China's wind farm firms are feeling the heat as state grid operators deliberately delay hooking them up and cut back on purchases, wasting about a fifth of the total wind power output or enough electricity to run Beijing for 40 days.

China is now the world's top wind power producer thanks to policies designed to boost renewable energy use, with an installed capacity of over 100 gigawatts - more than a quarter of the world's total and almost enough to light up Spain.

But capacity has raced far ahead of grid construction, with state grid operators reluctant to connect wind farms in remote areas as long as their profit margins on renewables lag that of coal-generated electricity.

Instead, they are resorting to a practice known as curtailment, or slowing the connection of wind turbines to their grids and limiting the use of wind power. This in turn is leading to wasted capacity and lower returns on wind power investments.

"Considering the huge growth in wind installment we saw last year, curtailment is going to be a big problem (for wind power producers) ... China is one of the worst countries affected," said Shanghai-based Shane Sun with international renewable energy consultancy MAKE.

In the first three months, curtailment almost doubled from a year ago to 10.7 billion kilowatt-hours, nearly a fifth of total wind power generated in China, official data showed. That's equivalent to output generated with about 3.5 million tonnes of coal, or 7 percent of China's first-quarter coal imports.

Meanwhile, generating capacity expansion continues at breakneck speed. While China still relies on coal for most of its power generation, it has more than doubled its installed wind power capacity in the past five years, and Beijing wants to double it again to 200 GW by 2020 with annual investments of $27 billion.

Analysts said wind-related stocks like Datang Renewable have risen partly on expectations of higher wind speeds in China this year after they were down 8-12 percent in 2014.

Even so, all those unused turbines probably won't be switched on until ultra-high voltage lines, designed to enable long-distance transmission of renewable power from the windy, remote north to population and industry hubs in the south and east, are completed in 2017.

In the meantime, some companies like Huaneng Renewables are building wind farms in the east and south where better grid infrastructure offsets low wind speeds and land shortages.

Some analysts say investors may be in for an earnings disappointment this year unless wind speeds improve and the government enforces a long-delayed rule requiring grid operators to buy certain amounts of power from renewable sources.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/17/china-windpower-idUSL3N0Y24DM20150517

A startup out of Spain called Vortex Bladeless, whose turbines look like stalks of asparagus poking out of the ground, is using pillars that shake back and forth from the vortices created by the movement of air around the structure to generate power, the Verge reported.

Typically, a structure can only be optimized to oscillate at the specific frequencies caused by a certain wind speed, but Vortex says it is using magnets to adjust the turbine on the fly to get the most from whatever the wind speeds happen to be.

Once the structure starts vibrating, an alternator in the base of the device then converts the mechanical movement into electricity.

Vortex claims that energy produced by its turbines will cost around 40 percent less than energy made from today's wind turbines and a large part of that cost reduction comes from maintenance as the Vortex doesn't have moving parts or gears, it should last longer and won't require periodic lubrication.

The simpler design also means that manufacturing costs are about half that of a traditional windturbine (those massive blades are expensive).

As per Vortex, its bladeless design captures around 30 percent less energy than a regular turbine, but it's possible to fit more of the "silent" Vortex models in the same area.

Vortex is working on its "Mini," a 41-foot model that should be ready for commercialization in 2016, while a larger, industrial model is in the works for 2018.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/science/revolutionary-bladeless-wind-turbines-oscillate-to-generate-power_1596719.html

Its makers boast the fact that there are no gears, bolts, or mechanically moving parts, which they say makes the Vortex cheaper to manufacture and maintain. The founders claim their Vortex Mini, which stands at around 41 feet tall, can capture up to 40 percent of the wind’s power during ideal conditions (this is when the wind is blowing at around 26 miles per hour). Based on field testing, the Mini ultimately captures 30 percent less than conventional wind turbines, but that shortcoming is compensated by the fact that you can put double the Vortex turbines into the same space as a propeller turbine.

The Vortex team says there are some clear advantages to their model: It’s less expensive to manufacture, totally silent, and safer for birds since there are no blades to fly into. Vortex Bladeless says its turbine would cost around 51 percent less than a traditional turbine whose major costs come from the blades and support system. Plus, Suriol says, it’s pretty cool-looking. “It looks like asparagus,” he says. “It’s much more natural.”

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A technology company in Sweden has installed a solar power plant, which it claims is the most efficient in the world today. It has even managed to double the efficiency of solar panels, making them more viable for general population in the near future.

Installed by Ripasso Energy in South Africa’s sun-soaked Kalahari Desert, the solar electricity generation machine features a pair of huge, 12-meter mirror dishes that have been synched with Stirling Engine – a closed-cycle regenerative heat engine that was invented way back in 1816. The contraption uses trapped gas instead of water to propel the internal pistons and flywheel. To keep the Stirling Engine in motion, the dishes are hooked to a sun-tracking device that rotates the dishes to capture the maximum amount of solar rays and focus them into a specific point that gets super-heated and drives the gas.

The Solar Panels Are Programed To Follow The Sun, Maximizing The Efficiency

Though Stirling Engines might look primitive, they have been steadily adopted by the Swiss Military for use in their submarines. These engines are claimed to be an ideal companion for renewable energy systems because they can function with almost any heat source, are quiet to run, and don’t take up much space.

Owing to their relatively diminutive footprint, the system requires just two hectares to produce a megawatt of energy. Having licensed the technology from the military, Ripasso Energy has been testing the system for the past four years. The company hopes the desert sun could offer ideal readings about the efficiency of the design. This week, the company has been able to set a new world record, reported the Guardian.

Conventional solar panels practically turn about 15 percent of the solar energy that strikes them into electricity. But Ripasso Energy has managed to push the efficiency to 34 percent. Independent tests have confirmed the design to be super-efficient. The system in its current iteration can generate 75 to 85 megawatt hours of electricity a year. From an ecological perspective, the solar plant can prevent about 81 tons of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere via coal burning.


Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/2094887/most-efficient-solar-energy-system-using-mirrors-and-a-2-centuries-old-invention/#MChATEYRDiOipTfp.99