#India's Largest Bank Commits $12. 5 Billion For Renewable energy Funding Private sector project developers in India rapidly growing renewable energy would be happy to have the backing of the country largest bank
as they get ready to participate in cutthroat competitive bidding. The State bank of india (SBI) has committed to provide $12. 5 billion in debt funding to renewable energy projects over the next few years.
The announcement was made at the RE-INVEST summit organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable energy.
The bank hopes to provide debt financing to 15 GW of renewable energy projects most of which are likely to be based on wind and solar energy.
Financing has been a major issue for the renewable energy sector in India. Increased competition in auctions for solar power projects has cut the tariffs by nearly 70%since 2010.
Indian banks are known to question the financial viability of projects secured at seemingly low tariffs. Solar power projects have received especially unfavourable response from the Indian banks as solar photovoltaic power tariffs have been falling
while wind energy tariffs have risen slowly but steadily over the last few years. The lending rates in India are also significantly higher than other countries.
SBI and other national banks usually provide debt at interest rates as high as 11%to 12%.
%Compared to this, development banks like Kfw and US Export-Import Bank and multilateral banks like Asian Development bank and the International finance corporation provide funding at rates as low as 4%.Over the last few years some private banks in India have signed deals with development banks to provide loans
at concessional rates. The Indian Renewable energy Development Agency (IREDA) is expected also to provide loans at low rates following its recent agreements with the European Investment bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency,
and the US Export-Import Bank. The renewable energy sector in India has faced collateral damage for years due to the poor financial health of the power sector as a whole.
Several power sector companies are reeling under millions of dollars of losses, and banks have exhausted their lending limits to the power sector.
Unfortunately, renewable energy is considered a sub-sector to the power sector for lending purposes in the Indian banking regime.
As a result, the Indian banks are unable to disburse any fresh funds to renewable energy projects.
This announcement by the country largest bank and the recent funding agreement worth $4 billion with the US is expected to boost the growth of the Indian renewable energy sector r
#Imergy Power systems Introduces Grid-Scale ESP250 Series Flow batteries A new ESP250 series of vanadium flow batteries has been introduced by advanced storage systems leader Imergy Power systems.
Its output capacity is 250 kilowatts (kw), with 1 megawatt-hour (MW) of energy storage capacity.
Multiple batteries can be linked together to create one energy storage platform. When they are linked together, this platform can provide megawatts of power and megawatt-hours of energy.
The ESP250 modules are about the size of two shipping containers. Energy output duration is up to 8 hours.
You can read more details if you like on the ESP250 data sheet. ith the introduction of the ESP250,
Imergy has broadened its product portfolio to include a product for every major energy storage market segment and application.
From demand response for individual buildings, to frequency regulation for the grid, Imergy has designed a product to meet the market growing demand for low-cost,
high-performance energy storage, explained Bill Watkins, CEO of Imergy Power systems. Both industrial and commercial customers can use these flow batteries for large-scale energy applications.
Microgrid implementation, peaker plant replacement, transmission and distribution investment deferral, backup power system delivery, and renewables management are possible with these new batteries.
So are peak shaving and frequency regulation. In fact Imergy is already collaborating on a California college campus microgrid project not far from the company Fremont headquarters,
and it could become the blueprint for a number of other college microgrids. Like other Imergy flow batteries, they also use vanadium from fly ash and mining slag.
In other words, it is recycled material. The liquid electrolyte doesn degrade over time, so Imergy flow batteries could be used for 20 years or more.
The components of an Imergy flow battery are nontoxic and nonflammable. This is obviously different from lithium batteries,
which have shorter lifespans and can explode. Cleantechnica has reported steadily about Imergy for some time because the company keeps finding ways to succeed.
I imagine wel have another Imergy story up before too long
#EV Batteries Good, Paper EV Batteries 10x Better No matter how fast the cost of oil drops, it just can keep up with the pace of improvements in electric vehicle batteries.
In the latest development, a team of researchers at the University of California, Riverside, has come up with a paperlike material that could bring in a new generation of high-range batteries.
Now consider that legendary investor and noted wind energy fan Warren Buffett reportedly just ditched his interest in Exxonmobil to the tune of 41 million shares,
and you can see why the prospects for future petroleum dependency are dimming with every advance in EV battery technology.
The new EV battery announcement from the school Bourns College of Engineering, involves a new paperlike material made from silicon in the form of spongy silicon nanofibers.
For those of you new to nanos, a nanometer is one billionth not one millionth of a meter,
so when you get down to the nanoscale, youe talking small. To put it another way,
each silicon nanofiber is more than 100 times thinner than your hair. That why, although each fiber is spongelike,
as a mass, they together form a somewhat crisper, paperlike material. So Paper EV Batteries, So What?
The silicon apercould replace graphite in conventional lithium-ion EV batteries, and that where things start to get really exciting.
In a conventional battery, the anode (along with the cathode, the anode is responsible for charging and discharging) is coated with a material based on graphite.
Researchers appear to have reached the performance limits of graphite, so the hunt has been on for better-performing materials.
Silicon is a good candidate because, according to the folks at Bourns, its electrical charger per unit weight of the battery is almost 10 times more than graphite.
However and there always a however silicon tends to degrade the battery when it expands.
The Bourns team resolved that problem by upcycling silicon into a mass of nanofibers enabling the battery to cycle hundreds of times without degrading.
In the illustration below, you can see the upcycling process at work: To ice the cake, based on the lab work so far,
it appears the material could be manufactured at a commercial scale more easily than other graphite replacement materials,
which would help shave down the cost of EV batteries. You can get all the details from the research team article, owards Scalable Binderless Electrodes:
Carbon Coated Silicon Nanofiber Paper via Mg Reduction of Electrospun Sio2 Nanofibers, published in Nature Scientific Reports.
While you wade through that, the team will be working on scaling up the technology into a larger format for EV batteries.
Meanwhile, keep your eye on another up-and-coming EV battery material, nanocellulose. What Now, Petroleum? The advantages of EV technology are becoming more and more apparent practically by the minute,
but wee not saying that petroleum will disappear completely off the personal mobility map any time soon.
So, before you start cheering about the Exxonmobil divestment, keep in mind that Buffett Berkshire hathaway firm reportedly upped its shares in Suncor at the same time.
Wee guessing that Suncor wind energy and biofuel operations attracted some of the interest, but the company is also a longtime oil sands developer in Canada, sobaby steps r
#Imergy Power systems & Geli Awarded College Microgrid Project Advanced energy storage systems leader Imergy Power systems and Growing Energy Labs Inc. Geli) are collaborating on a microgrid project for Chabot-Las Positas Community college District in Livermore, California.
Geli is a designer of energy storage and microgrid solutions. The joint project at Las Positas College will add renewable energy sources,
reduce peak power, and allow the district to be more energy independent. Imergy Power Systemseps30 series institutional scale vanadium redox flow batteries will be installed as part of the microgrid.
The total power and energy capacity of these batteries is 250 kilowatts/1 megawatt-hour.
Geli Energy Operating system and Energy management applications will be used to manage the microgrid. Las Positas College in Livermore will be the site of the flow batteries installation,
where there is already a 2. 35 MW solar array that generates about 55%of the campus electricity.
Over 3, 000 tons of ice thermal storage is also operational, as well as ten Level II EV charging stations.
It has been estimated that the new Imergy/Geli smart microgrid will save the district about $75, 000 per year.
On its own, the Imergy/Geli microgrid has many merits, but it is actually larger in scope than just one installation at one campus. The project is part of the California Energy Commission $26. 5 million Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program
which seeks to demonstrate how colleges and universities can use microgrids to better manage their energy
and reduce costs. In fact, a document called the Microgrid Blueprint will be published and shared with other educational institutions containing data
so they can evaluate the benefits of installing and managing their own microgrids. icrogrids will become one of the primary ways consumers
and businesses around the world get their electricity in the future. Solar, software and storage are making distributed energy possible in the same way that semiconductors,
software applications and digital storage paved the way for distributed computing. With the right storage technology and software the management of microgrids is seamless, safe
and very easy for the customer to manage. Projects like this are setting a template for our industry,
explained Bill Watkins, CEO of Imergy Power systems. Annual revenues from microgrid-enabling technologies have been estimated by Navigant Research to exceed $26 billion by 2023.
Imergy battery systems can be integrated into a number of different situations. Cleantechnica has reported on its energy storage solutions being used at an almond farm in California
and at a restaurant in the Slovenian Alps just to name two. Las Positas College has about 9,
0001,000 students and prepares them for the transition to 4-year educational institutions and new careers through classes,
degree programs, and training programs n
#NISSAN LEAF Challenges Chicago Slush With Self-Cleaning Paint What the worst part of winter? Some winter-weary northerners might say all the snow wee gotten in the past month is almost intolerable,
but for me nothing is worse than seeing my car covered in slush and road salt.
One day, though, that problem might be solved thanks to self-cleaning paint used on this NISSAN LEAF,
which handily defeats Chicago worst slush. This unique LEAF has been treated with a superhydrophobic and oleophobic paint that repels both water
and oil, preventing the car from getting dirty. It been proven effective against road spray, sleet, standing water,
and even clumsy painters, providing an umbrella-like layer of protection to the LEAF paint job.
Even chocolate syrup won leave a smudge, just rolling off the car into a delicious puddle on the ground.
Obviously, the ramifications of self-cleaning paint would be huge on the auto industry, allowing for an additional option automakers can upcharge on.
More importantly, this technology would all but put car washes out of business. Even the most efficient car washes use hundreds of gallons of water to clean a single vehicle.
That would have a tremendous impact on the environment, especially considering how access to clean water is one of the most pressing issues facing the public these days.
We may not have flying cars yet but self-cleaning cars are a good first step
#98 MPG Range-Extended Electric Metrocab Coming To London London will soon be home to 98 MPG range-extended electric Metrocabs,
thanks to Transport for London finally getting around to approving them after several years of work on the topic.
This means that there finally some competition for the diesel-fume-belching cabs there now.
The new Metrocabs aren anything special as regards to what under the hood apparently just a 1. 0 liter gas generator paired with a 12.2 kilowatt lithium-ion battery integrated with a rear-mounted electric motor
but the monetary savings are certainly there, as well as the reduced emissions. Our buddies over at GAS2 provide some more information:
Top speed is limited to just 80 MPH, and with a curb weight of some 5, 545 pounds,
acceleration isn likely to match that of the Tesla Model Swhich you can also hail for taxi in service in London,
along with a NISSAN LEAF. However, the 98 MPG rating and limited electric driving range (which is unspecified, but I going to guess is between 25 and 35 miles) is estimated to save taxi drives between £20 and £40 per day,
or about $25 to $45. If you average that out to about $30 per day, that $210 in fuel savings per week
or over $10, 000 a year. Furthermore, the REE Metrocab produces just 50 g/km of CO2 and its even wheelchair accessible.
The interior is much more 21st century too, with big comfy seats, air suspension, infotainment screen,
and seating for up to seven individuals. It should be noted here that the exchange rates used in the above figures are outdated a bit as of writing this owing to how volatile theye been as of late.
So the specifics may not be exactly right (as of reading this), but the savings regardless of the £ to $ exchange rate will be substantial for those driving these fuel efficient vehicles over in London.
And considering that these will be used in one of the most jam-packed metropolitan centers of our time,
the environmental benefits via reduced emissions and air pollution are certainly worth noting taxis are, after all, responsible for a great deal of air pollution in many large cities l
#EV Registrations In Europe Surged+60%In 2014 Electric vehicle registrations in Europe rose by more than 60.9%in 2014,
as compared to 2013, according to recent figures. Overall, 65,199 electric cars+commercial vehicles were registered in Europe during 2014 representing a significant increase over the previous year,
which saw 42,194 electric vehicles (EV) sold. Of those 65,199 EVS registered in 2014, more than half were in just two countries Norway and France.
Of those two, Norway unsurprisingly took the top spot (with the topnotch incentives and awareness there,
how could it not?),with 18,649 registrations in 2014 roughly double 2013 figures. So, what that means, is that more than 10%of all the vehicles sold in Norway in 2014 were EVS (again, not surprising,
when some months saw 14 %or 15%of sales going to EVS). As stated before, France was the runner-up
(despite being a far more populous country), with 15,046 EVS registered in 2014; followed by Germany with 8, 804;
and the UK with 7, 370. Considering that Norway is home to only 5 million people;
and France to 66 million, Germany to 80 million, and the UK to 64 million;
those numbers really show the disparity that can be caused by strong incentives (and a rather notably wealthier citizenry, of course.
That said, the UK actually saw pretty good growth with sales volumes roughly tripling in 2014,
as compared to 2013. As far as which manufacturers did the best, the answer isn exactly surprising Nissan-renault took the top easily with 14,385 NISSAN LEAFS registered in 2014,
and 10,980 Renault ZOES. Tesla motors did quite well, though with 8, 744 vehicles registered despite production limitations.
Following those three was the BMW i3 (with 5 620); ) and the Volkswagen e-up!(
with 5, 170. The commercial market saw the Nissan e-NV200 and the Kangoo ZE land a good number of sales,
as well. 2015 looks pretty likely to see continued growth in the portions of the European market that have been seeing growth in recent years.
The relatively untapped portions, though, aren really showing any signs of awakening n
#Bridj A Popup Bus That Learns Travelers Habits Boston transportation has a new private transit app that learns the habits
and locations of travelers as they shift around, thus improving its usefulness in a constantly changing world.
Transit options become streamlined by the app itself. ridj is your everyday transportation system that adapts in real-time to where you live work and play,
the app developers write with their own special spelling and punctuation. Bridj has been tested in Boston
since last June. he app is currently available for download on ios and Android. With the the new Bridj app
you tell us where you want to go, select the trip that best meets your needs, purchase in-app and youe on your way.
The app will also allow you to track your Bridj in real time and you can book trips days
or minutes in advance. download The original version of Bridj was for the Bridj bus system in Boston,
a popup bus service that shows up where people need it to. Katharine Q. Seelye wrote in the New york times about this new way of transport.
Seelye explains the unpredictability of the subway according to typical Boston commuter. This problem and the walking distance coupled with that makes it difficult as a reliable transportation for the busy worker with punctual needs.
For example atie Pasciucco, 34, an account manager at a software company, is a typical Boston commuter.
Her door-to-door trip to work is just 4. 5 miles but takes at least 50 maddening minutes.
The problems with the T are the reason people will pay more for Bridj instead of the city bus fare of $1. 50 and subway fare of $2.
Matthew George, Bridj main innovator, considers Bridj a elief valvefor the MBTA not a competitor.
According to the Boston globe, e hopes to eventually reduce prices to $3 to $4 per ride for short trips not that far off from the $2 to $2. 50 cost of a single-ride T fare.
The company announced that it would restructure its service in December 2014, switching from a Web-based booking system with predetermined routes to a model that driven by the app
and more responsive to usersneeds. t the first step toward creating the dynamic service that they had envisioned originally,
marketing manager Ryan Kelly said. The app can be found in both the Apple and Android app stores.
It allows users to book their trips hours or days in advance. he app will find a trip that meets your needs,
said Kelly. ou select a trip, it will populate it with your closest stop and tailored walking directions to your destination.
Bridj has expanded also its service to include evening trips between 4: 00 pm and 7: 00 pm.
Kelly said users of the service will notice similar pickup and drop-off locations for now,
but as the algorithm learns their habits, those locations may begin to shift. Bridj is one of many means in this Boston market of transit services.
Third in the country as far as cities not dependent on owning cars for transportation, Boston is full of transit options.
Perhaps Bridj might look at electric vehicles soon. In the world of electric buses, the big name is BYD, a Zayed Future Energy Prize winner,
but there also Proterra, Motiv Power, and others. A new partnership between Google and Motiv Power works as follows:
n Mountain view shuttle buses will be free for the public and will travel all around town neighborhoods, shopping centers, medical complexes, recreation areas, etc.
They can seat 16, as well as 2 wheelchairs, and they also include bicycle racks. Or check out the Zerobus being used in Louisville.
Public transit, car sharing, Bridj and growing options of transit are all nice. One of the key advantages of electric buses,
as James Ayre points out, is that they will keep (or make) the air cleaner. As he says,
tl be nice once they are ubiquitous around the country, not just select cities and routes
#Lithium batteries With 200%Typical Energy density Solid Energy, a Boston-based startup, recently said it has developed battery materials that have 200%greater energy density.
The company has created an node-lessbattery prototype with 1200 Wh/L in energy density. Some lithium-ion batteries with graphite anodes provide less than 600 Wh/L a thin sheet of lithium foil was used to replace the more conventional electrode material,
which is graphite. This new battery technology is compatible with existing battery manufacturing capabilities, so it can integrate well with them.
The company has a goal of making materials for about 30 million cell phone batteries by 2016.
Cell phone batteries are notorious for having to be recharged frequently which inconveniences and irritates customers.
Charge duration and recharge times are a significant consideration when people buy new cell phones.
Solid Energy launched in 2012 and has raised $4. 5 million. It is hoping to raise $10 million in a second funding round.
The company is already working with several companies, including Google, for its roject Ara. This is a very ambitious effort to bring modular, customizable smartphones to billions of people.
It sounds as if, potentially, the ARA phone could allow more than one battery, if that was preferred.
T he Ara platform is designed to permit hot-swapping of modules without requiring you to power down the phone
which means that you could slide out the camera and replace it with a battery
whenever you needed a little extra juice. So, if the Ara phone is launched, could it be possible to have four times the battery life of a current, conventional cell phone?
That Google would choose Solid Energy as a potential partner for such a huge project seems to speak well of the startup new battery materials. he reason wee focusing on the materials side is that it where we can add the most value,
not in manufacturing, explained CEO Dr. Qichao Hu. An article in MIT Technology Review says Solid Energy battery technology is appropriate for smartphones,
but probably not for electric cars, because it can be recharged enough times. Some people drive the same car for ten years,
but they usually change cell phones much more quickly. Lithium-ion batteries have become more high-profile recently because of the very notable success of the Tesla Model S
NISSAN LEAF, and other modern electric cars. A lot more electric cars are following, so it will be intriguing to see
if the advances made by the Boston startup will ever translate to electric cars n
#India Issues Draft Guidelines For 2 GW Solar PV Auction The latest draft guidelines pertain to an impending auction of 2 GW solar PV capacity, possibly within this calendar year.
The auction will be a part of the National Solar Mission, India#s landmark policy initiative to boost solar power capacity.
This auction will be planned in addition to the 3 GW auction also to be held later this year. The 3 GW auction will be based on competitive bidding for power sale tariffs,
while in the 2 GW auction prospective project developers will bid for the least amount of capital cost support they require from the government to set up per unit (viability gap funding or VGF) of solar PV power capacity.
These different approaches are part of the government#s policy to try out all forms of project allocation methods.
The Indian government had conducted earlier a VGF auction in 2014. A total of 750 MW capacity was offered in the auction
which received an overwhelming response with prospective developers submitting bids for more than 2 GW. The government had set aside half of the 750 MW capacity offered in that auction for projects to be set up using only India-made modules.
In the proposed auction of 2 GW, only 250 MW capacity will be bound by such an obligation.
This is probably the lowest Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) share ever in an auction under the National Solar Mission.
Significantly the draft guidelines were issued around the time President Obama was visiting India. President Obama announced up to $4 billion in low-cost debt financing for Indian renewable energy projects that use US-made equipment.
This auction will be followed by four more similar auctions over the next 5 years with a cumulative capacity of 5 GW
#Invest In Solar Farms With New Investor Program From Innovative Solar systems Would you be part of the solar boom for as little as $250, 000 per project?
Solar investment opportunities are getting better and better with easier access to personal participation. Here is a terrific one,
a new solar farm investor program revealed in a press release from Asheville, North carolina. Innovative Solar systems, LLC, is spearheading a plan for diverse investors (all types) to take part in partial ownership of large-scale solar farm projects.
All over the nation, the offer is set for as little as $250, 000 per project open to individuals or groups.
The press release notes that the company new partnership program promotes sharing of profits as a basis for investors to take part
and share rewards in the renewable energy boom. n investor or financial group would purchase a 1/3 ownership interest in an early stage ISS solar farm project for as little as $250,
000 and then realize a notable profit within 128 months when the project is deemed construction ready
eveloping large-scale solar farm projects can be more complex than building skyscrapers For Investor Relations
and in some cases you can actually see sheep among the solar panels. Modern farming is becoming dual purpose.
Simultaneous farming and olar farmingresults in ecological and economic benefits. Farmers can have a continual olar harvestwith a solar farm. olar Power
& Farm Crops Created At The Same Timeprofiles Japanese farmer Makoto Takazawa farmland in Chiba Prefecture,
where he has both solar PV and crops. e has nearly 350 kw of solar panels mounted on poles 3 meters above ground
and has grown crops like cabbages, eggplants, cucumber, taro, peanuts and yams underneath them. Both the solar panels and the food-bearing plants receive enough sunlight to be productive.
It would be nice if such dual-purpose farms were as widespread in the future as Walmarts are today e
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