See that above? That’s the world’s largest battery energy storage station, or so says the State Grid Corporation of China and BYD. The two entities have just wrapped up construction on the Zhangbei-based project, which marries 40 Mega-Watts of renewable energy generation (both wind and solar), 36 Mega-Watt-Hours (MWh) of energy storage and a smart power transmission system. The goal? To provide a “stable solution for transferring vast amounts of renewable electricity safely to the grid on an unprecedented scale.” As it stands, BYD products 1GW of solar panels annually, and with China’s population still rising, it’s solutions like these that’ll help it grow while keeping efficiencies high. Soaking up rays for solar energy is all fine and well, but having a facility to capture and store it is where the equation really comes together; something tells us a few other nations will be scrambling to snatch the record in short order.

Continue reading China trumpets completion of ‘world’s largest battery energy storage station’

China trumpets completion of ‘world’s largest battery energy storage station’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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But what if the use of solar power could help data center owners save energy, reduce the cost of cooling data center equipment and guarantee a steady power supply? That’s the idea that IBM is exploring as it anticipates a greater use of servers that run on direct current (DC) and can respond to queries from customers in developing countries where the grid isn’t dependable, said Roger Schmidt, an IBM fellow and its chief engineer for data center energy efficiency.

Using its research lab in Bangalore, India, as a test site, IBM is developing equipment that will make it feasible to use solar power to help eliminate power conversion steps that lead to power losses, which become heat and requires the use of cooling equipment. Giant data farm operators such as Yahoo, Facebook and Google are always looking for lower-cost and efficient way to cool their data centers.

Using solar to directly power data centers is rare, Schmidt said (he said he doesn’t know of any data centers currently doing that). That’s partly because solar production can fluctuate, and a data center needs a steady, uninterrupted supply of power. Marrying the two will require equipment and wiring to adjust the voltage and make sure power from the grid will flow in when not enough solar energy is produced.

The emergence of DC servers is making solar energy, which flows out of solar panels also in DC, a more attractive source of power supply. In a typical rooftop solar system, the solar panels come with an inverter that converts the DC to alternating current (AC) so that it can join the electric grid. In fact, the power that runs from a power plant to your home is all AC, and along the way the AC power goes through equipment to lower its voltage because many of the appliances and gadgets we use run on much lower voltages.

More efficient conversions

Power reaches data center buildings today in AC, and then it goes through some AC-to-DC-to-AC conversion steps before reaching the servers. Although the servers take in AC (they are AC servers), it actually converts that internally into DC. Each conversion step leads to a bit of power losses, and cumulatively the losses add up to a significant amount of power and they are dissipated as heat. Many companies are working on reducing that power loss, including startups such as Transphorm, which counts Google as an investor.

Some companies in the data center world – from equipment makers to data center operators – have been advocating the use of DC servers and other equipment as a way to eliminate a conversion step or two, which not only reduces power losses but also the amount of money and equipment needed to keep the data center cool. Server manufactures, including Dell, Hewlett-Packard and of course IBM, have been rolling out DC servers.

Adding solar complements this effort to create a DC microgrid by eliminating an AC-to-DC conversion step. Solar also can be seen as a more reliable source of power for data centers in place like India, where the grid can go down three to four hours a day, Schmidt said. The Indian government has also set a goal of subsidizing the installations of 20 GW of grid-tied solar power and 2 GW of off-grid solar by 2022.

IBM has built a 50 KW solar array on top of its software lab in Bangalore to run its servers. The plan is to add a DC server, an ultra-fast IBM Power 775, and a “smart box” that will be able to take the DC power from solar panels and tweak the voltage to make it suitable to run the server, Schmidt said. The box also will monitor the power flow and make the switch to accept power from the grid when the solar panels aren’t producing much energy or not at all.

“If the move is toward DC power in a data center, the solar array provides a huge opportunity because it provides DC already,” he said.  “We want take advantage and hook directly up to our DC power server in that data center and eliminate some conversion losses.”

IBM, which sells not just servers and software but also services for operating data centers, wants to sell that box and the engineering know-how of wiring a solar array to power a data center, Schmidt said. He declined to say how long the project will take, except that it should be “less than a couple of years.”

Photo courtesy of IBM

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Welding is almost constantly required at some stage in most metallic fabrication jobs.Without an auto darkening welding helmet, these welding tasks can transform into cluttered, hard, and even hazardous.Stating the obvious, welding without a welding mask is extremely ill-advised but also welding with just regular colored glass mask can be ineffective. An auto darkening welding helmet will take care of these two dilemmas. Discover more on Lincoln auto darkening welding helmet here.

A fundamental helmet doesn’t adjust the tint to brightness.The downside to this is the fact that only high density light is viable. Welders usually flip up their helmets when not welding and then need to push it back down when performing welding labor.This may be time consuming and at times welders perilously neglect to flip down their mask although welding. An auto darkening welding helmet may be just the remedy for this kind of issue.the opposite is true.|The helmet’s filter adjusts to the light within the room for the best view.|The visor on the helmet automatically changes to the light within the room.}

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A top of the line end auto darkening welding helmet is made by Miller.Miller has a model with comparable design characteristics as a Hobart brand helmet.The Miller 227188 makes an exceptional helmet that has a camouflage design and with a 30% larger viewing glass.The reaction time for this model is one twenty thousandths of a second, and sells for about $300. This model has a 1/20,000 per second reaction time and sells for $300 a lot more or less.

Anyone who wants to weld wants the proper welding helmet to protect the eyes and face from dangerous ultraviolet waves.A fantastic method to avoid neck stains from nodding their head up and down from flipping there helmet off and on, is with an auto darkening welding helmet.

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Watch in HD Watch The First Part of This Project First At: www.youtube.com Visit Solar Tech Town for the full video: www.solartechtown.com I, Robert Smith, show you every step I take to building a custom made solar panel from scratch. I explain in detail about each item I use and why to use it, so the video is fairly long. I will be hosting the majority of the video on my own server so you can view it all in one take. It will take time to edit the video, but the more of you that subscribe to the video, the faster I’ll try to get it out to you guys as it just shows that people are interested and appreciate what I’m doing, as I’m providing this video for free unlike some videos you see on YouTube. The method I described in this video is just one way to go about it, however, there are many ways you can build a custom solar panel. Some use aluminum or plastic frames, but I found for a beginner, working with wood would probably be easier and cheaper. Overall, building a solar panel can be fun, but there are many factors that play into building a solar panel, and I as well still have an extreme amount to still learn about it. So I hope that for those wanting to learn more about solar energy and wanting to take the adventure of building their own solar panel will find this video very useful. To watch to full video just video, just visit www.solartechtown.com Again the video is fairly large, so to prevent from having to put 6 or 7 parts on youtube in 10 minute sections, I’m just …
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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Solar Panels On the Way to Henrietta
Green technology is popping up in waves across Texoma. Henrietta is one of the most recent cities to adopt plans for solar energy. Solar panels will cost a pretty penny, but Henrietta has played its cards just right. The city is only footing about 5% of the bill.
Read more on Newschannel 6 Wichita Falls

Solar Gadgets – Gotta Love Them

Forget the oil addiction, our biggest weakness as a nation is we are fools for gadgets. If it peels an onion 56 different ways, we have to own it. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself one question. When you go to a fair, how many gadgets do you end up bringing home? Be honest. There is no shame in it. In fact, I believe there is an argument to be made that a particular subject matter, whatever it is, isn’t mainstream until it includes gadgets. If this is true, solar energy may finally be a real alternative.

Most of us have far too many gadgets, particularly small personal gadgets. Cell phones, ipods, pdas, Bluetooth, I have them all. I find it somewhat ironic that all these small gadgets that are to make my life easier make me look like Sherpa walking around. Regardless, the digital age has one problem and you already know what it is. Gadgets require power and they always run down when you need them most. This, of course, results in you walking around with a power converter in your hand looking for a convenient outlet of some sort. Instead of looking like a junkie trying to find a fix, you can use a very useful new gadget.

Solar power packs are the latest and greatest thing when it comes to gadgets. Yes, I said solar. The packs come in a variety of forms, but they tend to look like the black folders for your compact discs. The packs are thin and light. When you are outside, you just unzip them, lay them in the sun and plug your power hungry gadget into them. The packs will put a charge into your gadget and you’ll be ready to go.  

Finally, solar power we can use on a personal level. I guess it is here to stay.

Get more info at http://technologicalgadgets.info

Some residents use home solar panel gadgets to act as alternative source of power for their small home appliances, effectively complementing the electricity consumption from the local utility.

Still there are home owners who invest on residential solar panels that can fully power the home, running all its appliances, water heater and even the swimming pool. However, for you to own and install your own home solar panel that will work as sole source of your everyday power requirements can be very costly. A solar panel unit actually has an exorbitant price of several thousand dollars.

Now, how solar panel works can be answered simply. It has photovoltaic cells in the panels that mainly work by collecting the energy from the rays of the sun that falls on them. Such photovoltaic cells effectively convert solar energy into electricity for home use.

You can very well consider these gadgets as investments, because you need to shell out a sizeable amount of money in order to purchase and install them as your power source. It is certainly a serious investment as albeit you only have to spend an initial sum of money, the amount needed is really a big one. After the purchase you need not worry about it as the solar gadgets runs on its own, creating endless supply of power for your residence with the help, of course, of the sun.

Many advocates of clean and green environment recommend the utilization of home solar panel if only because the energy that it gathers and converts to power comes from the sun. Hence, the produced power is clean and harmless to the world environment. Likewise, you need not worry about solar energy running out as the supply is endless. Solar energy is clean renewable energy, and so is considered as the best alternative energy there is.

For more photovoltaic cells and home solar panel articles, do visit our Solar Panel World blog.