The renewable energy sector is a key technology and simultaneously a successful growth industry for a sustainable future. Especially during the recent economic depression, by continuing the trend of increasing investments and therefore creating new job opportunities, the branch has proven its sustainable character. In this broad field Blue Ribbon CleanTech focuses on:
Renewable energies offer a wide range of advantages: On the one hand it is possible to unload the strained electricity grid and to use the energy on-site by decentralizing the energy production. On the other hand, renewable energies lead to independence from fossil fuels such as mineral oil, natural gas and coal as they are freely accessible goods. The European Union plans to have increased the share of renewable energies in the total supply even further by 2020. Especially the Renewable Energies Act (“EEG”) gives incentives and a fiscal stimulus to carry on a business in the renewable energy resources sector, by guaranteeing a fixed feed-in tariff over 30 years. This allows for long-term planning and provides investment security.
Solar Energy
In general, the solar energy, irradiating from the surface of the sun, exceeds the worldwide energy needs by far. The greatest challenge and opportunity at the same time, is to transform this radiation into usable energy. At present, mainly two methods are used: Photovoltaic and Solar Heat.
Sunlight can be converted into electricity by the use of photovoltaic modules (PV) that mainly consist of high-quality crystalline silicon cells. These systems can be installed in a consecutive order on rooftops or in shadow-free areas. In general, there are two types of PV materials: thick-layered (mono- or polycrystalline) and thin-layered (amorphous) silicon cells.
By converting sunlight into heat, sun irradiation can also be used to produce solar thermal energy for private and industrial use.
Wind energy
For the past three decades, the use of wind power has been increasing not only in Germany but also in many European and Non-European countries. Of all renewable energies, wind energy accounts for the major part of renewable electric power supply and thus plays an important role in the change-over towards the production and use of resource-conserving electricity. Especially coastal areas offer the conditions for highly-efficient on-shore and off-shore wind farms. Even in weak-wind regions, wind turbines can be profitable by generating constant output.
The international course for growth of wind power enables efficient energy generation and guarantees lucrative investments.
Biogas and geothermal energy
Due to the decreasing use of farmland for food production in Europe, there is more fallow land available for biomass cultivation. In Germany, the future capacity of biogas is expected to amount for as much as 17 percent in 2040. For many years, Blue Ribbon CleanTech has been dealing with the set of problems that arises from the dependency of companies in the biogas sector on national framework conditions.
Geothermal energy is another important energy source for the future, especially for its inexhaustible reserves and the development of new conveying technologies. In this process the heat stored underneath the earth crust is, with the help of drilling processes, carried to the surface in form of hot steam. On the surface, the steam is forwarded to turbines, which generate electricity. The advantage of geothermal energy is that the production does not depend on any environmental or climatic factors.
Both procedures, characterized by their sustainability and their environment-friendly nature, represent an essential part of the investment portfolio of Blue Ribbin CleanTech.