Race for renewable energy heats up

Many experts in the field of solar energy believe that concentrated solar power is a cheaper, simpler and more effective method to harness energy from the sun.

“The solar tower near Seville is efficient because what you’re doing is concentrating a very large area of sunlight on top of a very small area so you can get very high temperatures,” says John Loughead, executive director of the UK Energy Research Council.

Spain, although struggling in other sectors of its economy, is at the forefront in solar energy techniques, and is racing ahead of other countries in implementing concentrated solar power (CSP) technology. By the year 2015, Spain will generate more than 2GW of electricity with more than 50 new CPS stations. Spain is not only surpassing national targets, but is also exporting the innovatory technology to Algeria, Morocco and even America.

Environment lobby groups are excited about the surge in solar energy and the potentialities in CSP technology. Jose Luis Garcia from the Spanish Greenpeace believes CPS is at the heart of a booming sector.

“Spain is in a good position to develop and implement the technology,” Garcia says. “We have the sun so we are in the best position to lead in this field.”

Spain’s pioneering solar technologies guarantee that its alternative energy targets are in line with the European Union’s proposals, which is to source 20 percent of primary energy from renewable energy resources by the year 2020.

There has also been discussion by the European Commission that CSP technology will play a vital role is the EU’s proposed “supergrid,” which has received support from UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Starkozy, would transport electricity, generated in solar plants in southern Europe and northern Africa, across Europe. This is vital as Europe searches for new ways to become more energy dependent.

The Spanish government’s smart inauguration of renewable energy resources has been particularly welcomed at a time when other governments do not seem to be as shrewd. Meanwhile, many cleaner methods of producing electricity experiments are facing problems. The Iter fusion reactor, for example, which is designed to imitate the conditions at the heart of the sun, is planned to create green power. However, it is proving increasingly unfeasible as its cost is looking to exceed by almost 50 percent its original cost estimates. This is a source of great concern to the British government as the project has absorbed almost half of Britain’s energy research budget.

The Iter system began as a US-Russian project in the 1980s, but has since grown to include financial support from the EU, South Korea, Japan, China and India; the UK pays about 20 million pounds a year into the project. It was originally estimated to cost 9 billion pounds but due the rising price of raw materials and changes to the original design, officials recently confirmed that the reactor will exceed cost projections.

It has also been announced that the Iter fusion reactor is behind schedule and will be ‘switched on’ in 2018. Although once activated the fusion from the system has the potential to liberate huge amounts of solar energy from the sun, making it a leading contender to provide clean energy to an increasingly power-hungry world.

Investing heavily in renewable energy, Portugal is a leading prowler in the hunt for clean power. It ranks as one of the top five traiblazers in the world in developing alternative energy sources. Portugal’s plan for taming global warming comes in the form of a sea snake, which is the world’s first commercial-scale wave power station. Ironically, a British company invented the “sea snake,” a 140-meter long tube whose bobbing motion produces electricity. At peak output, the wave machine will generate enough electricity for the annual needs of about 1,500 family homes in Portugal.

According to Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK’s chief scientist, the fact that Portugal is taking advantage of technology invented in Britain should cause alarm within the British government.

“Wave technology invented in Britain is powering Portuguese homes and making money for Portuguese suppliers,” Parr explains, “because our government has consistently neglected the renewable industry.”

Nick Rau, Friends of the Earth’s alternative energy campaigner, supported Parr’s comments by suggesting that wave power could play a vital role in reducing the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels.

“The potential for this technology in the UK is enormous,” argues Rau, “but the government is not doing enough to develop it.”

While the Finns are flash with mobile phones, the Swiss awash with watches and the Germans great at building cars, it seems Spain and Portugal are thrashing other countries in the race for renewable energy resources at a time when our planet needs them the most.

Gabrielle Pickard for RT