The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the launch of its inaugural National Geothermal Student Competition. DOE, through its Geothermal Technologies Program (GTP), will provide up to $100,000 to fund as many as 10 collegiate teams that will participate in this competition. In this intercollegiate competition—the first ever to address geothermal education—student teams will be challenged to advance their understanding of geothermal energy’s potential as a significant contributor to our nation’s energy portfolio. Geothermal technology allows for consistently produced energy by tapping into the heat of the earth and emits minimal greenhouse gases. Expanding the use of geothermal resources as a domestic energy source will play an important role in increasing America’s energy independence.

The National Geothermal Student Competition will require student teams to conduct extensive research on the geothermal energy potential of the Rio Grande Rift geologic province located in southeastern Colorado and northeastern New Mexico. Each team will produce sets of data that assess a suite of geologic, engineering, environmental, land use, policy and cultural issues that are crucial to future geothermal development in the United States. The Rio Grande Rift is a high potential, but relatively undeveloped, geothermal region that is representative of the geothermal potential in other areas in the United States.

The National Geothermal Student Competition is open to all colleges, universities and other post-secondary institutions in the United States. To participate in the competition, teams should submit proposals through DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory Request for Proposals link on its Business Opportunities Web page. Up to 10 teams will be selected to participate based on a competitive review of the proposals. Proposals are due November 12, 2010.

GTP works to establish geothermal energy as a significant contributor to America’s future electricity generation by partnering with industry, academia and national laboratories to discover new geothermal resources, develop innovative methods for tapping geothermal resources, and demonstrate high-impact technologies. A key element of GTP’s mission is to develop and support a national effort encouraging collegiate level students to specialize in those disciplines and fields vital to the growth and development of the geothermal industry. This competition will provide students with opportunities to gain important industry knowledge, skills and experience, and prepare them to play a significant role in the future of geothermal energy.

Source: DOE

France has unveiled a new renewable energy investment program which will see its government provide E1.35 ($1.74 US)  billion to support the development of cutting-edge clean energy technologies. Datamonitor feels that this may help chart a new developmental roadmap for the French energy industry, which has until now focused primarily on nuclear energy.

The investment program, entitled “Demonstrateurs Energies Renouvelables et Chimie Verte” (Renewable Energy and Green Chemistry Demonstration), aims to support the development of renewable energy sources other than wind, such as solar, marine and geothermal, and also to help develop carbon capture and biofuel technology. The E1.35 billion investment in decarbonizing projects, to be spread out over 2010-14, will provide subsidies equivalent to E450m and another E900m in low-interest loans. While E190m will be spent in 2010, this will be followed up with a E290m yearly spend for the next four years.

The French government hopes to significantly increase the share of renewables in the country’s energy mix by attracting considerable private investment in solar, marine and geothermal projects.

France currently sources 75% of its electricity through nuclear fuel. However, in accordance with the European Union’s 2001 Renewable Electricity Directive, France was bound to source 21% of its electricity generation from renewable energy by 2010. Although the French government did step up its wind power generation in order to meet these obligations, according to Datamonitor’s Energy Market Landscape report series for 2009, the contribution of renewables to total electricity generation is still estimated to represent only around 2%. Of this renewables sector, wind power forms the majority, with an installed capacity of 4.4GW.

Given that France will now inevitably miss its renewable electricity generation obligations for 2010, it is imperative that the state ramps up its renewable energy generation from sources other than wind in order to avoid the penalty of E0.04/kWh that is levied for non-compliance.

Although the new investment program is a welcome step, it is not entirely sufficient. To attract private investment, the government needs to overhaul market policies and dilute the dominance of EDF, which still controls 86% of France’s power generation capacity. New policies are also needed to streamline the approval process for offshore wind power generation and to abandon or simplify the convoluted ZDE law, which states that only wind farms built in special Wind Power Development Zones are entitled to feed-in tariffs.

Additionally, Datamonitor’s Green Consumers Survey for France indicates that the majority of French consumers seem unwilling to pay a premium for green energy, despite having a high level of environmental concern. This shows that, although utilities and the government must improve infrastructure and market policies, the best way to encourage consumers in France to opt for green energy is to focus on achieving grid parity.

Source: Datamonitor

San Diego will be the place to be this summer for an estimated 10,000 of the nation’s top professionals in the energy, water, transportation and environmental industries. EngEx 2010, taking place at the San Diego Convention Center from July 29 – 31, will make America’s Finest City home to some of the top technologists, researchers, policy makers, governmental agencies and investors all looking to collaborate together under one roof.

“We are looking forward to having a great conference that really creates some strong business and innovation opportunities for our nation’s future,” said Kris Ellis with EngEx 2010. “The plan is to evolve some big ideas into action from this conference.”
EngEx will be three days of innovation, creativity, business negotiation, planning, contract development and plenty of networking for some of the most talented individuals working on the next stage in the nation’s green movement. The conference will also provide keynote addresses by national green technology leaders, information on grant opportunities and a career and internship fair.

“There will be plenty of decision makers at this conference that will be able to develop and implement that next generation of green engineering businesses,” Ellis said. “Investors will really want to check out this conference to get some great business development collaboration ideas. In fact, more than thirty different disciplines of engineering will be represented at this ground-breaking conference.”

Among the topics planned for the conference are renewable energy; the electric grid; desalination; wastewater treatment; fuel infrastructure; sustainable planning; carbon storage and even carbon reuse technologies.

“EngEx 2010 will be a showcase of the latest research and development of green technologies,” Ellis said. “However it will also be an opportunity for corporations and government agencies to present their technologies, policies and strategies to a large public audience.”

Registration for EngEx 2010 begins on February 8; however advance registration is now available with special exclusive benefits. Among the special perks are a preferred notification the day registration goes on sale; discounted early bird pricing and an extra special hotel accommodation offer. To get on the advance registration list, please visit www.engexpo.com.

More than 250 exhibitors are also expected at the event.  To find out more information on the event, please visit www.engexpo.com.

NASHUA, N.H., — The conference program for the Photovoltaics World Conference & Expo, to be held February 23-25, 2010 in Austin, Texas, has been finalized. Recent advances in photovoltaics technology and manufacturing processes will be addressed, as well as emerging applications for photovoltaic-based solar power generation systems. Information will be presented in two different tracks and seven sessions over a three-day program. The conference will be held in conjunction with PennWell’s Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America, which covers all forms of renewable energy, including the wind, solar, biomass, hydro, geothermal, ocean/tidal/wave, bio-power, bio-fuels hydrogen and energy sectors. Nearly 4,000 renewable energy power professionals attended the 2009 conference, and strong growth in 2010 is expected.

 ”I’m delighted that we are able to present such a strong conference program on photovoltaics that covers not only new manufacturing technologies, but strategic market and policy concerns,” said Pete Singer, Editor-in-Chief of Photovoltaics World and program committee chair. Photovoltaics World, launched in 2009, is the newest member of PennWell’s Electronics Media Group and the Renewable Energy World Network. Through its magazine, website and e-newsletters, Photovoltaics World covers photovoltaics manufacturing and solar power generation.

 Opportunities in the photovoltaics (PV) market in 2010 remain strong according to analysts. “Utilities and home-owners are increasingly interested in PV systems and large utility ecosystem partners, such as construction and merchant power generation firms, are looking into photovoltaics,” said Alfonso Velosa, Research Director, Semiconductors, Gartner, Tucson, AZ. Dave Cavanaugh, Senior Analyst, Pike Research, Boulder, CO, is also positive: “Led by a strong recovery of demand in Germany and burgeoning growth in Italy, Japan and the United States, we are forecasting that demand for solar modules in 2010 will grow by 43% to reach almost 6.8GW. This offers great news to a solar industry whose market demand as little as two quarters ago was looking dismal.”

 Still, there is some degree of uncertainty about how the PV market will be impacted by the stability of the global economy, the fate of government incentives, feed-in-tariff (FIT) restructuring, and overall sliding module prices. Another uncertainty is which of the many different types of competing photovoltaic technologies will emerge as the winner. Conventional crystalline silicon PV technology remains the market leader, but thin-film technologies are rapidly improving and are poised to gain in market share, particularly in the U.S. Organic photovoltaics (PV on plastic substrates) have also shown dramatic improvements of late, and are an ideal choice for some applications.

More details on the conference, including speakers, registration information, keynote talks, technical tours, networking breakfasts, and conference hours, can be found at http://www.pvworldevent.com.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu this week announced up to $338 million in Recovery Act funding for the exploration and development of new geothermal fields and research into advanced geothermal technologies. These grants will support 123 projects in 39 states, with recipients including private industry, academic institutions, tribal entities, local governments, and DOE’s National Laboratories. The grants will be matched more than one-for-one with an additional $353 million in private and non-Federal cost-share funds.

“The United States is blessed with vast geothermal energy resources, which hold enormous potential to heat our homes and power our economy,” said Secretary Chu. “These investments in America’s technological innovation will allow us to capture more of this clean, carbon free energy at a lower cost than ever before. We will create thousands of jobs, boost our economy and help to jumpstart the geothermal industry across the United States.”

These grants are directed towards identifying and developing new geothermal fields and reducing the upfront risk associated with geothermal development through innovative exploration and drilling projects and data development and collection. In addition, the grants will support the deployment and creative financing approaches for ground source heat pump demonstration projects across the country.

Collectively, these projects will represent a dramatic expansion of the U.S. geothermal industry and will create or save thousands of jobs in drilling, exploration, construction, and operation of geothermal power facilities and manufacturing of ground source heat pump equipment.

The projects selected for negotiation of awards fall in six categories:

•Innovative Exploration and Drilling Projects (up to $98.1 million): Twenty-four projects have been selected focusing on the development of new geothermal fields using innovative sensing, exploration, and well-drilling technologies.

•Coproduced, Geopressured, and Low Temperature Projects (up to $20.7 million): Eleven projects have been selected for the development of new low-temperature geothermal fields, a vast but currently untapped set of geothermal resources. This includes geothermal heat found in the hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells around the U.S., where up to ten barrels of hot water are produced for every barrel of oil.

•Enhanced Geothermal Systems Demonstrations (up to $51.4 million): Three projects have been selected for the exploration, drilling and development of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) to validate power production from deep hot rock resources using innovative technologies and approaches.

•Enhanced Geothermal Systems Components Research and Development / Analysis (up to $81.5 million): Forty-five projects have been selected to focus on research and development of new technologies to find and drill into deep hot rock formations, stimulate enhanced geothermal reservoirs, and convert the heat to power.

•Geothermal Data Development, Collection and Maintenance (up to $24.6 million): Three projects have been selected for the population of a comprehensive nationwide geothermal resource database to help identify and assess new fields.

•Ground Source Heat Pump Demonstrations (up to $61.9 million): Thirty-seven projects have been selected to demonstrate the deployment of ground source heat pumps for heating and cooling of a variety of buildings for a variety of customer types, including academic institutions, local governments and commercial buildings.