30 Electric Cars Companies Ready To Take Over The Road

(Lots of cool images)
It’s official: Green car madness has taken over. After seeing more electric and hybrid vehicle startups than we could keep track of, we finally decided to start keeping count.

We’ve compiled a list, below, of 27 (update: the list has reached 30; thanks for the comments) startups, listed according to their release date, with additional information on fuel type, range, top speed and price. Most haven’t yet taken venture funding, but where applicable, we’ve listed financial backing.

While we’ve got some overall favorites (Miles, Tesla, Think) and a few favorite oddballs (Aptera, Commuter Cars, Eliica), we’ve for the most part withheld judgement. Still, if you have any of your own predictions about which companies will succeed or — far more likely — fail, we’d encourage you to make them known in the comments.

A note on our method: While most manufacturers are planning more than one model, we chose the one that seemed either most commercially viable or closest to release, depending on our own (discretionary) formula. We didn’t included well-known consumer models like the Toyota Prius or Chevy Volt, or startups like AC Propulsion that only do battery conversions for consumer vehicles. We also rounded the price to the nearest thousand.

All details are taken from the companies, so we haven’t independently confirmed things like range and top speed details. In case we missed any, mention them below and we’ll add them to the list.

American Electric Vehicle — Kurrent
Update: Defunct, according to a comment below, although they seem to still be for sale. We’re looking into it.
AEV advises its potential drivers to “Slow down,” which seems like wise advice, given the golf cart-inspired design. Still, it’s ridiculously cheap.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $10K
Range / top speed: 40 miles / 25mph
Release date: Available now

Commuter Cars — Tango T600
The Tango is even odder than three-wheeled designs, in some ways: It’s less than half the width of a normal car, and two can fit in a single lane. It also accelerates like a bat out of hell. Future versions are planned to be much cheaper, and have longer ranges.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $108K
Range / top speed: 80 miles / 150mph
Funding: Less than $1 million in angel backing; open to venture funding.
Release date: Available now

Dynasty Electric Car Corp. — IT Sedan
This Canadian company actually sells five different models, although they all look relatively identical, minus or plus a few pieces of frame.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $19,000
Range / top speed: 30 miles / 24mph
Release date: Available now

ElBil Norge — Kewet Buddy
Somewhat reminiscent of the Think (see below), the Buddy is currently only available in the same country, Norway.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $28K
Range / top speed: / 56mph
Release date: Available now

Fly Bo — 6000 / 2
This vehicle, which bears a strong resemblance to the Smart Car, is produced in China. Spark (see below) distributes it in the United States.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $10K
Range / top speed: 60 miles / 35mph (w/ limiter)
Release date: Available now

Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) — e2
GEM is actually a division of Chrysler, the company has the look and feel (not to mention, apparently, the limited funding) of a startup. Its vehicles resemble golf carts, and are likely used for many of the same functions.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $7K
Range / top speed: 35 miles / 25mph
Release date: Available now

Modec — Electric Van
These aren’t actually cars, or even consumer transportation. These electric van / trucks resemble the delivery vehicles you might see bringing vegetables to your local grocery.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $41K
Range / top speed: 100 miles / 50mph
Release date: Available now

Myers Motors — NmG (No more Gas)
Another three-wheeled design, with room for only one passenger. Odd-looking and doesn’t go far, but you can order one today, if you like.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $35K
Range / top speed: 30 miles / 75mph
Release date: Available now

Reva — G-Wiz
Despite its distinction as the most-produced electric vehicle around, having been in production since 2001, the Indian-produced Reva isn’t available yet in the United States. It’s considered extremely unsafe at high speeds, so it may never make it over.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: £8K ($16K in US dollars)
Range / top speed: 70 miles (for 2008 model) / 45mph
Release date: Available now

Smith Electric Vehicles — Edison
The Edison, a large van designed for local deliveries, is Smith’s smallest model, meaning drivers don’t need a special license to operate it. The company, based in the United Kingdom also makes several much larger delivery trucks.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: Unconfirmed
Range / top speed: 150 miles / 50mph
Release date: Available now

Twike — The Twike
Some effort seems to have been put towards making this vehicle look like an insect. Of course, the look worked for the Volkswagen Beetle, and it may be working for Twike; the company sold out its 2007 line last year. It’s based in Switzerland, but sells in several other countries, including the United States.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $27,500
Range / top speed: 80 miles / 53mph
Release date: Available now

Venturi — Fetish
Another high-end electric sports car, the Fetish is manufactured in Monaco. High labor costs, anyone? The company is also developing two more models, the Ecletic and Astrolab.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: €297K (about $435K dollars)
Range / top speed: 155 miles / 100mph
Release date: Available now

Zap! Electric Cars — Xebra Sedan
Update: While Zap! cars really do exist, the company appears to have made itself out to be much more than it is. Check out the Wired.com expose piece on Zap, and think twice before ordering one (or signing up to be a dealer).
We chose to list the Xebra because the two higher-powered versions Zap is working on, the Zap-X and the Alias, don’t have firm release dates. Zap also has numerous retail locations in the United States, and sells cars made by other manufacturers.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $11K
Range / top speed:
Release date: Available now


Zenn Motors — Zenn NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle)
As with some other available electric vehicles currently available, this vehicle is strictly for short ranges and slow speeds.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $12K - $15K
Range / top speed: 35 miles / 25mph
Funding: This company is publicly traded on the TSX.
Release date: Available now

Lightning Car Company — Lightning GT
The United Kingdom’s answer to Tesla. This will likely remain a boutique vehicle, but the company has plans for cheaper mass-produced models later.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: £150K ($293K in US dollars)
Range / top speed: 250 miles / TBA (but fast)
Release date: First half 2008

Spark Electric Vehicles — Comet
Update: Like Zap (see above), it seems Spark is either a scam company or simply incapable of carrying out its plans. Michael Papp, the brain behind Spark, has been arrested and faces trial for taking payments for vehicles he failed to deliver.
Spark has nine models, most made by Fly Bo (listed above). Here, we list the one they designed and manufactured themselves in the United States (most of their vehicles are much slower and cheaper than this one). They distribute their vehicles in Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $33K
Range / top speed: 200 miles / 90mph
Release date: First half of 2008

Tesla Motors — The Roadster
The most-publicized, most-hyped electric car company around. Tesla’s high-performance electric vehicle is reportedly a blast to drive, but various production problems have set the release date back.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $98K
Range / top speed: 221 miles / 125mph
Funding: Backed by Bay Area Equity Fund, Compass Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Technology Partners, VantagePoint Cleantech Partners, and VantagePoint Venture Partners, as well as various angel investors (including Elon Musk).
Release date: First quarter 2008

Think — City
A pre-existing company whose older cars are still driven in Norway, this European manufacturer will release its new model in Europe this year, and in the United States a year or two after. Business 2.0 had an extensive story on the company.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $34K in Norway, $15K - $17K in US (projected)
Range / top speed: 112 miles / 62mph
Funding: Backed by DFJ Element, British Hazel Capital, Canica, Capricorn Investment Group, CG Holding, RockPort Capital Partners and Wintergreen Advisers, as well as various angels.
Release date: First half 2008 in Europe, but not until 2009 or later in the US

Phoenix Motorcars — Sport Utility Truck / SUV
No cars here, just trucks and SUVs. The company will have an extended-range battery option for 250 miles later in 2008.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $45K
Range / top speed: 130 miles / 95mph
Release date: Mid-2008

Moteur Developpment International — The Air Car
These tiny, odd little vehicles are powered entirely by compressed air. You won’t be likely to see one Stateside just yet, but India’s Tata Motors has plans to begin production on them this year.
Fuel type: Air!
Price: TBA
Range / top speed: 120 miles / 70mph
Release date: 2008 (month TBA)

Porteon — Porteon
Reportedly to be sold alongside houses in small Mexican communities. Like other companies, this one plans to roll out higher-speed models later, but they haven’t gotten back to us yet with more details, including the official name.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $7K - $9K
Range / top speed: TBA / 25mph
Release date: 2008 (month TBA)

Universal Electric Vehicles — Spyder
UEV’s Spyder has a sporty design, but the company itself doesn’t seem as slick and polished as some of the competitors. We’re not sure whether that means anything, though.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $70K
Range / top speed: 150 miles / 100+mph
Release date: 2008 (month TBA)

Aptera — Typ-1e / Type-1h
The Aptera Typ-1 is a three-wheeler (two front, one back) available in two configurations. We’ve covered the vehicle here.
Fuel type: All-electric or hybrid, depending on configuration
Price: $27K electric, $30K hybrid
Range / top speed: 120 miles electric, 600 miles hybrid; top speed TBA
Funding: Backed by Idealab and an angel investor, the CEO of Esenjay Petroleum, Michael Johnson.
Release date: Late 2008

Obvio — 828e
Sold in the United States by Zap, the diminutive but high-powered Obvio could almost race a Tesla. It’s designed and manufactured by a Brazilian company that is also working on a cheap combustion engine version.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $49k
Range / top speed: 240 miles / 120 mph
Release date: Late 2008 or early 2009

Fisker Automotive — “Eco-Chic” (Working name TBA)
Fisker will be showing off the first productions models of its cars on January 13th, at the Detroit Auto Show. Created by a world-renowned auto designer, these will compete in Tesla’s high-end market niche.
Fuel type: Hybrid
Price: $80K
Range / top speed: 620 miles / TBA
Backing: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has invested more than $10 million in Fisker.
Release date: Mid-2009

Venture Vehicles — VentureOne e50 / Q100 / EV
We previously suggested that some might call this vehicle a “glorified scooter.” The company does have supporters, though, who gave us plenty of heat — for a chuckle, check out the comment thread below our story. The three models listed are actually one car with different configurations.
Fuel type: Two hybrids, the e50 and Q100, and the all-electric EV
Price: $20K - 25K
Range / top speed: e50, Q100 and EV respectively: 350 miles / 100mph; 300 miles / 120mph; 120 miles / 75mph
Backing: Backed by NGEN Partners.
Release date: Second quarter 2009

Miles Electric Vehicles — XS500
Founded in 2004, this company already makes and sells two low-speed electric vehicles which are manufactured in China. We chose to list details for its upcoming highway-speed model, which should have a mass market appeal, if the price is low enough.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: TBA
Range / top speed: 120 miles / 80mph
Release date: 2009 (month TBA)

Bonus: Concept cars

We’ve picked out a few companies that represent next-generation thinking in EVs. As noted below, there are many more.

Eliica (The Electric Lithium-Ion Car)
A concept car created by Keio University in Japan, the Eliica has an odd eight-wheeled design and has come close to breaking speed records for combustion-engine cars. The team plans to sell a couple hundred eventually.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: $255K
Range / top speed: TBA / 230mph

Velozzi
An X-Prize contestant, Velozzi is most notable for claiming that their car will have a 0-60mph acceleration of under 3 seconds. Other details are pretty thin, though.
Fuel type: Hybrid
Price: TBA
Range / top speed: TBA / 200mph

Wrightspeed — X-1
Wrightspeed admits that its scarily fast prototype is unsafe, and will never be mass-produced. The company is planning a commercial model with the same high performance, but hasn’t given any real details yet.
Fuel type: All-electric
Price: Probably high
Range / top speed: <100 miles / 112mph w/ electronic limiter (but it’s still in first gear when it hits that speed)

There’s also the Automotive X-Prize competitor list, which had grown to 45 teams at last count — a few of which are included on this list, but many not. Most are concept cars.


http://venturebeat.com/2008/01/10/27-electric-cars-companies-ready-to-take-over-the-road/

Vertical (Diagonal?) Farm from Work AC in NYC

We love vertical farms and while they may not be as practical as green roofs, the idea of food being grown right in the city doesn't get any more local than this. New York magazine asked four architects to dream up proposals for a lot on Canal Street and Work AC came up with this. “We thought we’d bring the farm back to the city and stretch it vertically,” says Work AC co-principal Dan Wood. “We are interested in urban farming and the notion of trying to make our cities more sustainable by cutting the miles [food travels],” adds his co-principal (and wife) Amale Andraos. Underneath is what appears to be a farmers market, selling what grows above. Artists would be commissioned to design the columns that hold it up and define the space under: “We show a Brancusi, but it could be anyone,” says Wood. ::New York Magazine

When you go to the site, you will see other plans, some very beautiful...

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/vertical-diagonal-farm-in-new-york.php

SWEETRIOT

We are creating a sweet movement to fix the world. :) We’ve started by sourcing our cacao directly in Latin America, using recyclable, reusable packaging which features emerging artists, and by only using all-natural, healthy ingredients for our dark chocolate ‘peaces.’


http://www.sweetriot.com/

Adopt Green Cleaning for Earth Day

Every April showers us with special events and holidays. There's Publicity Stunt Week, Straw Hat Week, National Reading a Road Map Week, National Coin Tasting Week (ya'... really!), Argue About Gun Safety Week (did I already say ya'...really?), National Bubblegum Week, National Lingerie Week and the not-to-be-forgotten Egg Salad Week. But squished into the tail end of the month is just one day devoted to our planet... Earth Day. Just 1/365th solitary moment in the whole expanse of a year devoted to the place we all call home. Not even a month or a week, just a day.

Well, the truth be told, Earth "Day" gets even a bit more confusing because with the same name but two different dates on the calendar, the United Nations has Earth Day penned into their agenda for late March but the rest of us global citizens celebrate it officially on April 22nd. In any event, I suppose we should be grateful that there are actually two days a year dedicated to arouse our sensitivity for our delicate mother-ship, planet Earth.

The United Nation's date (the 21st of March) is when we mark the beginning of the Vernal Equinox by welcoming in the first signs of spring -- early bulbs breaking through the thawing ground, though often left to survive the dangers and unpredictability of foreboding late snow flurries and frost. Ever-hopeful, the days begin to grow longer, and nature begins to stir from under the four-month long frozen blanket of winter.

The lifelong activist and Earth Day founder John McConnell believed that love and prayer were more powerful than the destructive nature of man, and suggested his dream of Earth Day at a UNESCO Conference on the Environment in 1969. In hopes of celebrating the Earth's life and beauty, McConnell created the Earth Day Proclamation for Global Awareness, detailing mankind's responsibility for stewarding, cleaning and preserving our planet for future generations.

In 1970, the April 22nd event that ultimately blossomed into the more widely recognized Earth Day was founded by seeds originally planted by Senator Gaylord Nelson. Using activist tactics, he organized huge college grassroots protests over what he saw happening to the environment. With only limited media coverage to get the ball rolling, 20 million demonstrators, and thousands of schools and local communities participated, with each year bringing greater and greater awareness and activity to the issue.

But regardless of when it is celebrated, whenever I hear the name "Earth Day," what first comes to mind for me is the word "care." And interestingly, "care" is one of those rare words that implies the notion of both "giving" and "taking."

Let me explain.

We can "give care" or we can "take care." (And it's easy to confuse the two but they are really very different things.) By "taking care" we lose ourselves in private, thoughtful, reflective, and introspective, self-preservation. By "giving care" we offer help, aid or support to those around us -- an external activity. Both are equally important, for without taking care, we have no care to offer.

So let's all "take care" on Earth Day 2008 to "give care" to those we love, to our communities, to our cities, to our states, to our country, to our planet. Sounds like a huge undertaking, no? Well, in reality it can all begin with the simplest of activities that you were probably going to do anyway: Spring Cleaning. (It's what you do in spring, isn't it?)

Only this year, I am suggesting that we mix things up a bit, literally and figuratively. Instead of unconsciously reaching for those expensive, toxic products locked away under the kitchen sink, let's be more mindful of the effects of our actions. I propose that this year, we make a clean sweep by using some safe and wholesome ingredients you probably already have around the house to create healthy, non-toxic cleaning recipes that are equally, if not more effective!

It might come as a surprise, but commercial cleaning products are actually only a modern, and highly successful, 20th Century marketing "convenience." Prior to the technologies of the Industrial Revolution, the means to produce mass-market pre-mixed cleansers didn't exist. And while I am no Troglodyte, and actually enjoy many of the benefits of modern conveniences and technologies, I do try to use those that are helpful and life affirming, and opt for healthier alternatives to those that I know are harmful and life-threatening.

OK, so back to Spring Cleaning. First, let's clean the windows and let all that glorious springtime daylight fill your home. Wipe away the winter grime with a simple but highly effective solution of one teaspoon of white vinegar added to a re-cycled spray bottle filled with warm water. Squirt it on and wipe it off with re-cycled newspaper, and you'll be amazed at how shiny your windows (and mirrors) will be. And your entire bottle of new glass cleaner costs you only about $.02, to boot! (Remember, the price of store-bought cleansers takes into account the costs of advertising, shipping, packaging, supermarket real estate, etc., while a simple bottle of white vinegar costs under $1.00 and can last over a year.)

Next, by mixing one cup of baking soda, one cup of borax (yes, it's still made and you'll find it in the laundry detergent section of your grocery store), and a pinch of table salt, you'll easily create a gentle, non-toxic bathroom and kitchen cleanser that works great. Sprinkle it on, give it a good scrubbing and rinse it clean with warm water. And here's my favorite tip: if you use the cut side of a half a lemon as your scrubber, you'll have the added benefit of that wonderful, natural, fresh citrusy scent.

Remember, whatever you use to clean your windows, mirrors, sinks, bathtubs, showers or toilets -- either these homemade recipes or those store-bought chemicals -- all gets washed down the drain and into the ground water. The only difference is that these easy, non-toxic recipes don't pollute and aren't harmful to the flora and fauna of our lakes, streams and oceans, and you won't even have to use rubber gloves while cleaning because they're so gentle. Plus, your family and pets won't be exposed to air-bound chemicals or toxic residues.

So I suggest that this year, we all not only celebrate Earth Day by taking care of others and ourselves, but by also offering care. Former Soviet President Gorbachev once suggested that it took only 5% of the leadership of Russia to create Perestroika. Just imagine what a "caring" 5% of the population could offer right here and right now to make an environmental difference locally and globally.

At least for just this one-day, show the world not only that you care, but how you care.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/blogs/nontoxic/green-cleaning-earth-day-460421?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=dgr&kw=ist

Buy a Used Bike

Riding a bike is a great green way to zip from place to place, without contributing to pollution or consuming any fossil fuel, or worrying about parking. Bonus: You get to stay in shape.

Want to make your two-wheeled ride even greener? Try hopping on a secondhand bike, a clever move that will not only save the planet some resources, but is also likely to save you some valuable dough.

If you want to make sure you score a quality bike that's reliable and inexpensive, read on for some of Mother Earth News' great tips on what to for in a secondhand steed:

1. Keep your eyes open: To hone in on the secondhand bike of your dreams, try Craig's List, thrift stores, police auctions, garage sales, and Freecycle. College towns are also great sources for quality secondhand goods.

2. Research the brand: A few minutes researching the brand online whenever you find a potential candidate not only helps you avoid cheaply made lemons, but may also enable you to recognize a steal when you encounter one.

3. Look for major problems: Some bike problems can be repairedother's can't. Mother Earth News says that the main thing you want to avoid is bent metal, so be sure to examine the frame, forks, and wheels to make sure they're in good shape. A little rust isn't a big deal, but you can use it to bargain for a better price.

4. Consider your needs: If you're looking for a bike for basic road transportation, you don't need a mountain bikeall those studded-style tires will just take more energy to pedal, anyway.

::Mother Earth News


http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/buy-a-used-bike.html

World’s Largest Tidal Turbine Successfully Installed

The world’s largest tidal turbine, weighing 1000 tonnes, has been installed in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The tidal turbine is rated at 1.2 megawatts, which is enough to power a thousand local homes. It was built by Marine Current Turbines, and it will be the first commercial tidal turbine to produce energy, when it begins operation later this year.

The turbine has twin rotors measuring 16 meters in diameter. The rotors will operate for up to 18-20 hours per day to produce enough clean, green electricity.

The turbine will be positioned 400 meters off of shoreline in Strangford Lough, which is know for its fast tidal current, and protection from severe weather. The rotors on the SeaGen turbine turn slowly: about 10 to 20 revolutions per minute. A ship’s propellers, by comparison, typically run 10 times as fast. The risk of impact from SeaGen rotor blades is small, because the marine creatures that swim in strong currents tend to be agile, and can avoid slow-moving underwater obstructions.

Commenting on the future prospects for tidal current energy, Martin Wright, Managing Director of Marine Current Turbines said: “We will build on the success of SeaGen to develop a commercial tidal farm, of up to 10MW in UK waters, within the next three years. With the right funding and regulatory framework, we believe we can realistically achieve up to 500MW of tidal capacity by 2015 based on this new SeaGen technology.”

http://www.enn.com/energy/article/34319

Luxim Plasma Light Bulb Kicks Some Serious LED Butt

At 140 lumens/watt, these pill-sized plasma light bulbs by Luxim are a pretty awesome contender for "light of the future". They are almost 10 times more efficient than traditional incandescent light bulbs, twice as efficient as current high-end LEDs, and they also beat CFLs, most of which are around 50-80 lumens/watt. Only the prototype 300 lumens/watt nanocrystal-coated LEDs can hold a candle to them.

And the light from Luxim's LIFI bulb is not ugly either: color rendering index (CRI) is 91. Lifetime for a bulb is estimated at 20,000 hours, and a relatively large amount of power can be pumped through them, allowing a tiny bulb to produce 30,000+ lumens (not something LEDs can do).



An RF (radio-frequency) signal is generated by the solid-state power amplifier and is guided into an electric field about the bulb. The high concentration of energy in the electric field vaporizes the contents of the bulb to a plasma state at the bulb’s center; this controlled plasma generates an intense source of light.

Luxim seems to want to use them in projectors, but since even a tiny light bulb can produce as much light as a street lamp, sky seems to be the limit if cost can be brought down.


http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/luxim-plasma-lifi-light-bulb-led-cfl.php

Foreign Policy - The List: Solar Power’s New Megaplants

Record-breaking oil prices, soaring greenhouse-gas emissions, and the rise of carbon trading all add up to one thing: a new dawn for solar power. From New Mexico to Australia, governments and businesses are collaborating to create enormous plants that will each bring clean electricity to tens of thousands.




stirlingenergy.com Mojave Desert, Southern California

Megawatts: 500, will possibly expand to 850

Expected cost: Undisclosed

Projected completion date: 2011

Plan: California not only boasts the highest concentration of hybrid cars in the United States, but it can now also claim the world’s largest solar energy project. Phoenix-based Stirling Energy Systems, working with utilities firm Southern California Edison, is developing an enormous, 4,500-acre thermal solar generating station in southeastern California’s Mojave Desert. The station will initially encompass 20,000 40-foot-tall, dish-shaped mirrors and produce 500 MW of electricity. And the site might expand to 850 MW—making it at least 500 MW more powerful than any of the other large solar plants in the pipeline. Stirling’s dish technology uses mirrors to focus the sun’s rays on the receiver of a device called a Stirling engine. When the hydrogen inside the receiver expands, it creates enough pressure to kick the engine into gear and drive an electricity generator without any need for gasoline or water, and without producing emissions. The company claims its process is nearly twice as efficient as other solar technologies, and Stirling is also planning to construct a 300 MW site in California’s Imperial Valley. Construction of the Mojave Desert facility is due to begin in the middle of this year.


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bp.com Tres Cantos, Spain

Megawatts: 300, an expansion from its current 55

Expected cost: $390 million - $470 million

Projected completion date: 2010

Plan: BP Solar, a division of energy company BP, announced a year ago that it has begun construction of a mega solar plant at its European headquarters in Tres Cantos, at a site it acquired in 2002. The project will employ innovative photovoltaic technology that utilizes high-quality antireflective materials coated on solar cells and silver paste screen-printed on the back and front of the cells to improve the efficiency of its panels. It helps that BP Solar will reportedly be able to sell its energy to the national grid at 575 percent of the cost of production—and the company has entered a 25-year contract with the Spanish government that obliges utilities to purchase the plant’s electricity. Tata BP Solar (a joint venture between India’s Tata Power Company and BP Solar) is also undertaking the construction of a similar facility in Bangalore, India, which is also set to produce 300 MW.


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iStockPhoto.com Deming, New Mexico

Megawatts: 300

Expected cost: $1.6 billion

Projected completion date: 2011

Plan: With help from a 30 percent federal tax credit for renewable energy, Governor Bill Richardson has vowed to make sun-drenched New Mexico the “Saudi Arabia of renewable energy.” That would make New Solar Ventures’ Deming plant, which began construction in 2006, the equivalent of the famous Ghawar oil field. Located 230 miles southwest of Albuquerque, the plant will incorporate a $650 million solar-panel-producing factory as well as a massive $950 million solar farm. The potential 3,200-acre site will take advantage of its 350 days of sunshine a year to power 240,000 homes using special patented photovoltaic technology.


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aps.com Gila Bend, Arizona

Number of megawatts: 280

Expected cost: $1 billion

Projected completion date: 2011

Plan: “Solana,” meaning “a sunny place” in Spanish, is an apt name for the nascent solar farm situated about 70 miles outside Phoenix, where summer temperatures can reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Specialty solar technology firm Abengoa Solar, supported by Arizona Public Service Company (APS), is developing a solar farm spanning 1,900 acres. Abengoa Solar will make use of something called “solar power trough technology.” The secret? Parabolic mirrors track the sun’s path and concentrate its energy to heat a fluid to more than 700 degrees Fahrenheit, which in turn converts water into steam that spins turbines to generate electricity. The electricity can then be stored and used even after the sun sets. The farm is expected to have 2,700 parabolic trough collectors and power about 70,000 homes. APS has already contracted to buy Solana’s power for 30 years, which will move APS a third of the way by 2011 toward achieving the state’s mandate of having 15 percent of the company’s electricity derived from renewable sources by 2025.


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CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP/Getty Images Ashalim, Israel

Megawatts: 250

Expected cost: $600 - $700 million

Projected completion date: Not set

Plan: The Israeli government is currently seeking bids from companies around the globe to build and operate two solar thermal plants at a 1,000-acre site in the central Negev Desert. Australian, Spanish, and Israeli companies have already expressed interest, and a final deal is expected to be reached by the end of the year. The government envisages that the plants will produce 3 percent of Israel’s electricity, and the project is part of the government’s drive to ensure that 5 percent of Israel’s electricity comes from the sun by 2016. In light of security concerns, the plant will be located about 19 miles from the Egyptian border and about 34 miles southeast of Gaza, out of range of the Qassam rocket attacks employed by Palestinian fighters.


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solarsystems.com.au Mildura, Australia

Megawatts: 154

Expected cost: $270 million

Projected completion date: Power generation to begin in 2010, plant completion by 2013

Plan: In the largest solar project in Australia to date, Hong Kong-owned TRUenergy is set to construct a major solar plant in southeastern Australia, near Mildura. Using technology developed by Melbourne firm Solar Systems, the project will utilize mirror arrays that concentrate light onto advanced high-efficiency photovoltaic cells, lowering the required size of cells—and therefore the cost. The plant is expected to generate emission-free power for 45,000 homes (avoiding the 437,000 tons of annual greenhouse-gas emissions that a coal-fired plant with a similar power output would produce). The project has secured about $120 million in funding from the federal and state governments, along with private investment through TRUenergy’s parent company. Construction on the plant will begin next year and continue to 2013, but don’t be fooled by the size of the project: It would account for just 0.1 percent of Australia’s electricity generation in 2006.


http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4239