Victorian Premier, John Brumby, has announced a $30 million funding boost to support the development of alternative energy technologies.

Mr Brumby said that "The funding will be available for parties interested in developing pilot-scale demonstration projects or research and development proposals for sustainable energy technologies in areas such as solar, wave, geothermal and bio-energy. The results delivered from these grants will help us produce and operate the technologies we need to make renewable energy sources commercially viable."

The Premier also announced the establishment of an Office of Solar Energy which he said would would bring together under one umbrella the extensive work being done on solar energy in Victoria. 

Energy and Resources Minister, Peter Batchelor, also announced the appointment of a Medium Scale Solar Working Group, which will examine current barriers to investment and what additional measures are required to encourage the use of solar energy in Victoria.

The Working Group will be chaired by Tony Wood, Director of the Clean Energy Program of the William J Clinton Foundation, which was set up by former US President Bill Clinton to focus on worldwide issues such as climate change. Other members will include Ian Porter from the Alternative Technology Association, Mark Twidell from the Australian Solar Institute, Damon Moloney from the Green Buildings Council and Rod Menzies from the Clean Energy Council.

Horizon Power has officially opened what it says is the world’s first "high=penetration" solar, diesel power station in the remote Pilbara towns of Marble Bar and Nullagine.

The project includes more than 2000 solar panels across both towns and incorporates solar tracking systems that follow the path of the sun in each town throughout the day. Diesel motors are used to generate electricity when there is insufficient solar power. It will provide 65% of the towns’ daytime electricity from solar power.

Flywheel technology allows energy generated from the solar panels to be stored and regulated in the short term, removing the need for a constant deisel backup generator. If the panels shut down because of cloud cover or any other reason, the flywheel provides 500 kilowatts of energy for about five minutes, which is enough time to start one of the diesel engines.

The system is classified as "high penetration" because it provides most of the towns’ electricity.

A 1,350 solar panel system is already in operation in Marble Bar and a 900 panel system in Nullagine is expected to be full operational by October.

CSIRO researchers  have identified sites along Australia’s southern coastline which make it one of the world’s most promising areas for the generation of wave energy.

The scientists say that just 10 per cent of the energy produced in waves near the shore along the southern coast would be enough to meet half of the country’s present-day electricity needs.

The Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research’s Dr Mark Hemer says that "there were a number of sites I guess that come out as being possible locations, Portland in western Victoria and Port McDonald in south-east South Australia, the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, Albany in Western Australia, or Geraldton, they’re all good locations with high energy."

Currently there is only about 4 megawatts of wave energy capacity installed globally, compared with 200,000 megawatts of wind energy capacity but as Dr Hemer  says "Australia has a massive resource in wave energy compared to other nations in the world, and we have a really good opportunity to make the most of that."

AGL Energy Limited and Meridian Energy have entered contracts to construct a 420 megawatt wind farm at Macarthur in Victoria’s south west at a total capital cost of $1 billion. On completion in early 2013, the Macarthur Wind Farm will be the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere, and one of the largest wind farms in the world.

The wind farm will be situated near Hamilton, 260 kilometres west of Melbourne.

It will comprise 140 Vestas 3-megawatt wind turbine generators and will be constructed by Vestas and Leighton Contractors. AGL will acquire all of the wind farm’s energy output and renewable energy certificates.

The project was originally planned in 2008 for completion in 2011 but was put on hold in 2009, when AGL managing director Michael Fraser warned that the renewable energy industry was on the brink of collapse due to a lack of investor certainty about the government’s renewable energy target policy. After the passage of new renewable energy target legislation in June, it was announced that the project would go ahead.

The original plan was to install 174 Suzlon wind turbines but the contract now calls for 140 Vestas turbines. Mr Fraser commented that "As a result of utilising Vestas’s new 3.0 MW V112 turbines, we have been able to increase the capacity of the wind farm while reducing the number of towers from 174 to 140. This reduces the environmental footprint of the project and achieves substantial operating cost savings in excess of $30 million over the life of the wind farm.”

(Image: Vestas V112 Turbine from Vestas press release)

Atlantis Resources Corporation has unveiled the largest and most powerful tidal power turbine ever built. It is due for installation at a dedicated berth at the European Marine Energy Centre, located in Orkney, Scotland later this summer.

Atlantis Resources Corporation was founded in Singapore but developed its technology in Australia were it has been operating its own dedicated tidal power test facility in San Remo, Victoria, since 2006.

The test facility dispatches power directly to grid, giving Atlantis’ technical teams the opportunity to develop and test their turbines in a real world environment. Atlantis has had a Nereus turbine installed continuously for the past 12 months allowing R&D to be completed on control systems, grid connection software and hardware, material science, system health monitoring, remote monitoring, diagnostics and control, power train optimisation and resource analysis.

The AN-400 installed at San Remo, Victoria

Beyond Zero Emissions has officially launched its "Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan".

The is a detailed and costed blueprint for transitioning our stationary energy sector to 100% renewable energy in ten years. The technologies utilised in this plan, which are predominantly concentrated solar thermal with molten salt storage, are commercially available now.

To download the full 200-page Plan click here (8.4MB). For a 16-page synopsis of the Plan click here (2.2MB). Hard copies can be purchased from the Melbourne Energy Institute.

Several eminent scientists, including Professor Robin Batterham, President of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and formerly Chief Scientist of Australia, have attested to the technical feasibility of the plan.

Professor Batterham went on to say "With our natural advantage Australia can and should be positioning itself as a global renewable super power for future prosperity. This report will help shift the climate debate to focus on energy; security; affordability; export and of course opportunity. Beyond Zero Emissions offers a new and invigorating message that is much needed”
 

REN21, the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, has produced its annual Renewables Global Status report. A copy of the report is available here.

Highlghts of the report on 2009 include:

• Investment in new renewable was $US150 billion – up from $US130 billion in 2008
• Globally, nearly 80 GW of renewable capacity was added, including 31 GW of hydro and 48 GW of non-hydro capacity
• Almost half of the new capacity (37 GW) was added in Chin
• More renewable power capacity was added than coal, gas and nuclear power capacity in.both the United States and Europe
• 38 GW of wind power capacity was added with more than a third (13.8 GW) of that being in China. The United States was second, with 10 GW added
• 7 GW of solar PV was added itions with Germany adding more than half (3.8 GW) the global total
• Many countries saw record biomass use. In Sweden, biomass accounted for a larger share of energy supply than oil for the first time
• Major crystalline PV module price declines took place, by 50–60 percent by some estimates, from highs of $3.50 per watt in 2008 to lows approaching $2 per watt
• There was record small-scale solar Pv but the dollar investment totals in utility-scale solar PV declined relative to 2008, partly because of the large drop in the costs of solar PV modules.

Wind Power – World Installed Capacity

Solar PV – World Installed Capacity

Victorian Premier, John Brumby, has announced a plan to source 5% of Victoria’s electricity from large-scale solar plants by 2020. This would require the generation of approximately 2,500 gigawatt-hours of solar electricity annually.

Mr Brumby also announced an interim target of generating approximately 500 gigawatt-hours annually by 2014.

Achieving this is expected to require the construction of between 5 and 10 new plants to be built in the state’s north and west.

The solar electricity plants include an existing proposal to build a station outside Mildura by 2015. This 154 megawatt proposal was resurrected by Sydney company Silex after original backers Solar Systems went into administration.

Mr Brumby said the plan would make the state the nation’s leader in renewable energy.  ”We will be producing in Victoria as much solar as will the rest of Australia under the (Federal Government’s) Solar Flagships program,” he said.

The government estimates that the plan would increase household electricity bills by between $5 and $15 a year from 2014, and inject up to $2 billion into the state economy.

A new geothermal heat flow map published by the Victorian government shows that the State has over ten times more geothermal potential than previously estimated.

The new heatflow map highlights the state’s north and west regions as the most promising areas for geothermal energy production, showimg that large parts of Victoria have heat flow values as high as those found in South Australia, which has attracted much geothermal exploration activity.

The geothermal atlas showed there was high heat flow in an area bordered by Stawell, Horsham, Ouyen and Mildura, as well as an area from north-west of Melbourne to Castlemaine and Ballarat.

Until now most geothermal energy data in Victoria had been compiled from temperature data collected during previous petroleum drilling. However, the picture was incomplete, with large areas of the state where no data had been collected. Most of the new data was collected by taking advantage of the existing network of groundwater bores and new measurements from bores drilled in the past year.

The geothermal atlas heat flow map will be made available for free download on www.dpi.vic.gov.au/minpet/geovic

Australian Cleantech has released a report titled "Prosperous Sustainability" which forecasts the development of energy technologies in Australia up to 2050.

The main findings of the report include:

• Current wind technology will maintain a high level of activity through to about 2015, after which it starts to be replaced by second generation wind technologies. There will be no further installation of current technology wind after 2022.
  Second generation wind may consist to vertical axis or Darrieus turbines or other improvements on the current large scale horizontal axis turbines. This technology is forecast to take over from the existing wind technology progressively from 2015, increasing in activity through to about 2025 but reducing to low level of ongoing activity by 2035.
• Small-scale solar rooftop is forecast to increase in activity through to 2012 driven by feed-in tariffs. It will then reduce, finally becoming obsolete by 2020 as other solar technologies become more economic.
  Building integrated solar is forecast to continue to grow through to the end of the forecast period as applications continue to be extended from roofs and windows to a greater variety of surfaces.
• Large scale solar concentrating is not predicted roll out until 2018 but it will be to a major component of the industry by 2050, although down from its peak in the late 2020s.
• Geothermal is forecast to start to become significant from 2015 with an increase in the roll out in the 2030s as technology improvements increase its efficiency.
• Wave and tidal power are expected to grow through to about 2030, after which they start to decline in importance as other technologies, with fewer mechanical parts, emerge as cheaper options. By 2050, they are seen as only having niche application in some  specific geographic situations.
• First generation biofuels is expected to have steady activity on a global basis through to 2012, after which it will go into decline as it is replaced by gen-2 biofuels using algae and cellulosic technologies. Once these technologies have been proven, they are forecast to experience growth through to 2025 and then to remain steady for 10 years before going into decline with only niche uses of biofuels by 2050.
• Energy efficiency and green building are forecast to be a major part of the solution and to continue to grow and innovate throughout the entire period with a continuing focus on reducing energy requirements and using more sustainable materials.
• The smart grid is forecast to expand throughout the period with large capital projects as old grids are progressively upgraded. Widespread roll-out will begin 2012 and will significantly expand in the 2020s. There are likely to be many iterations of what is considered ‘smart’ in a grid and it is only towards the end of the forecast period that it might become fully interactive.
• The major roll out of battery electric vehicles is expected to commence in 2012 and continue to grow throughout the forecast period.
• Carbon equestration is forecast to have only modest activity throughout the period driven by the need for carbon offsetting projects. It is not forecast to grow as many of the other technologies will start to become cost competitive and there will consequently be a decreasing level of carbon to be offset.
• Hydrogen, nuclear fusion and other new technologies may become significant parts of the equation after 2030.

A copy of the report may be purchased from www.auscleantech.com.au/ACT_Reports.html