ANN ARBOR—Imagine living in a community where your drinking water must be trucked in because the wells in your town were so depleted that seawater could leach into the freshwater supply.

In many arid coastal areas, this is an everyday occurrence. A team of students and a professor at the University of Michigan along with colleagues at the University of Sonora in Mexico, have developed a prototype single-stage distillation unit powered by solar energy that desalinates water in these areas.

The prototype unit can distill 150 liters per day and can be scaled up to 3,000 liters of water a day. That’s equal to five truckloads of fresh water and a much more eco-friendly solution to the problem of insufficient access to fresh water, said Jose Alfaro, an assistant professor at U-M’s School for Environment and Sustainability.

“We developed this product with a particular community in mind, but we realized that it would be good for a number of communities,” he said.

They designed the system for Tastiota, a small village in the Sonoran desert, which had been trucking in its water from a source 100 kilometers away. After distillation, what’s left is brine that can be converted to salt and sold to other businesses nearby, creating a circular economy.

Other markets for the desalination unit include the global sunbelt located several degrees above and below the equator and hotels in coastal communities, Alfaro said.

“Hotels could use this to reduce their impact on the areas they are serving,” he said. “A lot of the locations of these hotels are in fragile basins at risk of getting saline intrusion.”

Alfaro and the students, Iulia Mogosanu, who graduated in the spring with an MBA, and Pablo Taddei, who graduated with a master’s degree in sustainable systems in 2017, wanted to create a sustainable solution to water scarcity issues in coastal communities where arid conditions, rising temperatures and decreased precipitation due to climate change exacerbate the problem.

Over the past year, the team developed a proprietary process to remove salt from local water sources by leveraging solar radiation to power an innovative desalination technology. Early analysis indicates that the combination of concentrated solar power and single-stage distillation will provide a cost-effective and easy solution to water scarcity issues.

What makes this solution truly sustainable is the business component. This technology results in both a sellable byproduct, by processing brine into salt, and an improved capacity for coastal fishers to bring their catch to larger markets. This significantly improves the technology’s financial viability and provides a true market solution.

Mogosanu said that while studying with Taddei at U-M’s School for Environment and Sustainability they realized that they were both interested in the energy industry and alternative uses of renewable energy technologies. Taddei is a native of Hermosillo County in Mexico—a region that is along the Sonora coast.

Hermosillo, as with many coastal communities, has been experiencing severe water scarcity due to saline contamination of the wells, which is further aggravated by low precipitation. Taddei was interested in finding a sustainable solution to this problem and subsequently began probing ideas that would desalinate the abundant source of ocean water.

“I realized that the potential of such a solution had far-reaching implications globally. It was clear to me that the commercial potential of this idea was scalable to different conditions in different regions of the world,” Mogosanu said.

Richard Greeley, a senior licensing specialist for engineering at U-M Tech Transfer, said that while many startups attract venture funding, Alfaro’s project may also appeal to a foundation as the work is humanitarian in nature.

And that’s been the case so far with funding from the Center for Sustainable Systems, the Energy Institute and the Erb Institute, with seed funding from the Graham Institute. The prototype has been built and tested with help from the University of Sonora in Hermosillo.

“Professors and students there have been key in our ability to develop the project and most importantly in physically putting it together,” Alfaro said.

Just last month, Alfaro traveled to Costa Rica to determine if there were communities that might benefit from the distillation unit. Working with a United Nations official, he plans to run a pilot program on a small island there where water is brought in by boat.

To work, the area needs direct sunlight, a good governance system around the water that would run the desalination units after initial set up by Alfaro’s team, and a need for potable water. The team also plans to market to communities in West Africa, Lima, Peru and along the coast in Chile.

 

More information:

(Ramsey, MN) –Connexus Energy today announced that its innovative solar-plus-storage project is under construction. The project is believed to be one of the first in the country to use batteries integrated with a solar array to manage peak demand.

Connexus Energy, Minnesota’s largest electric cooperative and a member of Great River Energy, is building two more solar arrays. Sites in Ramsey and Athens Township will add 10 megawatts of renewables to Connexus’ energy mix. However, what makes this project cutting edge is that Connexus Energy is integrating large scale battery storage at both sites, for a total of 15 megawatts of battery storage.

“We’ve listened to our members who tell us they want more renewable energy, but they also do not want their electricity to cost more,” says Connexus CEO Greg Ridderbusch. “Energy prices differ throughout the day. Most solar energy is produced when there is lower demand and the price is lower. Our plan is to discharge the stored solar energy during peak hours when energy costs are the highest. We refer to this as time-shifting solar energy to a time of day when it has more value.”

Connexus Vice President of Power Supply Brian Burandt says it’s taken several years to turn this project into reality. “We needed to find suitable sites, get the permitting done, and go through the process of selecting our partners for solar-plus-storage. We are looking forward to working with our partners to deliver a successful project. ENGIE North America (formerly SoCore Energy) is our partner for the solar portion and NextEra Energy Resources for the battery storage.”

“We are truly excited to be working with Connexus on this project to deliver clean, reliable, and cost-effective renewable energy to communities in Minnesota,” said Luis Felipe Birolini, President of ENGIE’s U.S. solar business. “We have brought solar capacity to many parts of Minnesota over the past couple of years and are happy to be continuing to grow renewable production in Anoka and Isanti counties.”

A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources will build, own, and operate the two separate battery energy storage facilities, which will utilize advanced lithium-ion battery technology and will be fully integrated with the co-located solar facilities to provide the solar energy time-shifting services to Connexus Energy.
The National Renewables Cooperative Organization ran a Request for Proposals on behalf of Connexus Energy and supported the development and structuring of the project. “We congratulate Connexus in achieving its vision to provide cost-effective renewable energy to its members with its solar-plus-storage project,” said Eric Spigelman, director of renewables development for NRCO.

“There are a number of other groups we’ve relied upon for advice and support as this project was being developed,” adds Ridderbusch. “Fresh Energy and the University of Minnesota’s Energy Transition Lab are prominent stakeholders in this emerging area of energy innovation. As the demand for renewable energy grows, energy storage is an increasingly valuable tool.”

The Ramsey and Athens Township solar arrays with the integrated battery storage will be in service before the end of this year.

Connexus Energy is the largest member-owned utility in Minnesota providing electricity and related products and services to approximately 132,000 homes and businesses in portions of Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Isanti, Ramsey, Sherburne, and Washington counties. Additional information about Connexus Energy is available online at connexusenergy.com.

For more information contact:
Samantha Neral, Communications Specialist
Phone:  763.323.2636
E-mail:  [email protected]

By Ken Ripley

kripley.enterprise@wilsontimes.com

Nash County commissioners devoted much of their monthly meeting Monday to zoning issues, establishing new rules to allow ground-mounted residential solar panels and temporary campsites for construction workers.

Both changes, following required public hearings, required approving amendments to Nash County’s unified development ordinance recommended by the county’s planning department and the planning board. Both changes passed unanimously after much discussion.

The first amendment was requested by Gene Granelle on behalf of Energy Conservation Solutions, Inc. to “permit accessory roof-mounted, integrated and ground-mounted accessory solar panel arrays in all zoning districts subject to development standards.”

The county has long allowed roof-mounted solar panels on homes, but the ordinance made no specific provision for ground-mounted accessory solar panel arrays.

“This amendment proposes the adoption of new standards for smaller-scale solar installations designed to supplement the energy requirements of residents or businesses located on the same property,” county planning director Nancy Nixon told the board. “Large-scale solar farm requirements are not affected by the proposal.”

The adopted standards limit the size of the ground arrays to no more than 50 percent of the footprint of the main building on the same lot and the height to a maximum of 10 feet. The arrays must be placed at the rear of a structure and shall not require adjacent property owners to alter their structures or foliage “to guarantee solar access to the proposed array.”

“I would want my neighbors to continue what they do on their property,” agreed Commissioner Wayne Outlaw.

The second text amendment, submitted by Orpha Gene Watson, adds a new use, “Temporary Major Construction Campground/RV Park” to the county’s table of permitted uses and establishes development standards for the use.

The amendment permits up to 10 camping or RV spaces in General or Rural Commercial districts for 12 months, with possible extensions, to house workers employed on a temporary major construction project benefiting the county.

“Nash County staff have received a number of inquiries during the past months concerning temporary housing arrangements for workers who will be employed to work on construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in 2018-20,” Nixon said.

“Prior construction projects have not produced requests for this type of housing accommodation,” she said. “Future major construction projects may require specifically skilled workers not available in the local workforce during the construction period.”

The amendment was necessary, Nixon said, because the county ordinance only required permanent campgrounds and did not cover temporary sites. The standards for permanent campgrounds are more stringent than those necessary for a temporary campground, she said.

“People coming in to work on the pipeline travel all over the country do these jobs,” Watson told commissioners. “This pipeline is coming 2 miles from my farmland and this is another way for me to try to get something out of it.”

The amendment and standards were approved by the planning staff and planning board, but commissioners became mired in discussion — and confusion — over a last-minute alternative proposed by the staff to require a conditional-use permit that would bring each request before the county board to determine if the project qualified as a “major construction project” or was warranted as an “extraordinary circumstance.” It could also be used in the cases of disaster response, she said, giving the board “a little more flexibility.”

Commissioners decided to stick with the original request, establishing the use and standards but not requiring a conditional-use permit.

In another major zoning action, following a long and heated public hearing, commissioners rejected a request by property owners Doris and Oliver Worthington and developer Cecil Williams to rezone a 48.79 tract of land on the north side of Jordan Road near the airport from R-30 residential to R-15 residential.

The planning board, staff and surrounding landowners objected to the request as constituting spot zoning not compatible with the county’s long-term development plan. Commissioners agreed, rejecting not only the original request but also a compromise request to rezone the property to a larger R-20 residential zone that the Worthingtons and Williams argued would be compatible with adjacent properties.

Aug. 8 (UPI) — While a Chinese decision to limit subsidies on new solar project curbs global growth, some sectors will benefit from the subsequent oversupply, analysis finds.

The National Energy Administration in China in June scrapped new subsidies for utility-scale solar power stations. Analysis compiled by consultant group Wood Mackenzie found that Chinese demand for solar power this year declines 40 percent as a result.

China’s decision to cut tariffs was designed to slow the accelerated growth in the country’s solar power capacity. The country last year accounted for about 60 percent of new solar installations and the new measure imposed strict quotes on new capacity, eliminating generous subsidies for projects outside that quota.

Nevertheless, Wood Mackenzie found that three countries – China, India and Japan – will account for the bulk of the new installations over the next two years.

“Despite the slowdown in the Chinese market, as well as China’s and Japan’s declines year-over-year, Asia will continue to account for at least 50 percent of the global annual install through 2020,” the consultant group’s emailed report read.

Because Chinese installation of new solar power capacity declines 30 percent from initial expectations through 2022, global demand cools off as well. Global demand for solar projects in 2018 declined 17 percent compared with Wood Mackenzie’s forecast before the Chinese subsidy announcement.

In June, the International Energy Agency found total global energy investments declined 2 percent from 2016 to reach $1.8 trillion last year. Financial support for renewable energy, which accounted for about 60 percent of the total spending for power generation, declined 7 percent.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the decline threatens the expansion of low-carbon alternatives as well as climate goals set by nations and blocs.

Wood Mackenzie found, however, that the price for solar modules drops because of market saturation resulting from the slowdown in the Chinese market.

“Some markets will see increased installation, particularly Europe, though the benefits will not be realized until 2019 and beyond,” the report read.

China, the second-largest economy in the world behind the United States, saw record spending in solar power, accounting for about 45 percent of the total last year. For all energy investments, China took in about 20 percent of the world total.