Chief minister Narendra Modi on Thursday formally launched work on the 500 MW solar power park, Asia's largest such project, at Charanka village in Patan district, and expressed confidence that the park would bring a lot of benefits for the local populace and the area.

In conventional photoelectrochemical cells, sunlight is converted into electricity and an electrolyte is used to move electrons which creates a current. The problem is that these cells have chromophores, which are light-absorbing dyes that degrade after being exposed to sunlight. But with self-repairing solar cells, this would no longer be an issue. To create these new solar cells, the Purdue research team utilized two crucial elements needed to make this technology imitate nature, which was molecular recognition and thermodynamic metastability. This allows the system to be dissolved and reassembled on a regular basis, replacing photo-damaged dyes continuously.

Hai công ty Toshiba và Tokyo Electric Power sẽ trình lên chính phủ Nhật Bản kế hoạch xây một trong những trạm năng lượng mặt trời lớn nhất thế giới ở Bulgaria.

Trong các tế bào quang điện hóa truyền thống, ánh sáng mặt trời được biến đổi thành điện năng và chất được phân được sử dụng để dịch chuyển các electron tạo ra dòng điện. Vấn đề của các tế bào truyền thống này nằm ở chỗ các nhóm mang màu - vốn là các chất nhuộm màu hấp thụ ánh sáng, sẽ bị yếu đi dưới ánh sáng mặt trời.

There’s a lot of debate over to what extent the demand for cleantech products and oil prices are linked, but in general sky high oil prices seem to help boost demand for goods like electric cars, and biofuels, as well as stimulate cleantech investing. At least that’s how it looked back in 2008, when oil traded around $100 a barrel for awhile, and hit a high of $145.

Li Keqiang, the top official tipped as China’s next Prime Minister, has begun a four-day visit to the UK with the announcement of a £6.4m licensing deal between Scottish and Sino-Scottish companies on clean energy development. Waste-to-energy technology developed by Scottish company W2E Engineering will be licensed to Sino-Scottish firm Shanghai Huanan Boiler and Vessel Cochran (SHBV Cochran) under the agreement.

Biofuel crops can potentially meet half of the current global demand for fuel without affecting food crop production, according to researchers at the University of Illinois. Ximing Cai, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the university, led a team of researchers in isolating land areas across the globe suitable for producing biofuel grass crops with minimal agricultural or environmental impact.

Wind power rose by 18.5 per cent in 2010 and now meets 16 per cent of demand. Luis Atienza, managing director of Spain's electricity grid, predicted that "within three years wind power will overtake nuclear as an electricity source". At its peak, on November 9, wind power met 43 per cent of demand.

Energy will be at the top of the agenda at the first EU summit chaired by Hungary on 4 February. Officials will push for negotiation between leaders to focus on controversial EU energy market reform and measures to prevent Europe losing its lead as a clean energy hub to China and other emerging economies.

Conventional fuel sucks an enormous amount of resources out of disaster relief efforts, because it has to be purchased and then transported to its point of use, often under extreme conditions. It also creates new hazards at the relief site in terms of storage, leaks and spillage, along with emissions and noise from the generators. Solar and other renewable energy sources, such as portable wind power, practically eliminate these added costs and complications.

As every middle-school child knows, in the process of photosynthesis, plants take the sun's energy and convert it to electrical energy. Now a Tel Aviv University team has demonstrated how a member of the animal kingdom, the Oriental hornet, takes the sun's energy and converts it into electric power -- in the brown and yellow parts of its body -- as well.

Gasoline prices are forecasted to increase from $2.35 per gallon in 2009 to $3.69 by 2035. The number is lower than what was forecasted by the EIA last year. By 2022, the retail price of gas is predicted to be $3.43 per gallon, compared to $2.68 for E85. Because gas has a higher energy content, the prices are actually similar per mile traveled, the report said.

Abengoa Solar Inc. expects to start construction in mid-2011 on a plant in Arizona that will store sun-generated heat to provide six extra hours a day of electric-generating capacity. The heat creates steam that is used to turn power turbines. Abengoa's $2 billion Solana plant is expected to be the first major stored-heat plant in the U.S. when it enters service in 2013. Some already exist in Spain and a few more are on the drawing board for Nevada and California.

Ontario residents will see a 10 per cent rebate on electricity costs for the next five years, starting January 2011, the province announced on Nov. 18. The Ontario Clean Energy Benefit is intended to help Ontarians cope with rising hydro costs, Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci stated in a press release. "This is more than the provincial portion of the HST and will help the average family save more than $100 per year in hydro costs," he added.

The sun power industry in Germany, the world's leader in solar energy, is facing a tough year amid the threat of growing competition from Asia and falling prices. German solar-power companies rebounded last year from a dramatic slump in profit during 2009 as a boom in the sector took shape last year.

According to the company’s statements, the tall building will have a wind tunnel in the middle . The air will be converted to electricity as soon as it gets down to a series of turbines. The Betz limit value theory says that the maximum harvestable energy from the wind is 59.3% but the company claims that the system is not constrained by it.

Biofuel technology developer New Generation Biofuels Holdings, Inc., has secured a contract with the City of Baltimore to evaluate its biofuel for use in institutional boilers over a one year period. The maximum volume for the program is capped at 440,000 gallons, said the company based in Columbia, Maryland.

Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) Group announced that there will be additional 2 billion KWh to be supplied to national grid by Son La hydropower plant and Song Tranh 2 hydropower plant. On January 7, 2011, EVN will officially put into operation the first turbine of Son La hydropower plant after over five years of construction. At the same time, the group will also have the first turbine of Song Tranh 2 hydropower plant joined the national grid.

The Indian government recently provided subsidies worth $10 million for projects aimed at promoting the use of solar energy in rural areas. The subsidies went to projects which distributed solar lanterns and installed solar home-lighting systems in villages across the country.

Bulgaria will export an estimated 7500GWh of electricity in 2010, more than double its 2009 figure of 3700GWh, announced the National Electric Company (NEK). This represents 21.6% of total power generated in the country. Exports have increased significantly as domestic consumption was reduced by the recession. “We reached an all-time exports record this year,” Parvanov said. “Mainly because we improved the management of the tenders and our product.”