New launches
Even as crystalline silicon PV manufacturers were congratulating themselves on gaining a deep cost differential advantage over their thin-film rivals, First Solar announced at WFES that it had set a new world record for cadmiumtelluride (CdTe) PV solar module efficiency, achieving 14.4% total area efficiency. The achievement, announced by First Solar Chief Technology Officer Dave Eaglesham, came just six months after First Solar leapfrogged the world record for CdTe solar cell efficiency with a mark of 17.3%. If you can’t beat them on cost, beat them on efficiency seems to be the message here. Other launches that turned a few heads include sustainable cooling technology for thermal power plants and a new technology to tap submarine springs. The sustainable cooling technology developed by Crystal Lagoons comprises of large crystalline lagoons that dissipate the heat through a closed cooling circuit. The use of copious volumes of seawater for cooling by thermal power plants creates significant environmental problems by destroying the marine life during intake and disrupting the ecosystem during the discharge of hot water into the sea. Nymphea Environnement, owned by the VINCI Group, Europe’s largest construction company, introduced its technology to tap submarine springs in the ocean. The company discovered a spring in Syria that has a flow of 5,000 litres of water per second, which can satisfy the consumption demand for a city of 1,000,000 persons. Another eye grabber was the Tokai Challenger, winner of the 2009 and 2011 World Solar Challenge, which made its Middle East debut at WFES. Equipped with Sharp-manufactured solar cells boasting the highest level of conversion efficiency in the world, the car, which has a top speed of 160 km/ hr, has been designed and developed by students of Tokai University, Japan. The three-day event also hosted two highly relevant concurrent sessions by The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC). The FAO-organised round table discussed
how the food sector can tackle energy challenges to safeguard an energy and food-secure future in the context of climate change. There is justifiable concern that the current dependence of the food sector on fossil fuels may limit the sector's ability to meet global food demands. The challenge, says FAO, is to decouple food prices from fluctuating and rising fossil fuel prices. The organisation contends that an energy-smart approach, reducing energy losses related to food wastage, increased use of renewable energy, and improved access to modern and sustainable forms of energy along the agri-food chain, is crucial to achieving climate, energy and food security. EmiratesGBC’s ‘Focus Day’ discussed the importance of promoting energy efficiency measures in existing buildings.
End note
At the plenary session, Technology Leaders in Future Energy – Insights from the Innovators, energy experts debated two key issues confronting decision makers: the cost competitiveness of renewable energy compared with fossil fuels, and the technological innovations needed to promote wider adoption of renewable energy sources. Andrew Beebe, COO of Suntech, the world’s largest producer of solar panels, said that cost-competitive utility-scale renewable energy was already within reach. “Ten years ago years ago we were saying stop talking in kilowatts and start talking in megawatts and people thought we were crazy. Today there is around 35-40 GW of capacity.” Arguing that the expansion of renewable energy should dovetail with the role of traditional oil and gas, he said: “I was explaining to my son all the great things we make from oil and gas – and he said, ‘Wow! So why do we burn it?’ We need to use oil and gas for the most valuable things. [The solar industry] has cut costs by 80% while the cost of oil has gone up four times.” Ben Kortlang, a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers observed that “from $10 per watt we’re now approaching one dollar per watt. [Renewable energies] will be enormous businesses in the next five years...” Jan Mrosik, CEO, Siemens Infrastructure & Cities Division Smart Grid advised that electricity grids should be capable of accepting the renewable energy influx, with the main challenge being balancing generation and the load. Charles Soothil, Senior Vice President Technology of Alstom, identified storage and distribution as key innovation challenges facing the renewable energy sector. Santiago Arias, Technical Director of Torresol, a joint venture between SENER of Spain and Masdar of Abu Dhabi, said the industry was already overcoming the intermittency challenges associated with renewable energy production. The company’s recently opened 20-MW Gemosolar facility in Andalusia is the world’s first solar power plant to produce electricity nearly 24 hours a day. The potential of renewable energy should not outweigh practical considerations, cautioned Kathy P Pepper, VP Middle East and Russia at ExxonMobil. While renewable energy technologies are “growing the fastest,” their contribution to the world’s energy needs would still amount to less than five percent. “We need a mix of energy sources: fossil fuels, nuclear and renewable energies,” she argued.
February2012
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specialreport NEWS
Conergy announced that it would be setting up a solar rooftop plant King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, while Masdar signed a MoU with the island kingdom of Tonga to build a 500 kw solar PV power plant in Vava’u Island. The PV plant, funded with a grant from Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), will meet 13% of the pacific island country’s annual electricity demand while saving 180,000 litres of diesel fuel. MASDAR also announced that it will soon issue an RFP for a carbon capture usage and storage facility at Emirates Steel’s Mussafah facility, following the success of a joint pilot project with ADNOC using CO2 for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) at onshore field. The planned facility will capture nearly 800,000 tonnes per annum CO2-rich stream, prior to emission from the Emirates Steel Phase 1 and Phase 2 lines and transfer that to a common compression and dehydration facility. The feed stream will be compressed into dense phase and delivered through a 50-kms pipeline network for injection in an onshore field, operated by Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO).
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