remanufacturing capabilities to take second hand mobile phones from the developed world to feed emerging markets’ hunger for cheap phones. The software is integrated with mobile phone manufacturers’ point of sale software allowing consumers to receive store credit if they hand in their old phone when buying a new one. The credit can be then against the purchase of the new phone. The old one is then passed to erecyclingcorp to work its magic.

The London Environmental Investment Forum will be holding its ‘Investing in Remanufacturing & Recommerce’ conference on 9 March 2012 which will explore this topic in more depth through industry insight and discussions with leaders and innovators. If you’re interested in speaking at or sponsoring this event, please contact us. Find out more about LEIF at www.london-eif.com.

Article by Tom Whitehouse. Tom is the Chairman of the London Environmental Investment Forum (LEIF), a conference platform which connects environmental innovation with capital, and the Founder and CEO of LEIF’s Initiating Partner, Carbon International, a corporate finance and investor communications consultancy for environmental and cleantech industries.

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Wind power in the UK has reached the 6GW threshold. The landmark figure was reached by the Ormonde offshore wind farm, off the coast of Cumbria and with 120 megawatts (MW) operational, which is enough to power more than 67,000 homes.

“There’s a great feeling of pride throughout the industry that we’ve reached a record high of 6 gigawatts, and there’s a further 19.5GW of capacity under construction, consented, or in planning,” said RenewableUK‘s Chief Executive, Maria McCaffery. “The Government’s Renewable Energy Roadmap is calling for 31GW of onshore and offshore wind combined by 2020, and we’re confident that we can deliver this if we continue to get the right level of Government support”.

The news was announced at RenewableUK’s Annual Parliamentary Reception last Wednesday. To give a better idea of what 6GW represents in terms of power, the UK now has enough installed wind power energy to supply over 3.3 million homes.

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GCB Bioenergy journal has published a study in which scientists present the findings of a study on switchgrass as cellulosic ethanol feedstock. They concluded that using switchgrass bioenergy can help reduce emissions but add that further research “to address the significant sources of uncertainty” (such as what type of land is converted to switchgrass), is advisable.

According to Biofuel Daily, the research was carried out at the University of Bologna, in Italy. Lead researcher Dr. Andrea Monti said the team reviewed over 100 articles on switchgrass and found this type of crop has a better ability to accumulate carbon in the soil compared to several other grasses, especially row crops. She added that because switchgrass has not been planted as a monoculture crop until the mid 20th century, it’s necessary to factor in long term predictions on carbon sequestration, which includes land use change, carbon turnover rate and the economic life cycle length. These calculations are still lacking, she said.

Dr. Monti’s team examined the emissions and uptake of three greenhouse gasses – carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide – over the life cycle of switchgrass from cultivation to processing. They also considered how previous estimates differed according to what variables are included and what values are used for factors, such as agricultural practices (such as tilling, harvest frequency, and fertilizer application), end-product (bioethanol vs. bioelectricity), and fossil fuels that are being displaced.

The overall conclusion is that switchgrass bioenergy could play a role in reducing emissions from fuels, but some gray areas need to be further researched to understand its actual impact. “A reliable assessment of the contribution of switchgrass, along with other energy crops, in reducing greenhouse gas emissions might increase their demand in the booming renewable energy market,” said Dr. Monti.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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A series of recent policy-related developments within the biofuels industry may have set the stage for what could prove to be a significant shift in biofuel geopolitics over the next decade.

To recap: the European Court of Justice (ECJ) affirmed an earlier ruling that held the imposition of carbon taxes on flights touching down or taking off on EU soil did not infringe international law or the Open Skies Agreement; a U.S. District Court ruled that California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) violates the U.S. Constitution; and the long-standing U.S. ethanol producer credit (aka “VEETC”) slipped quietly into the history books.

Where do these developments leave the industry?

While the inclusion of airline emissions in the EU’s ETS indicates that the buzz around aviation biofuels won’t fade anytime soon, the threat of costly trade wars by the United States and China in response to the ruling could put a crimp on the expansion of international biofuel trade flows.

Meanwhile, just as the expiration of VEETC eliminates an estimated $6 billion worth of annual subsidies to the ethanol industry, the lucrative California fuel market is (at least for now) once again open for Midwest ethanol producers, and likely at the expense of Brazilian ethanol (more on this below).

On the whole, the decisions are generally good for advanced biofuels and corn-based ethanol alike.

Aviation Biofuels Lack Production Volumes, Not Willing Buyers

In the case of advanced biofuels, the decision to uphold the carbon fee suggests that international carriers will not escape the added costs associated with doing business in Europe, adding further incentive to integrate carbon-cutting technologies. As I discussed in an earlier blog, the combination of impending offset purchases and high oil prices appears to be forcing the aviation industry’s hand when it comes to fossil fuel alternatives, which has been signaling strong demand for sustainable advanced biofuels in recent years (note that first-generation biofuels lack the performance characteristics necessary to power commercial and military aircraft).

Although expected, the ruling is generally good news for energy feedstock producers looking to commercialize next generation feedstocks like camelina, jatropha, switchgrass, and algae, and seeking reliable markets and off-take contracts to offset the risk associated with growing relatively unknown crops.

But the advanced biofuels story is not about lack of demand, which suggests that the ECJ decision may actually not have much impact at all. In the case of the aviation industry, rising oil prices mean that demand for biofuel alternatives is deep, durable, and widespread. Even without the EU tax, assuming adequate supply, price parity with petroleum-based fuels, and sufficient distribution logistics, aviation fuel buyers would be clamoring to lock-up every last drop of advanced biofuels production.

Meanwhile, with the threat of trade wars from the United States and China among others, costly tariffs and other punitive measures could actually stifle biofuels development, an unintended consequence of the aviation tax.

Corn-based Ethanol Gets a Boost

Over on the other side of the pond, Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill’s December 29 decision declaring California’s carbon fuel standard unconstitutional represents a significant victory for Midwest corn ethanol producers (see my 2010 article on the LCFS and Green Federalism for more on the legal issues). The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) policy, introduced in 2007, aims for a reduction in the “life-cycle carbon intensity” of fuels consumed in the state by 10 percent over the next decade. Due to corn ethanol’s inherent inefficiencies, the policy excludes most of the corn-ethanol produced in the United States from one of the world’s largest fuel markets.

Implementation of the policy had led to the peculiar situation where Midwest ethanol producers were shipping their offending product 6,000 miles to Brazil to make up for a shortfall in sugarcane ethanol production. Midwest corn’s exclusion from California, coupled with a national blending wall policy, put a serious constraint on U.S. producers’ scale-up ambitions. The ruling may put corn ethanol back in the domestic driver’s seat, at least for now.

Looking Beyond 2012

As discussed in Pike Research’s report, Biofuels Markets and Technologies, we expect the production of conventional biofuels – namely corn- and sugarcane-based ethanol – to increase steadily over the next decade as demand for alternatives to petroleum-based fuel outstrips advanced biofuels production volumes. The corn-based ethanol industry appears to have established viability, and even without the VEETC, we foresee an increase in production as access to markets like California and the likely raising of U.S. blend walls (e.g. implementation of E15 or expansion of E85) opens up new opportunities for producers.

The key question raised by these decisions: where will the production go over the next decade? As corn-based ethanol ventures beyond VEETC, the industry will need to fight for market access at home and abroad despite this most recent victory. Meanwhile, the EU may be positioning itself as the primary market for advanced biofuels at the expense of U.S. and China.

Article by Mackinnon Lawrence, appearing courtesy the Matter Network.

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