electric cars
With plans for a commercial launch later this year, electric car-focused Better Place has unveiled its first battery switching station in Europe. The station in Gladsaxe, just outside of Copenhagen, demonstrated the company’s Battery Switch technology by replacing the battery in a Renault Fluence ZE. The station is the
energy management
Energy managers and other officials from the US military’s Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) plan to review smart-grid technology innovations and other developments in energy management during a July 12 workshop in San Antonio. The JBSA Sustainable Energy Workshop 2011 is being organized by the JBSA and the Defense
wastewater
An Israeli company that uses microbial fuel cells to turn wastewater into an energy source has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Energy Technology Ventures, a joint venture of GE, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips. The investment in Emefcy Ltd. is the venture’s first to go to a non-US-based
energy storage
Southern California Edison is deploying an energy storage system on Catalina Island to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the island’s diesel generators. With no tie to the mainland grid, Catalina Island relies on diesel generators to produce electricity. However, such generators aren’t ideal for managing power demand, which
smart metering
The communities of Pullman and Albion in Washington state are embarking upon a $38 million project to test and demonstrate the benefits of a smarter, more automated energy grid. Being led by the energy company Avista Corporation, the project will feature technology from Tropos Networks and Itron. By automating part
photovoltaics
Baltimore-based Constellation Energy is making an equity investment in residential solar-energy firm Astrum Solar. The investment, specific terms of which were not disclosed, is aimed at supporting the company’s future growth and expansion efforts. “An investment from a highly respected Fortune 500 energy company such as Constellation … signals the
renewables
An $87 million project in a small community in the Canary Islands is aimed at providing residents with 100-percent renewable electricity. The Spanish island of El Hierro, about 1,500 kilometers off the Spanish coast, is home to about 11,000 people. The project’s goal is to provide inhabitants
concentrating solar power
Spanish officials have cleared the way for the development of a 50-megawatt solar thermal energy plant to be built in Alcazar de San Juan. The project is being developed by Termosolar Alcazar, a joint venture between SolarReserve, a US developer of utility-scale solar power projects and Preneal, a Spanish developer
wind energy
The Quebec government has given the go-ahead for an 80-megawatt wind-energy project to be located in the municipality of Saint-Robert-Bellarmin. The EDF Energy installation is expected to generated enough electricity to meet the power needs of more than 18,000 Quebec homes. Construction on the nearly $200-million project is set
home energy management
Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology has teamed up with home energy management platform provider GreenWave Reality to open an Energy Management Research Center (EMRC). To be based at the university’s Hawthorn campus, the center aims to serve as “an international hub for thought leadership, excellence and experience, showcasing
photovoltaics
A power purchase agreement (PPA) is allowing a New Jersey-based organization to add solar energy to its historic headquarters without having to pay any upfront costs. Kyocera Solar, NJ Solar Power and Solar Power Partners today announced the completion of a 1.16-megawatt (MW) solar energy system at The Masonic
feed in tariffs
Suntech Power Holdings’ rooftop solar-energy system has won the approval of France’s evaluation committee for building integrated photovoltaic products, an agency known as CEIAB. The OK means that French homeowners and businesses that install the company’s Just Roof technology will qualify for the country’s highest solar feed-in
