Energy Archives - Page 5 of 66 - Living Off the Grid: Free Yourself

Tesla plans its first off-grid community

Tesla is planning to take a 1,400-acre community in Mexico completely off-grid.

The first-of-its-kind energy solution at the Twin Dolphin community in Los Cabos, will see Tesla supply batteries and power management for a private residential community and club, Montage Los Cabos resort and residences, and Twin Dolphin Club. A similar setup will be implemented next fall in Sonoma County, California.

The initiative at Twin Dolphin will leverage Tesla’s fully integrated solar panels and battery energy storage and software systems to provide reliable renewable energy for the entire community, which developer Ohana claims has received government approvals and is currently underway.

The Tesla project will generate over 20 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year. The project consists of a central ground-mount site spanning over 22 acres, located adjacent to Twin Dolphin’s already existing reverse osmosis and desalination plant that provides potable water to the community. Tesla Powerhub, a data platform to monitor energy use, is incorporated into the project to use real-time and historical data tracking to optimize its energy usage, improve performance, and help inform future decisions.

The new systems will provide all the energy for Twin Dolphin, and also generate clean back-up power for the wider community. The system will run completely off-grid if needed, in the event of power outages due to storms or natural disasters. The back-up power supply can also feed into the local power grid as the Baja region of Mexico, which has experienced energy shortages with increased development.

“We are excited to see our vision of being the first off-the-grid community in Cabo coming to life. We are grateful for the partnership and engagement of Tesla and their technologies, which have made this possible. Our larger vision is that other premier master plan community developers will follow our lead and implement similar projects so that collectively we can help preserve our environment,” says Chris Smith, CEO of Ohana Real Estate Investors.

This new solar initiative complements sustainability initiatives at Twin Dolphin, including the preservation of over 40,000 native plants during the development of the property maintained by its water plant, conserving energy through building design that maximizes natural cooling, utilizing locally sourced building materials, implementing tankless water heaters in all buildings and using LED lights throughout the property.…

September 27, 2020 3 Comments

Gas generators are a power option

Cummins gas generators were launched last year and already their installations power the equivalent of 52,000 homes. The HSK78G offers reliable power off the grid. For a remote textile manufacturer in Pakistan, as well as a hauliers and storage company based in the U.K., Cummins is providing robust off-grid power, coupled with electrical efficiency of up to 44.2%.

Peaking power and grid parallel applications

Suited to peaking power applications, gas generators can be used as back-up power systems, supporting the grid during times of high demand, as well as offsetting the fluctuations of renewable power sources such as wind and solar energy. Working with TMS Grid Ltd., an engineering and consultancy company based in the U.K., 10 HSK78G units will provide a total of 20MW of uninterruptible backup power. Alongside the product’s high efficiency, the generators’ Grid Code Compliance (GCC) certification enabled TMS Grid Ltd. to demonstrate compliance to the G99 U.K. requirements. Additionally, the HSK78G units meet the latest emissions limits set by the new medium combustion plant directive (MCPD) removing the need for exhaust aftertreatment systems, which in turn offers a lower total cost of ownership.

A further 11 units have recently been installed in a hybrid power station based in Western Australia, offering a total of 22MW installed capacity. With a mix of solar, wind and battery technology, the HSK78G generator models will be used to stabilise the power supply, providing fewer voltage and frequency disturbances and faster recovery times.

With increased demand for low-carbon power generation, organisations across all industries are seeking alternative sources of energy to reduce their carbon footprint whilst providing a reliable and robust performance. To meet this need, Cummins invested heavily in expanding its gas range, launching the HSK78G gas generator range in March 2019.

With a power density of up to 2MW, Cummins lean-burn gas generators are designed to provide reliable power for a diverse set of industries from mining and manufacturing, to shopping malls and hospitals. With fuel flexibility across the range, HSK78G generators use natural, low-cost, low-BTU, free fuel sources that would otherwise be considered waste products.

‘We’re seeing increased interest from a diverse range of industries, all of which are considering the switch to low-carbon alternatives for power generation. With market-leading thermal efficiency at 47.1% and 2110 kW of thermal output for heating, cooling and steam generation, the generator series provides significant environmental benefits. They can also run in parallel with combined heat and power (CHP) systems, which can convert 70-90% of the energy of the fuel that is burned into useful electricity or heat, further increasing sustainable credentials,’ said Ann-Kristin deVerdier, Cummins Energy Management Executive Director.

The HSK78G has been successfully installed across a wide range of applications, from horticultural, logistics and manufacturing operations, through to providing gas power for power stations and backup power to the National Grid.

‘We’ve worked hard to develop a solution …

September 2, 2020 No Comments

Energy

A solution to California’s disasters – Microgrids

After years of deteriorating power lines owned by PG&E, California’s biggest utility, plus months of windy wildfires, warming California is wondering how to keep the lights on. Small communities all over the state have been pioneering the answer for decades

Take back control – Build your own utility

The Blue Lake Rancheria tribe in Mad River, Northern California has built a microgrid on its 100-acre reservation, a stitching-together of technologies including wind turbines, solar panels, storage batteries and its own power lines that integrates with the outside utility network or can stand alone from it. It is a state-of-the-art system — and an indicator of what might be the future for every American.

In early October, Pacific Gas & Electric cut power to more than 2 million people across Northern California, including all those who live in rural Humboldt County, where redwood forests fringe the wild edge of the continent. The shut-off aimed to reduce the risk of wildfire, and as the region sat in darkness, the tribe’s multimillion-dollar investment in its power system glowed.

Responding to public needs, the tribe transformed a hotel conference room into a newsroom so the local paper could publish. The reservation’s gas station and mini mart were among the only ones open, drawing a nearly mile-long line of cars.

The Blue Lake Rancheria served more than 10,000 people during the day-long outage, by some estimates, roughly 8 percent of Humboldt’s population. And the tribe suddenly became a vital part of its emergency response.

“The irony was not lost on us,” said Jason Ramos, a member of the tribal council who ran emergency operations during the blackout. “When these power cuts started, we looked like geniuses for what we had done. But in truth, we didn’t really see them coming when we made our decision.”

California, a hive of rapid private-sector innovation, is adjusting slowly to the accelerating changes in its climate. The sharp transition between heavy rains and hot, windy weather has primed the landscape for wildfires, which have burned larger and deadlier in recent years than at any time in history.

After an autumn of power cuts and economic losses, the reliability of California’s electricity grid and of its three largest investor-owned utilities is among the most pressing public policy issues facing Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). The state lags behind some on the East Coast, where Tropical Storm Irene swamped towns in 2011, causing blackouts and a rethinking of how to strengthen a vulnerable electrical grid.

The ideas under consideration here are complicated by the bankruptcy of PG&E, the state’s largest investor-owned utility. All would require a measure of public money — such as a state takeover of the grid or breaking up utilities into municipal agencies — and changes to a regulatory system yet to adapt to California’s new climate-driven threats.

“It’s like we have a high schooler stuck in the sixth …

January 5, 2020 1 Comment

Energy

Battery storage will transform society

A remarkable series of predictions about the future of the grid is emerging from NREL – the National Renewable Energy Lab in the US. Because batteries can now store far more energy, renewable energy, and specifically solar power, is becoming a disruptive technology for the fossil-fuel industry.
In the past few years, this vision has grown from a theory on whiteboards to real-power experiments on lab hardware. It’s called “Autonomous Energy Grids” (AEG), an effort to ensure the grid of the future can manage a growing base of intelligent energy devices, variable renewable energy, and advanced controls. The AEG effort envisions a self-driving power system—a very “aware” network of technologies and distributed controls that work together to efficiently match bi-directional energy supply to energy demand. This is a hard pivot from today’s system, in which centralized control is used to manage one-way electricity flows to consumers along power lines that spoke out from central generators.

Outside of the labs, where real business serves ordinary people, the same trends are being seen. In Florida, it is hard for state and federal officials to ignore the coalesced voices of regional business, government, academic, nonprofit and neighborhood leaders. Rob Kornaherns, owner of Fort Lauderdale’s Advanced Roofing, the state’s largest solar contractor, called battery storage a “real game-changer.” By 2050, he sees everyone “off the grid around the world.”…

December 13, 2019 1 Comment

Community

California’s original off-grid store relocates

Real Goods, the California-based original purveyor of off-grid living supplies, has relocated to Ukiah, California. The move follows the companys acquisition by altE Store in September of this year. Real Goods second ever store was also located in Ukiah.

Real Goods new business address is 2005 N. State St., Unit G, Ukiah, CA 95482. The new location, about two miles from the city center, will have office space and a larger warehouse. The larger warehouse allows Real Goods to offer a greater selection of solar energy products and systems, and faster shipping to West Coast customers.

The move follows the September 2019 acquisition of Real Goods by altE Store. Now powered by altE, the Real Goods sales and customer support teams continue as part of the altE family. altE CEO Sascha Deri commented on the move, “Our new warehouse will more than double the inventory capacity of Real Goods. This move enables us to not only provide a wider range of renewable energy system products to our local customers in the Mendocino County area but also decrease shipping costs to our customers on the entire West Coast.”

As part of its acquisition, Real Goods has begun offering competitive wholesale programs for professional solar installers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington state, with expanded inventory and distributor pricing. To apply, call Real Goods at 800-919-2400.

Formerly EcoTerra, the Solar Living Center remains in Hopland, California. The Center continues to be a home to the Solar Living Institute, Solar Living Store, and Emerald Pharms. For more information, find the SLC online at https://solarliving.org/slc/ or call (707) 472-2456.…

December 1, 2019 1 Comment

Energy

Never Again! Lets Close PG&E

Two major wildfires that raged in California for the past ten days are finally contained. But the debate and aftermath will rage for months.

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom is calling for a public sector takeover of bankruptcy-mired Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E). But why should the state take over the ailing and corrupt system when it could make a fresh start, installing solar and wind power in every street?

Over 30% of all electricity is lost in the transmission system, so switching to local, green power would actually save money and also help the environment. Californian legislators had made halting attempts to install green power infrastructure but it was always a low priority.

Gov Newsom and his allies took $208,400 in donations from PG&E during his run for governor before the public utility began controlled blackouts. PG&E gave the governor the maximum amount of $58,400 and gave another $150,000 to a political spending group supporting his candidacy.

The donations were revealed during a seven-month investigation by California’s ABC affiliate, whose probe was part of a documentary series breaking down California’s 2018 wildfire crisis. ABC10 published its findings in July.

PG&E also donated more than $800,000 directly to candidate campaigns, and another $3 million to political groups, most of which ultimately plowed that money back into candidate’s war chests, according to ABC10’s investigation.

Newsom refused to answer questions in July when reporters asked about the donations. “It’s a strange question,” he told ABC10. “I don’t know what more I can say.”

Forget Undergrounding

PG&E alone has some 81,000 miles of overhead lines. But forget burying the cables – there is no need these days when local renewable power supplies can be built at a lower cost. Undergrounding makes damaged lines hard to access, and leaves them vulnerable to floods and earthquakes. They’re just one source of risk among many. And it’s reallllly expensive. PG&E puts the price at about $2.3 million a mile.

PG&E has been prioritising profits over safety for years, or decades. Its own guidelines put one deadly Tower (27/222) a quarter-century beyond its useful life — but the tower remained, according to the New York Times in March 2019. Beyond wildfires, PG&E has a broader history of safety problems. A 2010 explosion of a PG&E gas pipeline killed eight people.

A jury found PG&E guilty of five counts of willfully breaking federal gas pipeline safety laws and one count of obstructing the federal investigation into the disaster.

Since being sentenced in January 2017, state investigators say PG&E sparked wildfires that killed 107 people — including the deadly 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people when it destroyed the entire town of Paradise.

Kincade wildfire

The massive Kincade wildfire in northern California burned nearly 78,000 acres — more than double the size of San Francisco. The Kincade Fire forced more than 180,000 residents out of their homes. …

November 5, 2019 1 Comment

Oz utility takes its customers off-grid

After a devastating bushfire, one remote WA farming community takes steps towards a solar solution — and it’s cheaper, safer, and more reliable.

The deadly bushfire in a remote West Australian farming community has led to a renewable energy first in Australia.

A government-owned electricity company is taking customers off the grid by giving them standalone solar units, so they can pull down ageing and costly power lines.

In November 2015, bushfires swept through the Esperance region, 800 kilometres south-east of Perth.

Four people lost their lives, thousands of livestock perished, and 30,000 hectares of crops were destroyed.

More than 300 power poles were also burnt, leaving about 450 locals without power for months.

The natural disaster led Horizon Power to rethink the way it managed its electricity network.

Some Horizon Power customers affected by the fire were offered solar panels as a trial, instead of rebuilding the lines.

After the fire ripped through Scadden West farmer Peter Vermeersch’s properties, he had to use generators for electricity.

“Probably two or three months sitting there with generators going. Yeah, it was a bit of chaos for a while,” he said.

He was one of five Horizon Power customers who took up the offer of getting electricity from solar panels, batteries, and a backup generator instead of via poles and wires.

Initially, he was sceptical of the solar option.

“The main issue was wondering if the power supply was going to be reliable,” he said.

At first there was not enough battery capacity on the solar units, but Horizon quickly fixed this and the new system is now more reliable than being on the grid.

“They have been really good. I don’t think we have had an outage on them,” Mr Vermeersch said.

“There’s also the advantage of not having poles and wires through your properties. There’s not that risk of machinery running into power poles.”

First utility company in Australia to kick customers off the grid

Horizon Power is now installing 17 further solar units on farms east of Esperance, and will tear down about 60 kilometres of ageing power lines.

It is the first time a utility company has removed traditional infrastructure and convinced customers to get off the grid.

Horizon Power chief executive Stephanie Unwin said it would save customers money.

“You are not replacing poles and wires … we no longer have to send out our linesman to patrol the lines, so that’s great,” she said.

“Maintenance is much lower, we will only have to send someone out once a year [to check the solar units].”

20,000 to get off-grid in a decade

The WA Government is behind the move and the state’s Energy Minister Bill Johnston said off-the-grid, clean energy made sense.

“So this is good for remote and farming communities because it gives them better energy and more reliable power,” he said.

“But it’s good for …

October 7, 2019 2 Comments

Coming soon – gigawatts of free batteries

As the uptake of electric vehicles (EV) has increased exponentially in the past few years, the concern of what to do with batteries when they reach their end-of-life in electric vehicles is gradually intensifying.

By 2030 there will be over 6 million battery packs retiring from EVs per year, according to IDTech’s latest report ‘Second-life Electric Vehicle Batteries 2020-2030.’

The report highlights that after 8-10 years of services as powertrain for EVs, the used batteries still retain up to 70-80 percent of the total capacity, which could be recycled for a wide range of energy storage applications. “The key is to match the ‘right’ batteries with the ‘right’ applications.”

It further underlined that the first batch of electric vehicle batteries is reaching their retirement age and that each of the next ten years will see a sharp annual increase increase in the volume of retired batteries.

Many experts believe that energy storage devices will have an important role in the electricity market. “By 2030, second-life battery capacity will hit over 275 GWh per year which presents huge opportunities for energy storage,” the report says.

Global auto companies like Nissan, Renault, BMW, and BYD have launched various projects and business initiatives on second-life batteries.

In February 2019, Nissan Energy and OPUS Campers collaborated on a smart camping concept that uses second-life Nissan EV batteries to deliver up to a week’s worth of remote power for off-grid adventures. This co-created concept is made possible by a device called Roam, designed by Nissan.

Citing the example of American EV maker Rivian, the report underlines that it is interesting to see that the company is already planning for the second-life for their batteries even before their first EV is launched in the market.

“The company has built its battery packs and modules, as well as the battery management system (BMS) in a way that the batteries can be seamlessly transitioned from vehicle energy storage to stationary energy storage. This is crucial in the development of second-life batteries, as the initial battery design will greatly impact the viability and cost of repurposing used EV batteries,” the report added.

Electric Vehicles Batteries

Recycling is necessary in the end, the study said, but before that giving those retired but still capable batteries a ‘second-life’ in less-demanding applications such as stationary energy storage could bring tremendous value to a wide range of stakeholders across the automotive and energy sectors…

September 26, 2019 1 Comment

Energy

Boom in Electric Vehicle charging devices will help off-gridders

Now the new bi-directional chargers are coming on the market – off-grid car-owners can charge up in the city and download the power when they get home.…

September 1, 2019 2 Comments

Solar

Gadget produces solar power and clean water

Multi-membrane solar panel uses waste heat to warm water and thereby purify it – Saudi researchers hope to ready it for commercial rollout soon…

July 10, 2019 2 Comments

Land

PG&E’s cunning wildfire plan – shut down the Grid

Power company PG&E has long been known as a company that puts its shareholders interests ahead of its customers – shady billing practices, low quality maintenance are just a couple of the company’s bad practices.

Now it has gone a step further with a plan to punish its 15 million Californian customers in the event of wildfires this summer.

When high winds arise this year, the utility says it will black out fire-prone areas that are home to 5.4 million people.

That’s right – instead of working 24/7 to prevent its power lines from sparking the kinds of wildfires that have killed scores of Californians. it plans to pull the plug on a giant swath of the state’s population.

No U.S. utility has ever blacked out so many people on purpose. PG&E says it could knock out power to as much as an eighth of the state’s population for as long as five days when dangerously high winds arise. Communities likely to get shut off worry PG&E will put people in danger, especially the sick and elderly, and cause financial losses with slim hope of compensation.

In October, in a test run of sorts, PG&E for the first time cut power to several small communities over wildfire concerns, including the small Napa Valley town of Calistoga, for about two days. Emergency officials raced door-to-door to check on elderly residents, some of whom relied on electric medical devices. Grocers dumped spoiling inventory. Hotels lost business.

PG&E is “essentially shifting all of the burden, all of the losses onto everyone else,” said Dylan Feik, who was Calistoga city manager until earlier this month.

By shutting off power in fire-prone parts of its service area, which are home to 5.4 million people, PG&E said in regulatory filings it hopes to prevent more deadly wildfires. The San Francisco-based company sought bankruptcy protection in January, citing more than $30 billion in potential damages from fires linked to its equipment.

This plan amounts to an admission by PG&E that it can’t always fulfill its basic job of delivering electricity both safely and reliably. Years of drought and a drying climate have turned the state’s northern forests into a tinderbox, and the utility has failed to make needed investments to make its grid sturdier.

During this year’s wildfire season, which typically starts around June, PG&E is preparing to make cutoffs to a far larger geographic region than it has targeted for blackouts in the past, increasing the number of potentially affected customers nearly 10-fold. While it is unlikely all areas would be affected at once, the outages may turn entire counties dark.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
What should utilities do to protect people from wildfires? Make your comments below.

The company said it is attempting to figure out how to avoid stranding medically vulnerable residents and is working with local authorities to try to ensure water, traffic …

April 28, 2019 1 Comment

Energy

Human powered energy – your questions answered

By Ken Torino of K-Tor – Human-power expert

My story began 15 years ago when I was looking to buy a
human power generator and had trouble finding one.

I was an an avid hiker and a believer in self reliance during the 30 years I lived in Vermont.

When I retired from IBM, I started a company focused on human powered generators.

Pros and Cons

You might ask “what is the role of human power energy in the modern age” — gas power generators and solar panels are available. The answer is they all have their roles and plus and minuses.

Human power: of course you need to pedal and it is limited in the amount of power by the human being, typically about 75 watts. On the plus side human power always works and can be used in sheltered locations and stored inside as well as is portable.

Solar charges mainly between 10am and 2pm and stores this in
a battery for use. So the solar panels need to be out in the open and there needs to be sunlight, under tree canopy of cloudy skies reduces power, and you need a battery pack large enough to store the energy of the four hours to be used over the next 20. It can generate lots of power as you can scale the surface area of the solar panels and battery pack size. Usually they are not mobile.

Gas generators generally come in a power range but 4000
watts is a typical size, although larger sizes are available. Gas generators also must be placed outside away from dwellings. They
are not easily portable. They make a lot of noise; give off noxious exhaust and of course you have to have a source of gas. Gas is usually pumped from the ground using electricity so is typically in short supply in times of emergency.

As an example in the recent hurricanes in the Caribbean most
of the solar panels that were on roofs were destroyed and gas was hard to get for some time. Human power of course could not run refrigerators or air conditioners. The best strategy is a complimentary strategy. As they say, two is one and one is none.

After K-Tor was founded, the first two years were spent researching
human power energy and developing the first product.

Currently the company has three main generator products, the
Pocket Socket 2 a USB 1 Amp hand crank generator and two pedal generators, a 20 Watt model and a just released a 50 watt model.

Over the past 10 years K-Tor has acquired a lot of expertise in the area of human power energy and the uses of electrical energy and its devices in off the grid and emergency uses. We have many people come to us for advice …

December 22, 2018 No Comments

All you need to go off-grid

Energy

Tesla plans its first off-grid community

Gas generators are a power option

A solution to California’s disasters – Microgrids

Battery storage will transform society

California’s original off-grid store relocates

Never Again! Lets Close PG&E

Oz utility takes its customers off-grid

Coming soon – gigawatts of free batteries

Boom in Electric Vehicle charging devices will help off-gridders

Gadget produces solar power and clean water

PG&E’s cunning wildfire plan – shut down the Grid

Human powered energy – your questions answered

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