Automated Technologies Australia
Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:48:59 +0000
For a few years now I have been following the development of a number of renewable energy technologies. This is a keen interest of mine as my background has been predominantly in the power industry, and I of course am very concerned about the release that millions of years of stored carbon is having on the climate.
Throughout 2009 I have visited a few Solar companies in Australia and in August I visited the United States and did likewise. My intent was to stop at a number of solar company installations, preferably unannounced, to see whether what they were telling people was going on with their business, did actually reflect the reality on the ground.
This is what I saw, and my interpretation of where solar technology could be headed.
Note: my posts are usually too long, so I have covered Australia today and the US visits are coming up in a future diary.
In a very long and detailed discussion on the previous Australian governments antagonistic, if not intentionally destructive policies towards renewable/alternate energy, I laid out the opportunities lost to our country as a result of this intentional market distortion approach.
Briefly these included Suntech, an Australian citizen having to move his business offshore where $6 Million in seed capital from the Chinese government turned into a $7.2 Billion business.
Ausra who was able to secure VC backing in the US for their solar thermal technology despite David Mills trying for many years without success in Australia.
Enviromission with a technology which has been declared a base load solar technology also finding friendlier policy in the US despite having tried for many years to garner government support with a tested and proven technology.
There are others, among them a company called CSG Solar who have taken their technology, the Australians who developed it and opened a factory in Germany. Value adding to the German economy.
The list goes on and in fact there have been a number of very good books written on the subject of the Greenhouse Mafia, Australia's fossil fuel industry players and their control over government energy and environmental policy.
High and Dry Scorcher: The Dirty Politics of Climate Change
"According to Pacific Hydro, the decision to stop the MRET has sent overseas some $10 Billion in wind energy investment alone.
Much of the significant R&D, intellectual property and high tech manufacturing opportunities associated with these industries are being irreversibly lost to Australia."
So significant opportunities have been lost in the renewables sector as a result of intentional government policy. Were it simply a case of the government ignoring the industry that would be bad enough, however as all good stories of technology suppression go, the government introduced a process whereby interested renewable energy companies, back in 2005/2006, were invited to spend a lot of money in order to apply for grants which the Federal Government had already pre-determined the outcome of.
Again go back to my article here to see what I am referring to.
For a fledgling start up with a brilliant idea that is what government grants are intended to do.
Give them a leg up.
The Howard administration used it to make these companies spend operating working capital to apply for a grant which they were never going to get. Also to find out as much as possible about their technologies.
Extract from "Minutes of a meeting of the Low Emissions Technology Advisory Group (LETAG) with the Australian Government"
I have written on what got me thinking something was fundamentally wrong with our mechanisms we employ and impact we accept as the 'price of doing business' in our pursuit of energy in High Country to Appalachia. But it was also watching the science gradually work its way into news cycles, a hurricane here, flood there, wildfire or bushfire somewhere else, all pointing to something not quite right with our climate.
So from my point of view technology is the answer and in about March of 2008 I had come across a technology concept called concentrated solar. This is where diffuse sunlight was collected either through the use of mirrors, often in the form of heliostats, or Fresnel lens, to focus or concentrate the sunlight from a large area to a small area.
I'd first heard of concentrating the sun to create heat way back when I was an apprentice at a coal fired power station and had done a course on Energy and Society. A couple of the books I'd read as part of the course covered something called parabolic trough technology.
"the answer is there in the row upon row of mirrors, steel frames, pipes and generators at Kramer Junction. It works. 'It's an alternative energy source. No one can fail to get excited about that,' Norris said. 'In the long run, this is the way we as a people should head. We're here on this planet for ever and we'd better take care of it. I feel this industry, right, is going to be the grandfather of what we're going to end up with. We're doing a good thing.'
The near 50 hectares of trough shaped collectors at Kramer Junction are not only proof that solar energy on a grand scale works; they also demonstrate how government policy, in this case of both the US Government and the Californian Government, can get things moving; taking a fledgling technology, encouraging private investors to invest what eventually totalled $1.25Billion, and fast-tracking the concept to the point where it was a viable, job-creating, clean source of electricity. Kramer Junction power station employs 125 people - managers, operators, maintenance staff... and mirror cleaners....
Page 51 The Big Switch, Clean energy for the 21st century, (c) 1994, Gavin Gilchrist
In Luz's design, the solar trough heats a working fluid that circulates to a power station where water is super heated into steam, which then powers an electricity producing turbine....The power plant built at Harper Lake, California, in the Mojave desert in 1989
....produce enough power for about 170,000 homes for as little as 9ckWh
........unenergy comment:down from 29ckWh in 1984 in their pilot plant
But then this happened...
Unlike the tax breaks for the U.S. oil and gas industries, which amounted to $8.8 Billion in 1989, the federal solar tax credit required annual renewal. In 1989, Congress renewed the credits for 9 months instead of the normal 12, forcing Luz to finish its 1990 project 3 months earlier than planned and driving up costs. The final blow came a few months later when a faulty analysis led California's finance department to temporarily revoke the company's tax exemption, leading nervous investors-who had already put more than $1.25 Billion into Luz- to pull the plug. Page 145/146 Power Surge (c)1995 Christopher Flavin, Nicholas Lenssen
So a fairly new solar technology in 5 years had managed to move from pilot stage plant at a cost of 29ckWh to reduce costs down to 1/3rd of that, and remarkably two beauracratic decisions had created an artificial slump in investor confidence to shut down this technology from progressing further. This was despite the level of promise it had shown in such a short time.
At the time, 1995, 1996, I was just learning about coal fired power stations, boilers, and turbines, but can remember thinking even back then what an amazing future we have coming up when 1800's technology which relied on burning clumps of coal, burning dirt, may eventually be replaced by the input only of the sun.
However it was not to be, as I have previously alluded there were forces at work behind the scenes to see that people and the planet were not as important as profit.
We knew how to profit, not how to protect
A similar thing has happened in the US throughout its history with government being used as a force to kill developing energy technologies through short sighted policy. As per this chart below from this article.
the main reason there is not enough manufacturing capacity is because the US has an appalling track record in supporting the industry: 3 times over the past decade, Congress allowed the main regulatory instrument, the PTC, to elapse, causing a catastrophic drop in installations:
Discovering that there was new life being breathed into concentrated Solar power in March 2008, once again had me excited about this future which I had read about and briefly wondered when it would begin to happen all the way back in 1995.
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Australian government non-support for renewable energy I have discussed previously the process of the allocation of monies by the LETAG group for Australia's Low Emission Development Technology Fund. That of the company attendees all are heavily dependent on high emissions of Carbon Dioxide.
I also pointed out that of the recipients of Australian taxpayer monies, all but one were highly profitable, fossil fuel organizations.
The stand out being a Solar company developing a utility scale Concentrated Photovoltaic technology.
I had tried on a number of occasions to contact and submit my CV to Solar Systems as I knew they would need engineering personnel to design, construct and commission their 154MW plant. Despite having a very long background in the power industry in Australia, no response was ever received back from the company. However I'd been researching the different technologies and came across another Australian organization claiming to be developing the same technology.
Green and Gold Energy The company was called Green and Gold Energy, based in Adelaide Australia who, when I wrote an email to them, sent me back the following details as to what they were offering with a device they had dubbed the Suncube.
A single unit at $1,800 installed, produces 750kwh per year. Negotiations are underway with state and federal governments in Australia which will see a reasonable rate of return on the wholesale electricity price. Investing in Suncube farms is expected to be accessible via means of units in a trust. These trusts are expected to return over 12.5% P.A. over the life of the cubes.
What the owner of this company told me in an email was that he'd designed a simple to construct, dual axis tracking solar concentrating unit which he was intending to sell to the public via unit shares in a large scale solar farm.
I figured this was fairly harmless opinion based information plus my site was lucky to be getting 30 hits a month back in early 2008. I also did a lot more research on this technology coming up with this page:
Concentrated PhotovoltaicsAnd at the time I had bought some shares and reported on one of the companies which had developed this technology called Emcore in these two financial articles.
Shining Light on EMCORE In the Cat Bird Seat: A Review of Emcore’s BusinessWhat I wasn't aware of was previous history of this Green and Gold company and the existence in the stock market of blogs which specialized in negative reporting in order to make money for their clients from the practice of short selling. So around the time my articles were published there was a lot of negative reporting directed specifically at the proprietor of GGE and Emcore directors.
Citron Research shines some daylight on Emcore’s solar business 7 More mentions/articles hereAlong with this campaign of negative reporting, there was a protracted battle between a number of bloggers on the Emcore financial message board who claimed that he had unearthed that this company GGE were a scam and thus ALL Concentrated Photovoltaic companies were scams.
As I have indicated the loss of renewable energy technology opportunities to Australia have been multiple, so I chose to take on this blogger, or 'basher' as company criticizers are called, and have spent the better part of a year posting counter material to what he has been.
How does the technology work?
From my webpage on Concentrated PhotovoltaicsThere is a new innovative cell for PV electricity generation called a triple junction, 3J cell, which has been adapted from space application solar cell technology. Current standard photovoltaic technology is designed to harness a single band of the suns energy. If you look at the spectrum of light generated by the sun, you will see that the predominant bands are the blue, green and red spectrums.
This photovoltaic technology differs from silicon or Cadmium Telluride flat panel in that instead of capturing and utilizing only a single band of the spectrum, it actually captures 3 bands - the Red, Green and Blue - instantly increasing the energy available for use by around 300%. Emcore and Spectrolab are market leaders in the development and production of these triple-junction cells. The current best efficiency levels of these cells was around 39%, but most recently has crossed over the 40% mark and with further development will lead to significantly higher efficiencies.
Emcore, one of the 3J cell developers has a target of 45% efficient cells by 2010. This may not sound like much, but when you consider that it is in fact a 20% increase from the current 39% efficiency here alone (think utility scale 1000MW to 1200MW), it starts to add up. Now to give a brief example of where PV technology is currently at, I will use First Solar's (FSLR) last annual report as a guide. 457,000 panels to produce 30MW of power equates to 65 watts per panel. First Solar’s efficiency is currently at 10.6%. With others, such as Sunpower (SPWR), obtaining efficiencies up to 23.4%. As you can see from the graphic below, 1m2 of sunlight at higher efficiency has a significant impact on the output of a solar panel.
The second innovation involves harnessing more photons by using a larger collection area and redirecting light. Most of the traditional terrestrial (on earth) means of photovoltaic electricity production from the sun rely on a 1-1 ratio. That is the glass used is simply a means to enclose and protect the silicon (or Cadmium Telluride) cells underneath from the elements. The area of silicon to produce 1 watt of power is dependent on the sun on the day, the quality of the silicon used, direct or non-direct exposure to the sun and of course the technology used and its respective conversion efficiency.
To understand concentration, think about a magnifying glass or the inverse affect of a lighthouse lens or a car headlight. The goal in these instances is to manipulate light. In one case to a focus on a single point, in others from a single point.
In the case of concentrated photovoltaics, there are a number of ways this is done. The first is by utilizing what is called a Fresnel Lens. Many of the current CPV developers have adopted this method ofconcentration achieving ratios upwards of 1000 suns. For an idea of what I am referring to, take a look at the diagram on Sol3g’s site showing a how the lens redirects light to a secondary lens.
Now consider the ratios. Instead of one sun's concentration, we have 1000 and better sun concentration. Instead of 10.6% efficiency, we have 40% efficiency. (I’ll round down to 3 ½ times). So for the same 1cm2 area of a CPV cell versus a standard flat plate cell, we get 3500 times the power generated. Even using Sunpower, a silicon based PV manufacturer, as a base efficiency of 22%, we still get 1500 times the watts from the same area of cell. Now if you think this can't be right, please take a look at the diagram comparing PV flat plate vs the CPV cell size.
The Receiver is much like an integrated circuit board found in your PC. The one shown above with the active cell area in the centre, mounted on an ICB with a positive and negative voltage terminal along with two bypass diodes in case of failure allowing the rest of the panel to keep generating if one cell fails.
In other words you would need to produce 3500cm2 or 1500cm2 the amount ofsilicon/CdTe panel to compete with 1cm2 of a CPV cell. So on a strictly capital base for machinery and sq ft factory space you need to produce the same output of MW off the production line vs standard PV, this in itself will make available substantial capital cost savings. With a touted figure of a 1GW production line utilizing triple junction cells and Suncube/Sunryder technology the cost is approximately $120-$150M USD. For an equivalent sized flat panel production line it could be as much as $1200 M USD.
This technology, along with the potential for jobs in Australia, prompted me to fly down to Adelaide in March of 2009 (a new airline had a $22 fare special), and unannounced, as I was not sure who was telling the truth, visited Green and Gold Energy.
The owner or proprieter, Greg Watson had designed a simple dual tracking CPV system, first as a hemisphere or what he termed the Sunball in 2005 with a public airing in November shown below.
Mr Watson was a prolific blogger throughout the development of the prototype 'Sunball' above which he won an Australian TV show people's choice award for best invention in late 2005. But by January 2006, as I have indicated lack of Australian government support, Mr Watson who had been working closely with the Australian Greenhouse Office, found them not returning phone calls and in fact they had just gone all in stating complete support for an Australian nuclear industry at the expense of other alternatives. At the same time, Mr Watson also states that he will now be offering a Suncube, a cube based concentrating PV unit.
The first photo shows initial prototype, second larger Sunball, and first prototype of a 4 cell Suncube. The second photo shows the Suncube prototype, the third a larger 9 cell model.
Finally settling on the 9 cell Suncube design, Mr Watson eventually installed 10 Suncubes on the roof of GGE. Each capable of self aligning to the sun through some clever electronics, as well as producing about 330W/pk per unit. This is real, I have seen it installed and operating with my own eyes.
Here is the device going through an automatic lock on the Sun. Note it is a long and fairly boring video, but does actually show a unit which all along Green and Gold Energy had been stating they would be manufacturing and others continuously disputed these claims.
ES Systems
The process for getting this invention out into the wider world was one similar in structure to a franchise. Green and Gold Energy signed licensing agreements with firms in Korea and Spain which had at the time feed in tariffs. Also in Australia and India. The licensing allows these organizations to work together with each other and the chip supplier to continuously improve the robustness of the Suncube design which has been through about 9 or 10 major design variations. ES Systems is the Korean Licencee.
There is a short video here of the unit tracking. Many more here.
The company has lots of variations on the original Suncube design which is what I think GGE hoped would happen. Below are a few or you can visit their site and see a 595W, 522W, 713W and 357 Watt module here.
Note, I haven't been to ES System, but they do appear genuine even having been visited by a financial advisory firm who reported on their progress in the context of the cells they use from Emcore.
Square Engineering
The Indian Company who became licencee are a company near Pune called Square Engineering. They have built a production line, factory and have commenced manufacturing. You can see a small number of the Suncubes they have installed on their factory site.
AC Gava
The Spanish Green and Gold Licencee is a company called AC Gava who it appears have taken a variation of the original 4 cell module and built a supersized tracking unit with standard PV panels to compare the two technologies against. I just checked their site and they have a reference to an organization in Spain called ISFOC, who have bought together multiple system manufacturers of this technology into a test center which will allow them to see how each performs. I've just emailed Mr Watson now to see if they are working with ISFOC as I could not find reference to this on ISFOC Site.
There is a series of Videos on the Leonardo Energy site on the ISFOC installation.
I've done a lot of automation work in my time, and for about 2 years was a production line automation technician, AKA robotics and PLC geek, at Ford Motor Company in Australia. So I know how mechanical stuff gets put together as I used to have to program the nitty gritty stuff where even a 1mm error in a spot weld or a bit of dirt on a sensor can cause major quality issues. I have also done a lot of Autocad design work. Mr Watson showed me what he and a small team had done, and I have to admit I was impressed. Putting aside all other considerations, had these guys been working at a place like Ford they'd be well respected.
They have complete 3D cad drawings for each component of the Suncube, materials listings and tolerances, designed their own software and tracking electronics, their own primary and secondary optics, heat sinking for dissipation of the concentrated heat from the lens, integrated it all together and have been running a system of continuous improvement on the device for well almost 4 years. They have integrated commonality of parts in that brackets, gears, motors are mostly dual use, with Mr Watson negotiating a deal with Emcore, had received 3,500 registrations of interest in his device, and then the bashers stepped in to take the industry down.
Now I don't want to seem overly naieve here, I know organizations fail all the time, particularly start ups, but as I said, I have enough experience in process automation to spot the b/s artists, and after spending about 6 hours unannounced, reviewing what this company have done, I personally think the device and the business model have potential. The negative Public Relations, targeted in this case, may have taken a heavy toll however, limiting the ability of the company to make inroads in the sector. Which once again is a terrible shame for Australia, if not the US, as a lot of the main components were coming from companies based there.
Below are the small servo motors and a common mounting bracket, machine gears and yokes, all of which I saw the detailed engineering drawings of, and how the Suncubes were easily assembled by hand. At the time GGE had outsourced component manufacturing, again a difficult thing to do to get quality suppliers, and was assembling the Suncubes at their factory which you can see pelletized and ready for shipping in the third photo.
I'd like to see this company succeed, as I think they do have a genuine competitive solar product and something which can be simply manufactured in developing nations such as India very cheaply. However there are certainly many forces at work trying to make this never happen. People with a vested interest, whatever they may be who have never been to GGE and seen just what a single motivated individual is capable of doing.
If it did take off, it'd be a win for Australian ingenuity in sustainable energy systems, being kept in Australia for once.
For anyone wishing to know more, Green and Gold Energy have signed a US distributor in a company called Helios Solar.
Vibrant Solar Inc. (Vibrant Solar) has introduced 31% efficient SunCube Mark 9.2 CPV module. The SunCube CPV uses technology which has been in satellites and spacecraft for over two decades. The company claims that the SunCube needs half the acreage of standard solar ground arrays and can be repaired and retrofitted in the field. The SunCube's plug and play feature allow it to keep up with current chip technology, according to the company.
Denver’s Vibrant Solar glows with SunCube plan VanKirk also hopes to raise about $2 million for the manufacturing plant, which is expected to employ about 70 people on a single shift at the beginning.
Helios Solar CPV appears to be a company spun out of Vibrant Solar who "serve Denver, Colorado and the greater Southern Colorado and Front Range communities with solar electric systems for both commercial and residential properties." Vibrant Solar appears to have a successful track record and has experienced personnel working for them.
Vibrant's sales have exceeded 250 projects, over 2,000 kilowatts, or 2 Megawatts of systems in just under four years. We developed and sell a full renewable energy system for new homes and retrofits called the Zero Carbon System™. We are now the sole installer for Helios Solar's SunCube™ concentrated solar photovoltaic product, with the highest efficiency available at 31%.==========================================================================
Sunseeker
Looking into this in Australia I did come across another developer of the concentrated photovoltaic cell device who had built a product with many similarities to Green and Gold Energy.
This organization is located in Melbourne and I tried to contact them to have a look at their product earlier in the year also but they are kind of in a stealth mode. The best I can ascertain is they have a different two axis tracking mechanism using heavier duty brackets and electronics to the Suncube, use the same cells as Green and Gold Energy and also have opted for the franchise model of their counterpart/competitor. Although reviewing their website it seems they have now gone down the road of capital raising on the Sharemarket in Germany.
Sunseeker have produced an information pamphlet which I have linked to here.
Sunseeker have also teamed up with a United States manufacturing partner in an organisation called Nations Roof.
Sunseeker Energy Holding AG, the manufacturer of the most efficient concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar energy collectors, has signed an Agreement with the U.S. Company Nations Roof LLC, a leading supplier of roof solutions. They will cooperate on the distribution and installation of Sunseeker Energy advanced concentrated photovoltaic units in the United States of America.
This April agreement has been expanded to include building a manufacturing facility.
Sunseeker Energy Holding AG has entered into an expanded memorandum of understanding with strategic partner Nations Roof LLC. Expanding on their initial plan to cooperate on distribution and installation of Sunseeker solar units, the two parties plan to establish a manufacturing center in the U.S.==========================================================================
Feed in Tariffs - Australia
One of the most important incentives, that which has driven the uptake of solar on roofs, is the introduction of gross feed in tariffs. This is where a premium on any surplus power generated from renewable resources, is paid to a home owner in order to make the pay back period on an installation shorter.
In Australia, where our retail rates for homeowners is about 15ckWh for power, we have just had the largest state, NSW, introduce a gross feed in tariff of 60ckWh. This is limited to 10kW systems for instance this could mean 10kWh x $0.60 x ~8 hours sunshine or $48 per day.
The key features of NSW Solar Bonus Scheme include:
Earlier in the year I did a quick spreadsheet cost comparison of solar technologies, using figures available at the time and based on what an engineering company called PB Power had done. For the economically minded, here is a link to the prefeasibility study and another which shows returns over time for the different technologies.
Solar Power Plant Pre-feasibility study Solar returns
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Solar Systems
An Australian based business which had in fact installed a number of Solar parabolic dishes in remote areas on government contract. The only awardee of the Low Emissions Technology Development Fund from the Australian government which in past I have described was a tainted application process, I wanted to see Solar Systems installation without pre-judgement as they appeared to be one of the most advanced in terms of Concentrated Photovoltaic mass production and MW scale plants.
Their original design was a dual tracking parabola dish fitted with mirrors which redirected and concentrated the sun onto a small area. A number of these have been installed at Australia's CSIRO, ANU, a test site at Bendigo, and remote communities of Umuwa, Hermannsburg, Yuendumu and Lajamanu.
Original dish and concentration module which contains high efficiency chips.
However like many earlier developers of concentration technologies, reducing cost became a priority and the organization had shifted to a heliostat design with a centralized tower.
Heliostat on central tower
Around June of this year, I was in the local area staying with relations, and contacted Solar Systems to see if a meeting could be set up to visit their Test and Development site at a place called Bridgewater near Bendigo. I was able to speak to one of their long term employees for about half an hour, but unfortunately he was unable to allow any photographs.
What he told me was the tower they had installed was 36m tall. That they had 1 dish and were planning two more at this site. They had selected a site near Red Cliffs, near Mildura and an announcement of all permits and the start of construction would come within a couple of weeks, if not a month or so.
The test site was exporting power, and Solar Systems were affiliated, backed by TRU Energy a major power retailer and generator in the state. The site photos I was able to take from the road are below.
Solar Systems at Bridgewater
Technology Solar Systems heliostat technology is described in the link above.
Solar Systems has developed an ultra powerful solar module, which can produce about 1500 times more power than a typical solar panel.
In an HCPV system, sunlight is beamed from mirror collectors, or ‘heliostats’, to the solar modules, which convert the concentrated light directly to Megawatts of power.
The wording of this is a little misleading as they use the same technology as GGE and SSE, except the chip supplier in this case was a company owned by Boeing, Spectrolab.
The 1,500 times more powerful would be the 3 x spectrum PLUS the concentration of more than a single beam of sunlight. Probably around 500 mirrors redirecting the sun.
The company as part of its planned 154MW deployment at Mildura for which it had won the LETDF government grant and also a $50 Million Victorian government grant, according to the company guy I met at Bridgewater, was almost ready to start producing at a new factory they'd built.
Remember that they had gone from Parabolic dishes to Heliostat's and were planning on going back to dishes. So I decided to go have a look at the factory to see if I could figure out what they were manufacturing.
The factory is located near one of Australias major brewerys, CUB, the one who owns the Fosters brand and takes up a massive area. You can see by the Google map pic below it is huge.
Google map link to Factory Site in Grosvenor street, Abbotsford
I also took a few photos from the external of the building, unfortunately I could not see what was inside. However there was a new carpark, security access outside and I could see from a low angle in the top windows and there was a lot of new electrical cable tray, windows, ducting etc. indicating a lot of work and money had been spent securing this site.
Solar Systems factory street view Front
Solar Systems factory Street view side
Unfortunately, although this was back in June, no announcement from Solar Systems occurred. In fact rather than making the statement that it was all hands on deck, the following occurred.
Shadow cast over solar plant future September 7 2009 Victoria's largest solar power project is in jeopardy as the company behind the power plant struggles to secure financial support for the $420 million project.
Solar Systems was awarded $125 million in state and federal government grants in 2006 to help build the the world's largest solar power plant, which is due for completion in 2013.
The Federal Government contributed $75 million and the State Government $50 million.
Tru Energy pulled the pin on the project basically sealing the fate of this particular company.
I am entirely suspect on Tru Energy's motives, as being a major carbon emitter, it seems they have now become the spokesperson for playing hard ball and fearmongering over the negotiations in Australia's Emissions Trading discussions.
So September 7 they defund Solar Systems who were almost ready to build.
November 4, 2009 State's clean-coal gamble VICTORIA will rely on fossil fuel for energy for decades, with leaked documents revealing the Brumby Government is set to take a multibillion-dollar gamble on ''clean coal''.A high-level leak to The Age indicates the Government will embark on an education campaign around carbon capture and storage aimed at a public that it say does ''not understand the unique challenges facing the state'' under emission trading.
November 06, 2009 “Brown Down” in Australia Business Interests Thwart Carbon Controls on the Hottest, Driest Continent At the heart of the generators’ claim is a demand for AU$10 billion in government compensation, an argument that has won support from the opposition party.
TRUenergy, operates a coal plant in Victoria that has been one of the most heavily polluting power stations in Australia, according to emissions analyst Dr. Hugh Saddler. The chief executive of TRUenergy in Australia, Richard McIndoe, kicked off his campaign by writing to Victorian Labor Premier John Brumby and Prime Minister Rudd, warning of “supply failures” if the power companies were not given more assistance under the emissions trading scheme.
November 9, 2009 TRUenergy May Spend A$2 Billion on Power Stations, Herald Says
November 9, 2009 TRUenergy plan 'close to blackmail' The Age yesterday revealed that the energy company was preparing a proposal to build a $2 billion, 1000-megawatt gas plant next to its brown-coal-fired Yallourn power station.
But TRUenergy said it would make the switch only if the Federal Government boosted its $3 billion compensation offer to Victorian coal stations under a proposed emissions trading scheme to at least $8 billion.
11 November 2009 TRUenergy’s blackout “scare tactics” questioned
The operator of one of Australia’s most polluting coal fired power stations, TRUenergy, claims to have scaled back maintenance at it Yallourn plant because the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme would be so detrimental to its business. The threat is that Victorians will face more blackouts, but Environment Victoria and the Australian Conservation Foundation have now requested the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) examines the accuracy of these claims.
November 23, 2009 TRUenergy Says Taxpayers May Be Hit By Carbon Rule, Review Says Taxpayers may be forced to pay compensation to TRUenergy Pty if the government’s proposed carbon pollution reduction program results in the closure of its Yallourn power station, the Australian Financial Review said.
November 23, 2009 Generators threaten ETS legal action COAL-FIRED power companies are warning of price volatility, threats to future power supply, a collapse in the electricity market and even a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the government unless they win a big increase in compensation under the emissions trading scheme -- one of the final sticking points in negotiations between the Rudd government and Malcolm Turnbull's divided Coalition.
Coal power lobby mines new lows in late compo scramble TRUenergy, owned by Chinese conglomerate CLP, and International Power, owned by British multinational International Power PLC, ramped up their rhetoric yesterday in a desperate attempt to scam further compensation from taxpayers under the CPRS for their coal-fired power generation assets, especially Yallourn and Hazelwood in Victoria. Both companies want a tripling of compensation under the CPRS to $10 billion over the next five years.
Their main asset, Yallourn power station was built in the 1970's. It is almost a 40 year old asset.
It looks as though they bought into the Solar company as a ruse, cut funding at the worst possible time to destroy a 154MW solar installation's chance at competing with their core business, coal, and are now wanting the Australian government to pay for their brand new power stations, threatening the Victorian government and Australian businesses and householders with blackmail tactics of shutting off their power.
Consider the number of CPV start up companies and tell me how, with the backing of a major utility, TRU Energy and Solar Systems did not approach a partner. The industry has so many start ups that Greentech Media, a major cleantech blog, did a 5 part special listing over 50 players in the industry.
Who said privatization never bought any benefits to the state? Who'd have thought the Greenhouse Mafia would play at this level?
Lastly, the worst part of this is the people who were working for this company which appears was caught up in a game plan of TRU Energy, are now out of a job and have lost all entitlements.
Over 100 Solar Systems workers have already been made redundant. They are owed $4 million in entitlements.
See the trick has been to convince people that jobs would be lost if any type of movement was made to renewable energy. When in fact the existing players hold all the cards and concoct extraordinarily complex plots to ensure new technologies never make inroads into 'their' sector.
This is truly a David and Goliath battle, where for so long there really has been no fairness, nor justice in this world for the little guys. Where all the incentives and tax breaks are geared to the biggest companies, those avoiding cleaning up their production processes and people and companies are compensated generously for being a part of this.
It doesn't sit right with me. Maybe we need to try to change that.
==========================================================================Tony Zaragoza at Evergreen State U provides us with a newsletter that gives us information, all in one place, on labor replacing technology. He provides a glimpse into the growing redundance of labor world wide — in so doing he contradicts the usual interpretation that job loss is solely due to outsourcing. While some jobs are being exported, the automation of jobs in the lesser developed countries accelerates. Thanks to professor Zaragoza for an extremely important resource.
Automation and Robotics News–Nov 11, 2009
All previous issues are now archived at: http://academic.evergreen.edu/z/zaragozt/arnews.htm
Highlights: Automation in Nigeria, Good Third Quarter for Automation Companies, Robot Soldiers, Robot Elk, impacts of automation on pilots, a push to automate air traffic control in India, fastest robot, smallest robot, green automation, and drones.
GOOGLE NEWS
# Nigeria: American Firm Unveils Manufacturing Solutions AllAfrica.com - Oct 21, 2009
Lagos — A private company with headquarters in Weston, WI, U.S.A, AJ Excel Automation, LLC, is currently setting up offices in Nigeria to provide manufacturing solutions to manufacturing concerns in the country. The company, which offers automation solutions, manufacturing intelligence implementation, continuous improvement and project management consulting services, is to unveil the manufacturing solutions at a breakfast seminar in Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 , in an effort to introduce the software to manufacturers in Nigeria. Details and demonstration on this technology, will be unveiled at the event by technical experts from the U.S.A, including the C.E.O of AJ Excel, Mr. Samuel Tayo Ajayi and the Technical Director, Mr. David Slivinski.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200910210378.html
# Automation Companies have a good third quarter:
ABB Sees 3Q Net Pft Of $1B; Provisions Smooth
Wall Street Journal - Katharina Bart - Oct 19, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091019-702636.html
Honeywell Automation vaults after good Q3 results
India Infoline.com - Oct 23, 2009
http://www.indiainfoline.com/Market/News/News.aspx?NewsId=347527
Rockwell Automation Up 29.9% Since SmarTrend’s Buy Recommendation Trading Markets (press release) - Oct 21, 2009
Since then, Rockwell Automation has returned 29.9% as of today’s recent price of $43.76.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2593352/
Brooks Automation Up 75% Since SmarTrend’s Buy Recommendation Trading Markets (press release) - Oct 19, 2009
Since then, Brooks Automation has returned 75% as of today’s recent price of $9.02.
# Baxa Corporation Signs Exclusive Distribution Agreement With Leading Pharmaceutical Corporation in People’s Republic of China
Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:01am EDT ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ — Baxa Corporation, a US-based medical device company in Englewood, Colorado, has signed an exclusive four-year distribution agreement with SINOPHARM, a China National Pharmaceutical Foreign Trade Corporation, to promote sales of its products in China. While the agreement covers all Baxa products, the ExactaMix(TM) 2400 Automated Compounder and the Repeater(TM) Pharmacy Pump have been recognized as ones that will increase efficiency for the hospitals targeted by Baxa and SINOPHARM in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Due to their existing practice of manual preparation, the companies expect that more than 250 hospitals could benefit from the Baxa pharmacy automation equipment.
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS106081+19-Oct-2009+PRN20091019
# For fashion-forward Gilt Groupe, robots help get the orders shipped on time Thursday, October 22, 2009
Gilt Groupe Inc., a web-only retailer of fashion apparel and home furnishings that it offers in timed sales, has found that a robot-supported fulfillment warehouse is four times as productive as its traditional warehouse, chief operating officer Jennifer Carr-Smith says.
http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=32218
# Expert: Wayward Flight Shows Risks Of Automation
October 29, 2009
The recent instance of a Northwest airliner flying past its destination because of the pilots’ preoccupation with their computers raises new questions about how airline crews communicate — and the risks of automation.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114262744
# After PBN, airport to go for air traffic control automation
V Ayyappan, TNN 27 October 2009
CHENNAI: After defining air routes for landing and take-off under the Performance Based Navigation (PBN) sytem, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has taken steps to introduce automation of air traffic control at the Chennai airport. A meeting with representatives of US-based Raytheon, which bagged the Rs 42 crore contract to automate ATC, is scheduled in the coming days to discuss the details. “They will have to study the procedures used here and then design a system that can match ours,” said a senior AAI official. Like PBN, automation is crucial for the airport here because the traffic has crossed 400 aircraft a day. In Mumbai, PBN was installed when traffic touched 350 aircraft a day. So, an automated ATC system will ease the workload of controllers, improve air safety and make handling of aircraft in the congested air space easy.
# Honeywell’s Ready for the Recovery
By David Lee Smith, October 26, 2009
Honeywell (NYSE: HON) is clearly one of the more diversified companies operating in the U.S. today. From aerospace systems, to specialty materials (primarily chemicals), and on to automation and control solutions, the company ranges far and wide. Perhaps that diversity helped the company turn in results that were better than both what the dart-throwers on Wall Street had forecast and what most business scribes seemed willing to admit.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/10/26/honeywells-ready-for-the-recovery.aspx
# From Automation to Precision: Closing the Productivity Gap
By Marcus Ryu, Guidewir, Oct 30, 200912:47 PM ET
Observers of the insurance industry rightly identify inefficiency as one of the insurance industry’s greatest challenges. Complex, stove-piped organizations replete with manual processes call out for the benefits of automation. They also invite comparisons to the manufacturing industry and advocacy for a more “industrial” approach to insurance processing. No one would dispute that the insurance industry could gain greater benefit from automation. However, it may be worthwhile to ask how much insurers can ultimately gain through greater efficiency and what precisely they can learn from manufacturing.
http://www.insurancetech.com/blog/archives/2009/10/from_automation.html
# Automation Systems Help Asphalt Producers Focus on the Quality
By Lisa Cleaver, October 28th, 2009 09:31 AM EDT
Jerry McCauley, a plant superintendent with Plote Construction, has seen a lot of changes over his nearly 36 years in the asphalt industry. Probably the greatest innovation McCauley has witnessed is automation technology for asphalt production.
http://www.forconstructionpros.com/print/Asphalt-Contractor/Plant-Matters/Automation-Systems-Help-Asphalt-Producers-Focus-on-the-Quality/2FCP14247
# Nigeria: Firm Introduces Automation Technology to Local Manufacturers
Tunbosun Ogundare, 26 October 2009 Worried by the continued closure and relocation abroad of many manufacturing firms in the country, AJ Excel Automation Incorporation has concluded plan to reverse the trend. The company said the current situation in the country’s manufacturing sector was not only counter-productive to the Federal Government’s seven- point agenda, but inimical to well-being of the citizenry, noting that technology is a major recipe to achieving economic prosperity.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200910270226.html
# New Military Robot Walks Like Flesh-and-Blood Person
October 28, 2009 (ChattahBox)—The robot creators at Boston Dynamics have come up with a replica of a military solider robot, which can walk on its own and even crawl. The amazingly lifelike robot, dubbed Petman will be used to test chemical protection clothing used by the U.S. Army. Petman is a continuation of military robots manufactured by Boston Dynamics that most recently created BigDog, a robot with four legs, the size of a large dog, which walks, runs, climbs and carries heavy loads for soldiers in the field. Petman is described, as BigDog’s big brother .
http://chattahbox.com/science/2009/10/28/new-military-robot-walks-like-flesh-and-blood-person/
# Robot soldiers By Amanda Wong, Oct 29, 2009
WITH clockwork precision, the robots screen the container for weapons of mass destruction. After the all-clear signal, it breaks open the door of the container and then moves in to take samples from the shipment, which will be sent to the laboratory for further investigation. All this is done without actual humans. Singapore is the only one of four countries in Exercise Deep Sabre II to use robots to perform such dangerous tasks. Held at Changi Naval Base, the exercise also included officers from Australia, Japan and USA. The exercise is to enhance security measures against the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Some 2000 personnel from 19 countries are involved in this year’s exercise.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_448063.html
# Robot armies ‘will explore alien worlds’, Oct 31, 2009
Alien worlds may be explored by armies of flying, driving and sailing robots, say scientists. Robotic airships and satellites will fly above the surface of the distant world, commanding squadrons of wheeled rovers and floating robot boats, according to Wolfgang Fink of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The systems will transform planetary exploration, says Prof Fink, who envisages the cybernetic adventurers mapping the land and seascapes of Saturn’s moon, Titan – believed to have lakes of standing liquid – as well as closer planetary neighbors like Mars. At the moment robotic exploration relies on single robots controlled from Earth. That will change, according to Prof Fink, director of Caltech’s Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=206794
# Elk robot to help Ore. officials catch poachers
Associated Press – October 27, 2009 12:15 AM ET
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Oregon wildlife officials will use a donated robotic elk to help catch poachers. The decoy donated by the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust will help fish and wildlife agents target nighttime or closed-season poachers. Officials say many poachers are wary of possible decoys and check for movement before shooting, making the robot a valuable resource. The anti-poaching decoy program already has some robotic deer.
http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=11388305
# Adept Technology Announces Adept Quattro Robot Breaks 300 Cycle Per Minute Barrier
Wed Oct 28, 2009 8:32am EDT
PLEASANTON, Calif., Oct. 28, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Adept Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADEP), a leading provider of intelligent vision-guided robotics and global robotics services, today announced its Adept Quattro Robot has broken the 300 cycle per minute barrier. The record robotic performance threshold was set using the 25mm x 300mm x 25mm standard cycle. The industry has long benchmarked speeds using this quantifier and Adept has once again raised the bar. “The Quattro robot is the fastest robot in the world and its advantages over conventional robots not only include faster cycles and settling times but increased payload and more consistent performance throughout the workspace,” said Rush LaSelle, director of global sales and marketing for Adept Technology, Inc. “As Adept continues driving technology to higher levels of performance our clients benefit by realizing throughput previously only offered by conventional equipment combined with the flexibility of manual labor. We are pleased to increasingly offer manufacturers and processors means of achieving high levels of productivity and quality while enabling them to address the pressures of reduced product and packaging life cycles.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS140792+28-Oct-2009+GNW20091028 RIA
# KUKA Systems Offers North American Solar Producers Best of Two Worlds
KUKA Robotics Corporation Posted 10/26/2009
Anaheim | Detroit | Augsburg – KUKA Systems offers North American solar manufacturers two world-class businesses in one: a major global supplier of advanced solar production technologies and a US-based integrator with demon-strated expertise in adapting those technologies for local use. KUKA Systems’ product lineup covers almost every aspect of photovoltaic manufacturing – from the most sophisticated wire saw machines for slicing ingots into wafers to robotic cells to perform every task associated with assembling and testing PV panels. KUKA Systems also is a major integrator of robotic and other automation technologies for automakers, solar manufacturers, aerospace and logistics companies and can design and install partial or complete turnkey manufacturing lines.
http://www.robotics.org/content-detail.cfm/Industrial-Robotics-News/KUKA-Systems-Offers-North-American-Solar-Producers-Best-of-Two-Worlds/content_id/1811 # ABB Introduces its Smallest Ever Robot, Designed for Cost-effective Material Handling and Assembly of Smaller Parts
ABB Inc. Posted 10/20/2009
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – ABB Robotics, a leading supplier of industrial robots, has introduced its smallest ever multipurpose robot, the IRB 120. The new six-axis robot has all the functionality and advanced design features of ABB’s larger robots in an economical, lightweight model that will provide agility, accuracy and speed to a broad range of applications where a smaller footprint and profile are required. Weighing just 25kg (55 lbs), the IRB 120 has a standard payload of 3kg (6.6 lbs), a vertical wrist payload of 4kg (8.8 lbs), a reach of 580mm, a best-in-class stroke of 411mm and the ability to reach 112mm below its base. The IRB 120 is available with a new compact version of the industry-leading IRC5 controller, making it easy to program and control for a variety of tasks. The Compact IRC-5 is fully compatible with the standard and panel mount IRC-5 controllers.
http://www.robotics.org/content-detail.cfm/Industrial-Robotics-News/ABB-Introduces-its-Smallest-Ever-Robot-Designed-for-Cost-effective-Material-Handling-and-Assembly-of-Smaller-Parts/content_id/1801
# A Little Green in Every Robot by Brian Huse , Director, Marketing & PR Robotic Industries Association Posted 10/19/2009
Robots are among the most efficient machines available to manufacturers and can be part of any company’s strategy for green manufacturing. Faster cycle times, improved quality and less scrap contribute directly to a greener footprint, and robots are well known for these advantages. If you use robots you have a green manufacturing story already. When green manufacturing surfaced as a corporate strategy there were many who believed there was little or no payback. Isn’t it cheaper to pump waste out of the factory than it is to recycle it? And who can really afford to cultivate an eco-roof on top of their factory? Despite the skeptics, more companies now do such things and are able to show there is a return on investment.
http://www.robotics.org/content-detail.cfm/Industrial-Robotics-Feature-Article/A-Little-Green-in-Every-Robot/content_id/1796
IEEE AUTOMATON BLOG
# iRobot Launches Healthcare Robotics Division
POSTED BY: Mikell Taylor // Thu, October 29, 2009
During the TEDMED conference taking place in San Diego this week, iRobot announced the creation of a new product unit: healthcare robots. CEO Colin Angle said the overall goal is to add “one million hours of independent living” to seniors’ lives. This is not at all a surprising move. Eldercare robots development has lagged in the US. Japan and South Korea have dedicated many more resources – including government dollars – to that development. So iRobot is well-positioned to take advantage of the relatively empty US market.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/blog/robotics/robotics-software/automaton
ROBOTS.NET
# Introduction to Swarm Intelligence
Posted 22 Oct 2009 at 17:46 UTC by steve
Sabu M. Thampi has posted a very short introduction to Swarm Intelligence (PDF format). In his paper, he describes the biological origins of swarm intelligence in flocks of birds, schools of fish, and swarms of bees. He goes on to describe the importance of swarm intelligence to robotics, using the computational models of ant colony optimization (ACO) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). Pseudo code for the ACO algorithm is included. CC licensed image of swarming grackles by flickr user AlphaTangoBravo
http://robots.net/article/2936.html
WIRED
# 30 Days, No Landing: Darpa Aims for Drone Endurance Record
By Noah Shachtman, October 28, 2009
The idea, ultimately, is to build a drone that will stay in the sky for five years or more. But in the meantime, Pentagon wild research arm Darpa will just have to settle for a solar-powered robotic aircraft that flies for a month a time. Not bad, considering that’s nearly 10 times the current drone endurance record of 3 days, 10 hours. Darpa just launched the $155 million second phase of the project, dubbed “Vulture.” The idea is to build a drone that can carry a thousand-pound payload for at least thirty days.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/30-days-no-landing-darpa-aims-for-drone-endurance-record/
# U.S. Drones Back Pak Offensive Against Taliban
By Noah Shachtman, October 23, 2009
The Pakistani Army is getting help from U.S. spy drones, in its offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan. “For months the United States and Pakistan have been sharing information from Predator flights in the volatile border regions” between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the L.A. Times’ Julian Barnes and Greg Miller report. “but until now the Pakistanis had not accepted help for their major military operations.” These flights aren’t the same as the killer drone attacks, under the CIA’s operational control, which have left slain up to 1,000 people, including several top leaders of the Pakistani Taliban.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/us-drones-back-pak-offensive-against-taliban/