[amor de cosmos]

Libya Solar Potential 5x Larger Than Oil Reserves (Infographic)
June 29, 2013

If Libya covered just 0.1% of its land mass with solar panels, it could generate around five times the amount of energy from solar power that it currently produces in crude oil according to research published in the journal Renewable Energy.

Libya is the 16th largest country in the world in terms of land mass according to OPEC.org. Its economy depends primarily on revenues from the oil sector, which contribute about 95 percent of export earnings, about one quarter of gross domestic product, and 60 percent of public sector wages. Substantial revenues from the energy sector, combined with a small population, give Libya one of the highest per capita GDPs in Africa.

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/06/29/...s-infographic/

250 MW Unsubsidized Solar Energy Project Being Developed In Spain
by Nathan
on June 28, 2013

A completely unsubsidized 250 MW solar energy project is currently being developed in the north-western region of Cádiz, Spain — near the town of Trebujena. The Spain-based solar energy company Tentusol is behind the very large project, which will eventually cover an area of around 800 hectares.

The €275 million project will be built over a period of 2–3 years in five separate phases of 50 MW each. The first phase is expected to be connected by the end of 2015, and the final phase by the end of 2017.

Once completed, the solar park will feature somewhere around 90,000 PV panels, which will generate about 420,000 MW a year. That’s enough to power around 117,000 homes in the region, according to Tentusol.

http://solarlove.org/250-mw-unsubsid...oped-in-spain/
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/06/28/...g-up-in-spain/

The Future of Solar and Wind Powered Shipping
Solar and wind power could reduce fossil fuel consumption in shipping.
Kevin Bullis
June 28, 2013

People like to build solar whatnots, even if they don’t make much practical sense. Solar cars. Solar planes. This week I stepped aboard the world’s largest solar-powered ship, a 100-metric-ton catamaran that, last year, motored around the world without using any fuel. Now it’s being used for a scientific expedition—the fact that it doesn’t emit exhaust gases makes it good for collecting data about the ocean and atmosphere.

Exclusively solar-powered ships almost certainly aren’t the future of shipping, but solar power could help reduce emissions.

The solar boat I toured, the Turanor (the name comes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy books) weighs about 100 tons, and to provide enough power for an average cruising speed of just 5 knots, requires 29,124 of some of the most efficient silicon solar panels available, many of them cantilevered out past the edge of the boat. It’s made from expensive, lightweight composite materials. Container ships transport as much as 150,000 tons of freight and travel much faster.

“Personally I don’t believe solar energy is appropriate for big ships and commercial traffic. It would be a dream, but it’s crazy. You would not get enough power,” says Gerard D’Aboville, the Turanor’s captain. “You can go around the world with solar energy. But it’s not the future of boats. It’s more a symbolic gesture.”

But while solar power likely won’t replace fossil-fuel power outright in large cargo ships, it could work for some smaller ships, or to help lower fuel consumption on the big ones. D’Aboville says solar panels might work well for small ferries—indeed a company called SolarSailor already operates such ferries. One option is combining solar and wind power to produce some or all of the power for a ship.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view...ered-shipping/