Ivor News

Paramount Group, the global aerospace and technology company, announced today that it has appointed Steve Griessel as its Group Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.South African-born Griessel, a global business executive who served as CEO of several companies in South Africa and the United States, including two public companies, brings more than 30 years of business leadership and senior management experience to the group.Ivor Ichikowitz, Founder of Paramount Group sad, “Paramount Group is a unique organization; its ethos is based on extreme agility and innovation.

Gunnar Groebler, Senior Vice President, Business Area Wind at Vattenfall,  has been named chairman of WindEurope’s board of directors.Groebler will replace RES CEO Ivor Catto and will serve an 18-month term. Nordex’s Tony Adams becomes the association’s new vice chair.Groebler, a mechanical engineer by background who has been with the Swedish utility since 1999, said: “We’re at an exciting time for wind energy. The technology continues to evolve and with it costs are coming down. Wind is an increasingly affordable source of power for people and businesses.”"The next challenge that we face as an industry is to continue ramping up scale as Europe phases out fossil fuels and electrifies its economy.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is providing $181,000 funding to support Bombora Wave Power (Bombora) to complete a detailed cost of energy study for its Wave Energy Convertor (WEC). Bombora’s WEC design uses a responsive rolling membrane fitted to a long concrete arm resting on the sea floor. The membrane pressurises air, which is passed through a turbine to generate electricity. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said harnessing energy from the ocean required determination, ingenuity and time. ‘Bombora has been developing its innovative wave energy device for five years. This study is an opportunity for Bombora to prove the case for its technology and continue the journey towards a commercial solution that could strengthen Australia’s position as a leader in wave power…

BioPower Systems Pty Ltd (BioPower) has finished constructing its prototype wave power unit to be installed off the coast of Port Fairy, Victoria, later this year. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht congratulated BioPower on the achievement, which would advance the renewable wave energy industry in Australia. “The $21 million project, supported by $11 million ARENA funding, aims to move BioPower’s bioWAVE technology towards commercialisation,” Mr Frischknecht said. “If successfully installed, it will be the second ARENA supported wave energy device supplying energy to a major Australian grid, feeding 250kW of renewable energy into the National Electricity Market. “The bioWAVE unit is a 26 metre high steel structure that sways back and forth, mostly below the surface of the ocean.

CSIRO is set to increase confidence in large scale solar by more accurately predicting how different solar photovoltaic (PV) systems will perform on Australian shores. Over the course of a 32 month project supported by $1.3 million ARENA funding, CSIRO successfully established unique indoor and outdoor testing capabilities that are now accessible to PV researchers and industry. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said these new facilities would allow different solar panels and cells to be scrutinised, assessing how they respond to Australian conditions and predicting their output over time. “Accurately predicting the energy output of a solar PV power plant is critical throughout its lifecycle…

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) today announced up to $20 million for a new research and development (R&D) round dedicated to industry-partnered projects that seek to develop and commercialise renewable energy technologies. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht was joined by founder of Suntech Power Dr Zhengrong Shi to officially open the new funding round at an event held at RMIT University in Melbourne. “I am pleased to announce up to $20 million for our second R&D round through ARENA’s Research & Development Programme,” Mr Frischknecht said. “This round will support industry and research partnerships to deliver R&D projects with practical applications and commercially-oriented outcomes that integrate renewable energy into networks, buildings and industrial processes.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) today joined Minister for Industry and Science Ian Macfarlane to officially switch on the Carnegie Perth Wave Energy Project’s onshore power station. Following successful testing last year, the project is now up and running, feeding renewable energy into HMAS Stirling, Australia’s largest naval base. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said the occasion marked an important point in the history of wave energy and is the culmination close to a decade of work. “This is the first array of wave power generators to be connected to an electricity grid in Australia and worldwide,” Mr Frischknecht said

ARENA’s Research and Development (R&D) program supports R&D projects that will advance the commercial deployment of renewable energy technology in Australia. ARENA is providing $21.5 million funding for 12 cutting edge projects through the first round of the R&D program, which is focused on solar excellence. ARENA is keen to facilitate greater collaboration between the research sector and industry in the next round of the R&D program in 2015. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said building and maintaining strong links between researchers and industry – including manufacturers, generators and distribution companies – would help meet the challenges facing Australia’s energy market and future energy supply.

ARENA today congratulated researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) for being the first in the world to convert more than 40% of the sunlight hitting a solar system into electricity. The record efficiency was first achieved in outdoor tests in Sydney, before being independently confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at their outdoor test facility in the United States. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said this is another world first for Australian solar researchers, demonstrating the value of investing in Australia’s renewable energy ingenuity. “The clever solution combines advanced triple junction cells with cheaper conventional silicon cells to boost power output,” Mr Frischknecht said.

The Australian Government today announced $21.5 million funding for 12 cutting edge R&D projects that will keep Australia at the forefront of solar research. Parliamentary Secretary for Industry Bob Baldwin made the announcement at an Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) event held at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said the projects from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the Australian National University (ANU), CSIRO and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) represented the vanguard of Australia’s solar ingenuity. “These are the top 12 projects from a very competitive round where 110 applications were received, peer-reviewed and ranked against one another,” Mr Frischknecht said.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) today announced $101.7 million of support for Moree Solar Farm, which upon completion will be one of the largest solar plants in Australia. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht congratulated renewable energy company Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) who are set to begin construction on the project shortly. “Moree Solar Farm will be the first large-scale solar plant in Australia to use a single-axis horizontal tracking system, where panels follow the sun across the sky to capture sunlight and maximise power output,” Mr Frischknecht said. Mr Frischknecht said the Moree community would benefit from the project and had been keen supporters, along with the Moree Plains Shire Council, for several years.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency today celebrated a major milestone with the installation of the first solar panels at AGL’s large-scale solar plant in Nyngan, NSW. ARENA’s CEO Ivor Frischknecht joined federal and state officials, key stakeholders, community representatives and local workers at the 250 hectare construction site to congratulate project developers, AGL and First Solar, on this significant achievement. “The advanced thin-film PV modules being installed today are the first of around 1.35 million panels that will harvest sunlight for the 102 MW solar plant,” Mr Frischknecht said. ”ARENA is very pleased to be supporting this landmark project which…

A clever new renewable energy solution combining COLORBOND® pre-painted steel sheet roofing with cutting-edge, thin-film solar panels is set to provide Australian homes with a streamlined, aesthetically pleasing rooftop energy system that captures the sun’s energy as both electricity and heat. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht joined Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Bob Baldwin, to launch the new technology at a home in Sydney today. The $5 million landmark project was undertaken by the Australian-based global building market supplier BlueScope, with $2.3 million support from ARENA. “Today we are witnessing an exciting new technology solution moving from the lab to be prototyped on everyday Australian rooftops for the first time,” Mr Frischknecht said.

ARENA today announced $450,000 funding for Abengoa to conduct a feasibility study into a solar thermal power station in remote Western Australia. ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said the study will look into constructing a 20 MWe plant in Perenjori, connected to the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) electricity grid. “The solar thermal tower and a molten-salt energy storage system could supply power to a mining operation and the remote community of Perenjori. “Importantly, Abengoa is considering elements of CSIRO’s solar thermal technology, which was developed with ARENA support. It’s another example of how ARENA invests across the innovation chain to bring emerging Australian technologies towards commercialisation,” Mr Frischknecht said.

STEALTHGAS INC. (Nasdaq:GASS), a ship-owning company serving primarily the liquified petroleum gas (LPG) sector of the international shipping industry, announced today the delivery of Gas Cerberus, new charter arrangements for three vessels, the sale of four vessels and first quarter 2011 financial results release date, conference call and webcast. On April 20, 2011, the Company took delivery of the 5,000cbm LPG carrier, Gas Cerberus, from the yard which has since been deployed in the spot market.