Technology

From Monday 6 to Saturday 10 September, Valencia will play host to the 25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition and 5th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (25th EU PVSEC/WCPEC-5). The event will be attended by the global PV community comprising 4,500 speakers, 943 exhibitors and 40,000 visitors expected from over a hundred countries.

This is the finding of the Spanish Wind Energy Association (AEE), which recently presented its half-yearly balance sheet, a document which states that 19,876 MW are now installed in Spain. The association forecasts that the year will close in line with the target of 20,155 MW established in Spain's 2005-10 Renewable Energy Plan. According to AEE, during the first six months, wind energy premiums accounted for €2.3 of the monthly electricity bill of an average Spanish household

The Energy Technological Institute (ITE) has started to investigate the possibility of recycling separately the materials making up solar photovoltaic panels. This research is supported by the Valencian Institute for Small and Medium Industry (IMPIVA).

SeAsturLab, the Asturias offshore wind energy laboratory, will receive €70-100 million by 2020 to research and develop semi-submerged platforms. During the first phase, these platforms will form the foundations for 100-metre tall, 2-MW wind turbines weighing in at 100 tonnes.

Venice and Valencia are the first ports of call for the SML house solar home, the project built by architecture students at the CEU Cardenal Herrera University in Valencia for the Solar Decathlon Europe competition held in Madrid last June.

Solnova 4 has entered commercial operation after production and operation testing. With the roll-out of this plant, located at the Solúcar Platform in Seville, Abengoa Solar has reached a total of 193 megawatts in commercial operation. It also has a further 350 MW under construction.

The Optoelectronics and Semiconductor Group of the Institute of Design and Manufacturing at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), in collaboration with the company Eurener, has developed a pioneering new stand-alone lighting system using LED technology and powered by the sun. Key advantages of the device are its brightness, long life and low power consumption.

Iberdrola Renovables, through its subsidiary ScottishPower, has won the largest tender in the world to harness the power of the sea and will build a 95-MW tidal power array in Scottish waters. The firm has signed an agreement with its Norwegian partner, Hammerfest Strøm, to develop the facility.

The 2009 Energy Balance presented by Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) mid-July shows that this reduction is not solely down to the economic crisis, but is also due to greater energy efficiency. According to the IDAE, in 2009 all conventional energy sources lost ground in the Spanish energy mix, while renewables increased their relative contributions to the mix.

In 2009, solar, wind and hydroelectric power added more megawatts of newly installed capacity than natural gas, coal and nuclear energy combined. This is just one of the many conclusions presented by the United Nations in its report Global Trends in Green Energy 2009, a document that reveals that last year, renewables accounted for 60% of new capacity installed in Europe and more than 50% in the United States.