Cleantech Update

Ill Wind Blows Over Storage Market When it comes to discussing the "need" for storage to supplement intermittent wind energy, industry professionals are of two very different minds. The majority of wind energy development companies we've spoken with say there's no need for storage; any limitations in the ability to distribute wind power are due to a lack of transmission infrastructure. By contrast, many energy insiders say storage could make the business case for wind even stronger. Objective analysis indicates that while need may be too strong of a word, in many cases storage would greatly benefit wind. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), has taken a firm position against storage, especially onsite at wind generation facilities . According to the recent Pike Research report by David Link entitled Energy Storage Technology Markets, "...The association’s official position is that storage systems are not required to integrate wind energy into electric powe...

Anyone know anything about Sola Ventura ? Not much on their website, but they seem to have a unique distributed cleantech business model. Sola Ventura LLC brings technology and investment opportunity together to solve clients energy needs. Onsite Green Energy Production can reduce your energy usage, lock in a lower rate for an extended period of years, and cost you nothing for installation and maintenance of any solar, wind, geothermal, and fuel cells required. Please Comment if you know more...

This is a excerpt from the Fast Company series on Distributed Energy Generation. It reviews the emerging Distributed Energy Industry, ,and suggest feed in Tarrifs funded by a gneral utility tax. Editor In fact, wherever a little public funding has gotten the ball rolling, consumer appetite for micropower has been essentially bottomless. To see just how fast the microgrid can emerge, there's no better place to look than Germany, where the market has been blown open thanks to what's known as a feed-in tariff. If net metering is simply the right to sell your power back to the grid at retail price, a feed-in tariff adds a little sweetener on top, paid for by a surcharge on all customers' bills. In effect, feed-in tariffs offer the same financing deal to citizens at large that utilities get on any power plant they build. The tariffs have been successfully adopted in 47 countries -- but Germany is by far the global leader. The policy was introduced there back in 1999, and the in...