Renewable Energy News

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has stated the economic case for increasing the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix to 36 percent by 2030.

Boosting to such a level would have major impacts on international trade of fossil fuels, plus increase global gross domestic product (GDP) by up to 1.1 percent, or approximately USD 1.3 trillion.

While investment cost reductions in grid-scale energy storage are important, it’s the growing value of specific storage options in specific contexts that matters more says the World Energy Council.

The Council paints a brigh future for energy storage, but says an obsession with cost alone could be resulting in misconceptions about its real value in relation to wind and solar power.

Whenever Lominda Afedraru’s two teenage children return home for the school holidays, she goes through the laborious task of hiding most electrical appliances, especially those in the kitchen. She also bars them from overusing their computers and keeps a tight watch on the power metres at their home in Kampala, Uganda. Lominda’s methods of saving on her electricity bills may seem extreme, but that is the reality that Ugandans and many countries in Africa are facing: energy poverty.

Last month, a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., loaded a postage stamp–sized solar cell onto a tray and placed it under a high-intensity pulse solar simulator. The simulator flashed a 2.5 millisecond pulse of light, and 19 mirrors reflected the photons down onto the cell. For a few more milliseconds, data funneled through a looping nest of wires into NREL computers. Researchers crunched and corrected the numbers, and device performance supervisor Keith Emery verified them: A new world record for solar photovoltaic efficiency had been set.

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