Renewable Revolution

Agelbert NOTE: Senator Sanders recently introduced the following bill. If YOUR HOUSEHOLD makes less than 80% of the median wage in your state, your household would be eligible for a GRANT, not simply a loan, that included ALL the upfront costs of purchasing and installing PV Renewable Energy on your house. Please read this bill and urge your friends to do so as well.

For those of you that don't qualify, this is a good deal as well! WHY? Because all the added distributed Renewable Energy will FORCE the price of fossil fuels DOWN along with the electricity rates! That means LESS pollution and MORE money in your pocket!     

We-the-People NEED this bill!     

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.  This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Low-Income Solar Act’’.

SEC. 2. LOAN AND GRANT PROGRAM FOR SOLAR INSTALLATIONS IN LOW-INCOME AND UNDERSERVED AREAS.

Sanders Introduces Solar Initiative
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-introduces-solar-initiative

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/solarbill/?inline=file
Pass it on!

Solar-Powered Noise Barriers Quiet Traffic While Generating Electricity

Cole Mellino | August 3, 2015 2:20 pm

From the country that brought you the solar road comes solar noise barriers. Highway noise barriers are usually not very aesthetically pleasing and only serve one purpose—to quiet traffic for the surrounding community. But a researcher in the Netherlands, Michael Debije at the Eindhoven University of Technology, is trying to change all that.

Since April, Debije has launched two pilot projects along the A2 highway in the Netherlands to test a new kind of solar panel he has developed. Using an innovative technology known as luminescent solar concentrators (LSC), the translucent sheets “bounce light internally to the edges of the panels, where it is beamed onto regular solar panels in concentrated form,” says Fast Coexist. The year-long pilot project will help determine how well the barriers hold up in terms of power generation capabilities and with vandal-resistance and maintenance requirements.





Because the barriers are so aesthetically pleasing and translucent, they could be used in urban areas to reduce noise pollution. Photo credit: Eindhoven University of Technology

The panels are ideal for the gray skies of Northern Europe because they work even on cloudy days. A single half-mile stretch can provide enough electricity to power 50 homes.

“The LSC panels can be made in different colors, so the result is something like an oversized stained-glass window,” says Fast Coexist. “Because light can shine through them, they could be used in urban areas, shielding noise without making either pedestrians or motorists feel cut off.”


Debije says thanks to recent breakthroughs with LSC panels, they are now a commercially viable product. Photo credit: Eindhoven University of Technology

Debije and his team published a paper in Nature this spring that shows how they have overcome previous problems with LSC panels, and the team now claims they are commercially viable, according to Tech Times. “Further benefits are that the principle used is low cost, they can be produced in any desired, regular color, is robust, and the LSCs will even work when the sky is cloudy,” Debije told Tech Times. “That means it offers tremendous potential.”


http://ecowatch.com/2015/08/03/solar-highway-noise-barriers/

Grade B, C and used Modules and laminates are the best buy in the industry if price is $.48 B, .36 C for modules; $.34 used (5 yrs. or less) and .25/W for laminates, FOB warehouse or less.

Posted on August 8, 2015 by John Kimball

That’s my general opinion. So is my belief that all of these modules are practically identical to brand new Grade A modules in terms of producing their rated power and having an expected lifetime of 30 to 40 years. That’s because I have sold hundreds of MW’s of every almost every brand of PV module over the last 40 years and the return rate of Grade A modules has actually been the highest of them all!

Other factors to consider are: importability, shipping cost, inventory availability, certification, warranty, brand, specifications, time to arrival, payment terms, and acceptable methods of payment.

Keep in mind inventory availability can go up and down in the industry based on supply and demand just like the $/watt cost. So beware of getting stuck with too much inventory and watching in horror as the price plunges! Or just the opposite, not having enough inventory when the price sky rockets because of a shortage.

The forth quarter is when you should expect shortages and $/W price increases. Also just prior to the termination of any major federal, state, or utility solar incentives.
Right now you have both these things happening at the same time. Plus the US has a new law preventing us from buying any modules from China or Taiwan and US production is at an all time low.

BR
John

http://sunelec.com/blog/

Grade B, C and used Modules and laminates are the best buy in the industry if price is $.48 B, .36 C for modules; $.34 used (5 yrs. or less) and .25/W for laminates, FOB warehouse or less.

Posted on August 8, 2015 by John Kimball

That’s my general opinion. So is my belief that all of these modules are practically identical to brand new Grade A modules in terms of producing their rated power and having an expected lifetime of 30 to 40 years. That’s because I have sold hundreds of MW’s of every almost every brand of PV module over the last 40 years and the return rate of Grade A modules has actually been the highest of them all!

Other factors to consider are: importability, shipping cost, inventory availability, certification, warranty, brand, specifications, time to arrival, payment terms, and acceptable methods of payment.

Keep in mind inventory availability can go up and down in the industry based on supply and demand just like the $/watt cost. So beware of getting stuck with too much inventory and watching in horror as the price plunges! Or just the opposite, not having enough inventory when the price sky rockets because of a shortage.

The forth quarter is when you should expect shortages and $/W price increases. Also just prior to the termination of any major federal, state, or utility solar incentives.
Right now you have both these things happening at the same time. Plus the US has a new law preventing us from buying any modules from China or Taiwan and US production is at an all time low.

BR
John

http://sunelec.com/blog/

Went to his blog and read this, which I totally agree with:

What we are seeing now, are very high quality modules from every manufacturer. It’s because of minor problems that they are coming down, mostly because of fine print included in contracts for the investors of these systems. These modules still have UL and other safety certifications, however, its my opinion that the best way to re-use them is on low voltage battery based systems of 12, 24 or 48 volts. My advice is not to use them on high voltage grid-tie 300 Volt or higher systems. Keep it simple, use battery based, central inverter systems. Enjoy the feeling of being totally independent no matter what happens. And remember, “When the Power Goes Down the SUN Comes Up”, tm.

John

 

That's the kind of nuts and bolts know-how knowledge that people need to (profitably   ) get on board the Renewable Revolution. Great catch, Eddie! 

Broomfield firm to build Colorado's largest solar farm near Pueblo
156-megawatt solar farm plant will generate enough electricity to power to 31,000 homes    

By Aldo Svaldi
The Denver Post


Colorado officials and SunEdison break ground on the Comanche Solar plant in Pueblo on Thursday, August 20, 2015. (Handout)

Renewable Energy Systems Americas will construct Colorado's largest solar farm, one that backers say will produce electricity more cheaply than natural gas-powered sources.
Broomfield-based RES expects to employ 300 to 400 workers to build the Comanche Solar project, which broke ground Thursday 7 miles south of Pueblo.

"Our current expectations are that the majority of these workers are local or would be sourced locally," said RES spokesman Scott Dunaway.

SunEdison, the world's largest developer of renewable energy projects, raised $253 million for the project and will run the solar farm with four employees once it is operating.

The farm's 500,000 panels will stretch across about 1,000 acres, with a capacity of 156 megawatts that will generate enough power to supply 31,000 homes, said Paul Gaynor, an executive vice president with SunEdison, which is based in Belmont, Calif.

Several factors contribute to lowering the project's price tag and making it cost competitive  with natural gas generation , Gaynor said. Those include economies of scale, existing roads in the area, and "plug-and-play" access to transmission lines serving a nearby power plant.   

Public Service Company of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, has signed a 25-year purchase agreement with SunEdison.

Under a Colorado law passed in 2010, the state's largest utilities must obtain at least 30 percent of their power supply from renewable sources by 2020.

The project, while helping meet that goal, was won in a competitive bid not limited to renewable sources and won't carry the "solar" label.

Gaynor said SunEdison has additional wind and solar projects that it can bring forward when utilities in the state want to purchase more power generation.

RES employs more than 500 people and has developed or built more than 10 gigawatts of renewable energy projects worldwide, including the 250-megawatt Cedar Point wind facility near Limon, completed in 2011. 

RES expects to complete the Comanche Solar project by the second quarter of 2016, although winter weather could complicate that timetable, Dunaway said.

Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/aldosvaldi


Jeff Ackermann, Colorado Energy Office director signs a solar panel at the 156 MW Comanche Solar ground breaking event in Pueblo on Thursday, August 20, 2015. (Handout)

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_28676186/broomfield-firm-build-states-largest-solar-farm-near

Photvoltaics (PV) - MPPT charge controllers are better than PWM 

A good MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) charger might give you 10-30% more power than a good PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) controller. This is because solar panels rarely give optimum output at the correct charging voltage for your batteries.

With a PWM controller when the panel voltage is less than the battery voltage you get no charge at all (cloudy situations) and in sunny times everything above say 14.4v is thrown away.

An MPPT charge controller can solve both these issues while maintaining the panels at their optimum voltage.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3SBC1OCDXL9DT/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B008KWPGAE#R3SBC1OCDXL9DT



All About Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) Solar Charge Controllers

SNIPPET:

How a Maximum Power Point Tracker Works:

The Power point tracker is a high frequency DC to DC converter. They take the DC input from the solar panels, change it to high frequency AC, and convert it back down to a different DC voltage and current to exactly match the panels to the batteries. MPPT's operate at very high audio frequencies, usually in the 20-80 kHz range. The advantage of high frequency circuits is that they can be designed with very high efficiency transformers and small components. The design of high frequency circuits can be very tricky because the problems with portions of the circuit "broadcasting" just like a radio transmitter and causing radio and TV interference. Noise isolation and suppression becomes very important.

There are a few non-digital (that is, linear) MPPT's charge controls around. These are much easier and cheaper to build and design than the digital ones.

They do improve efficiency somewhat, but overall the efficiency can vary a lot - and we have seen a few lose their "tracking point" and actually get worse.

That can happen occasionally if a cloud passed over the panel - the linear circuit searches for the next best point, but then gets too far out on the deep end to find it again when the sun comes out. Thankfully, not many of these around any more.

The power point tracker (and all DC to DC converters) operates by taking the DC input current, changing it to AC, running through a transformer (usually a toroid, a doughnut looking transformer), and then rectifying it back to DC, followed by the output regulator. In most DC to DC converters, this is strictly an electronic process - no real smarts are involved except for some regulation of the output voltage.

Charge controllers for solar panels need a lot more smarts as light and temperature conditions vary continuously all day long, and battery voltage changes.


Smart power trackers

All recent models of digital MPPT controllers available are microprocessor controlled.

They know when to adjust the output that it is being sent to the battery, and they actually shut down for a few microseconds and "look" at the solar panel and battery and make any needed adjustments.

Although not really new (the Australian company AERL had some as early as 1985), it has been only recently that electronic microprocessors have become cheap enough to be cost effective in smaller systems (less than 1 KW of panel).

MPPT charge controls are now manufactured by several companies, such as Outback Power, Xantrex XW-SCC, Blue Sky Energy, Apollo Solar, Midnite Solar, Morningstar and a few others.

http://www.solar-electric.com/mppt-solar-charge-controllers.html

The latest improvement in PV panel output efficiency improvement AFTER the DC (direct current) leaves the PV panel is known as the micro inverter. It bothers me how expensive these babies are.  They raise the price of a solar system quite a bit! The price of the PV panels (per watt of output) has been steadily going down. But inverter costs have not fallen much.   

An inverter is an electronic device that converts DC to AC (alternating current) electricity. That AC is virtually identical to the AC that comes into your home from the electric utility. You want this because the appliances you have that use a LOT of electricity require AC. In addition, you can run AC power through relatively cheap wires very efficiently. That is not the case with DC. DC require thick (i.e. EXPENSIVE) wires that are stiff and hard to work with. All the electronics doo dads in your home that use DC (like your computer) have their own AC to DC hardware that steps down the 120 Volts of AC ( isolation transformer) to roughly 15% more than the 12, 5 or 3 Volts AC(according to the doo dad requirement) and immediately "rectifies" (changes a sine wave to nice flat 0.01% or less current voltage variation DC  (known as full wave rectifiers).

Computers, like most DC loving doo dads, do not like varying voltage at all. It ruins them. But that's another subject. Suffice to say that converting the DC from your solar panels to AC to mix with your grid AC is the most cost effective approach to getting the most out of Solar Renewable energy.

The DC that comes out of your solar panel varies constantly in voltage. So, the inverter has to be designed to smooth out that DC before it converts it to AC at a steady 120 Volts and about 12 to 15 Amps.

The most important part of a DC to AC inverter is an electronic semiconductor called a MOSFET (Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistor). It uses at least four MOSFETS to get the job done. An additional MOSFET is used to "power" those four MOSFETS because they won't just get going all by themselves.

A solar panel array used to have DC go into a big expensive inverter in your house (before your main panel sees the juice). This was inefficient. WHY? Because the DC coming from the panels, as a group, was always the lowest common denominator of DC. So, if one panel was in the shade while six (or whatever number of panels you have up there) were not, the DC energy was, for each panel, what the one in the shade was putting out.

Enter the micro inverter. This tiny inverter is plugged into one or two panels at a time. NOW, if those two panels get less sun, the output from all the other panels is not lessened.


So you end up harvesting more Renewable Energy. The downside is the cost of the micro inverters.

Can you build one yourself and save money? Yes. Will the power company let you get away with that? Probably not.  Unless you are an off grid guy or gal, and you don't care about rebates, RECs (Renewable Energy Credits), net metering bennies (GMP charges 14 cents a Kwh but must pay you 6 cents a Kwh for the net metered excess juice you generate) and so on, you will need to have "approved" Micro inverters. And, of course, you must pay for a "professional" (each time I hear that word, I grab my wallet for dear life!  ) inspection by a licensed electrician (that ALSO must be "certified" to inspect/approve/disapprove solar systems for your local utility).

But, just so you can rant knowledgably at anyone wanting you to pay lots of money for a multiple micro inverter setup, here's a primer on inverter insides. If you can breadboard basic electronics, you can, in theory, build your very own inverter(s). 


The MOSFETS in the diagram below are abbreviated thus: MOS.