“More and more folks in traditional fossil fuels business are coming to understand that they also have to master an understanding of the clean tech sector.”

Gov. Patrick was an appropriate luminary to inaugurate an event that focuses on the convergence of energy, information, building and transportation technologies, because Massachusetts has been so dynamic in transforming its energy economy in recent years.

In his remarks, Gov. Patrick highlighted the Commonwealth’s growth strategy around clean energy and clean tech, which has focused on three pillars: education, innovation and infrastructure.

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GREEN BIZ

Russia has set renewable energy targets for national power generation and pledged to support those goals. Shown, Moscow power station.

The government yesterday signed a decree that includes measures to support wind, photovoltaic and small hydropower projects across the country, Dmitry Babanskiy, a spokesman for the Energy Ministry, said…

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BLOOMBERG

Gallium nitride technology may be able to reduce loss during power conversion from 10% to as little as 1%. Shown, gallium nitride wafer. (photo credit Alec Hodges)

Umesh Mishra thinks day in and day out about power conversion—the trillions of adjustments in voltage, frequency, and current made daily to deliver electricity from wall outlets to computers, TVs, virtually any electronic device.

And he thinks about the gadgets that do the converting, mostly built using silicon.

Collectively, those converters waste nearly as much power in the form of heat as all the energy produced by all the renewable sources in the United States.

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PACIFIC STANDARD

Peru will build more power stations and pipelines to keep its energy infrastructure growing along with its economy. Shown, Mines and Energy Minister Jorge Merino.

One of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America, Peru needs to add 500 megawatts in electrical generation capacity a year to avoid shortages, especially in its vast mining sector, experts say.

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REUTERS

Up to 50 Oyster 800 wave energy devices will be installed in the array offshore Scotland.

Edinburgh-based Aquamarine Power hailed the move as a milestone for the wave industry, but the ultimate success of the project is dependent on the upgrading of grid infrastructure connecting the mainland to the Isles.

Western Isles Council has approved planning for a local onshore hydroelectric power plant to be connected to Aquamarine’s array but it is likely to be 2017 at the earliest before work on an interconnector for the Western Isles is completed, allowing full power transmission.

Read full article by Graham Huband in the
COURIER

Mozambique will probably be the first country in East Africa to develop the capability to export liquefied natural gas (LNG), possibly followed by Tanzania. Shown, Pemba port, Mozambique. (photo credit tonrulkens)

Consequently, exploration activities in East Africa have evolved at a much slower pace relative to other African regions. However, the pace of exploration activity has recently picked up after foreign oil and gas companies made a series of sizable discoveries in several East African countries.

This new regional analysis covers emerging developments in the oil and gas sectors in five East African countries: Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Madagascar. The larger area that EIA considers as East Africa includes 21 countries. In this region, by far the largest oil and gas producers are Sudan and South Sudan, which are not covered in this report because they are mature oil producers.

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EURASIA REVIEW

Compressed air energy storage plants can re-generate as much as 80% of the electricity they take in. Shown, Oregon wind farm. (photo credit mmcclure88)

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Bonneville Power Administration identified two unique methods for this energy storage approach and two eastern Washington locations to put them into practice.

Compressed air energy storage plants could help save the region’s abundant wind power—which is often produced at night when winds are strong and energy demand is low—for later, when demand is high and power supplies are more strained. These plants can also switch between energy storage and power generation within minutes, providing flexibility to balance the region’s highly variable wind energy generation throughout the day.

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R&D

Oman doesn’t have large natural gas reserves for steam generation and injection to stimulate its old, heavy-oil fields; solar power gets the job done. Shown, well in Oman. (photo credit Jim Blender Blue)

Similar facilities have been gathering sunlight in the Southern California desert for years, using the focused light to generate electricity.

In Oman, however, the facility generates steam. Pipes shunt the steam underground, where it coaxes heavy oil from the rocks.

The new solar steam plant is the first of its kind in the Middle East. It was built by GlassPoint Solar, a Fremont company that uses renewable power to squeeze oil from the ground.

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SFGATE

The US gave approval for an LNG project that will export domestically-abundant natural gas. Shown, a well in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale gas fields. (photo credit Clint)

In a positive indicator for BHP Billiton’s petroleum business, the US Department of Energy gave conditional approval for the Freeport LNG project in Texas to export to nations that do not have a free trade agreement with the US.

The US has traditionally been reluctant to allow energy exports, given the nation has needed imports to meet its energy needs, but the recent shale boom has created a gas glut that has allowed the nation to consider more exports.

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WA TODAY

“Oil is the lifeblood of the economy.” says Vice-Governor Gao Shuxun. Shown, pagoda in Dali, Yunnan province.

With a capacity of 440,000 barrels of crude a day and 12 billion cubic metres of natural gas, the pipelines, which will run from this construction site in south-western China all the way to the Indian Ocean at the Bay of Bengal in Myanmar, are central to Chinese efforts to improve energy security as its economy continues to expand.

Read full article by Clifford Coonan in the
NATIONAL