On 19 February 2010 the Government announced that a new household Renewable Energy Bonus Scheme will assist households to save money on power bills and reduce their carbon emissions.

This new Scheme will replace the Home Insulation Program and the Solar Hot Water Rebate Program both of which are discontinued as of close of business 19 February 2010.

From 20 February 2010, the rebate on solar hot water systems is reduced from $1,600 to $1,000 and the rebate on heat pump systems is reduced from $1,000 to $600.

Transitional Arrangements until 19 March 2010

Transitional arrangements have been put in place for people who paid for or ordered their hot water systems prior to 20 February 2010.

Eligible solar or heat pump hot water systems purchased or installed prior to 20 February 2010 may be eligible for a $1,600 rebate for solar hot water or $1,000 for heat pumps, if proof of purchase or installation prior to 20 February 2010 is included with the application.

Applicants who ordered or made partial payment for their solar or heat pump hot water systems but had not had their system installed prior to 20 February 2010, must include written evidence of their order with their rebate application. A receipt for a deposit or a copy of their supplier’s order form is required. A quote is not sufficient evidence of an order.

In all cases final decisions regarding rebate eligibility will be made by the Government.

Arrangements after 20 March 2010

IMPORTANT: All applications received from 20 March 2010 will be assessed for $1,000 for solar hot water and $600 for heat pump hot water systems, regardless of installation date.

Interim program guidelines and application forms for the Renewable Energy Bonus Scheme and the previous Solar Hot Water Rebate will be available shortly.

Further information is available on phone 1800 808 571.

• Media release - 19 February 2010

A skipper hoping to become the first to circumnavigate the globe using solar power said his catamaran could carve a wake for pollution-free shipping as he unveiled the world's largest solar-powered vessel in Germany.

Raphael Domjan, 38, pulled the covers off the 18 million euro ($27.4 million) catamaran yesterday.

"This is a unique feeling to see in front of me today a boat which I so often dreamed about," he said.

PlanetSolar, a 31 x 15-metre white catamaran, has been designed to reach a top speed of around 15 knots, equivalent to 27 kilometres per hour, and can hold up to 50 passengers.

Five hundred square metres of black solar panels top the vessel, with a bright white cockpit sticking up in the centre.

Built at the Knierim Yacht Club in Kiel in northern Germany, its state-of-the-art design also means it will be able to slice smoothly through the waves even in choppy waters.

The team behind its construction acknowledge that solar power is not about to become the main power source on modern cargo ships.

They say they want to use the voyage primarily to promote solar power and other non-polluting sources of energy and to show what can be done.

"The aim is really to show that we have the technology today, not tomorrow," Mr Domjan said.

"It's not in a laboratory or DIY. It is a technology that is reliable, able to perform and economically interesting."

PlanetSolar will launch in late March before starring at Hamburg port's 821st anniversary celebrations in May and undergoing testing between June and September.

You can find this and similar articles on the ABC website. 

Hard on the heels of being approved by the FTC to buy and sell energy, Google has announced what they see as a significant breakthrough in the materials used to concentrate the sun’s rays in solar thermal technology plants.

Solar thermal plans work by focusing the rays of the sun on water in order to boil the water to form steam, which is then used to turn turbines to generate electricity. The more focused the the beam of light, the more steam is produced more quickly and the more electricity can be generated. Google has been working with the materials that are used in the construction of the mirrors that do the focusing, and they feel that they have made a discovery that can double the efficiency of a solar thermal technology power plant, according to a CNET article.

Bill Weihl, who is Google’s green-energy czar, says that they have been working hard on the project and are producing results. He says, “Things have progressed. We have an internal prototype. There is a decent chance that in a small number of years, we could have a 2-X reduction in cost.” Obviously, by cutting in half the cost of building the power plant, the owner of the plant can produce energy at a lower cost, making that energy more attractive to buyers.

Google has been investing not only in research related to the energy industry, but specifically in companies that have a connection to the green energy field and solar thermal companies in particular. Two such acquisitions, eSolar and BrightSource, would be the logical vehicles for such a mirror, something that is not lost on Weihl. He says that he has discussed the new mirror technology with both companies, and that they are interested, although the new technology is not yet at a point where it can be tested outside Google’s labs.  At the same time, he said that both companies were interested in the development, noting that, “If it works, it would absolutely be something they would use.”

Perhaps there was some commercial reason after all for Google to acquire a license to buy and sell energy…

You can find this and similar articles over at TechBlorge.