SPartin | May 18, 2012
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Research paper shines light on competitiveness of solar PV power

New working paper argues that common perceptions about the lack of competitiveness of solar photovoltaic power are misleading and out-of-date

London and New York, 16 May 2012. Power generated from solar photovoltaic (PV) panels is much closer to competitiveness with conventional electricity generation than many policy-makers and commentators have realised, according to a new working paper on the subject, released by research company Bloomberg New Energy Finance today.

The paper, Reconsidering the Economics of Photovoltaic Power, looks at the implications of the sharpest falls in the prices of PV technology in recent memory. Average PV module prices have fallen by nearly 75% in the past three years, to the point where solar power is now competitive with daytime retail power prices in a number of countries. It also examines the metrics generally used to measure the economics of solar power against alternative power generating technologies, and finds they are often inadequate, and may introduce bias against the deployment of PV technology.

The authors’ aim is to inform policy-makers, utility decision-makers, investors and advisory services, in particular in high-growth developing countries, as they weigh the suite of power generation options available to them. The paper is being submitted for publication in the peer-reviewed literature.

Link to the paper

Category: Business / Economics, National, Political, Solar |
SPartin | May 18, 2012
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350.org Wants to End Polluter Subsidies

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Keith Ellison launched a new piece of legislation that would repeal $113 billion of tax-breaks, handouts, and subsidies for the fossil fuel industry over the next 10 years.

Not only is fossil fuel the richest industry on earth, but any of us who pay taxes write it a hefty check each year. It’s as if we’re paying them a performance bonus for wrecking the climate. We’ll never get to renewable energy if we keep handing gobs of money to oil and coal and gas.

The bill would strip away these outrageous subsidies. As you can imagine, the fossil fuel industry is going to fight back hard, so we need to come out as strong as possible.

Get more info and sign the petition here

Category: Call to Action, National, Political |
SLevy | May 16, 2012
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Can Stion get its factory to capacity by offering modules at $0.75 per watt?

Stampede ahead!

Stion is having a CIGS solar panel sale.
The VC- and strategic-funded CIGS solar firm sent out an email blast offering solar modules “for as low as $.75 per watt.” Neither the email nor a a subsequently contacted representative of the company disclosed the volumes available or the terms of the offer for modules at that price. Aaron Thurlow, Stion VP of West Coast Sales, did say that these were fully UL-compliant modules shipping from Stion’s Hattiesburg, Mississippi factory.
As GTM Research Solar Analyst MJ Shiao has discussed in his recent thin film market analysis, thin film vendors have a small window of opportunity to be competitive — but the firms have to get their factories running at capacity to realize the cost promise of the technology. And having this type of sale is one way to get it done.

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Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, Solar |
SLevy | May 14, 2012
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Microinverters can Improve Performance under Shaded Conditions more than 12%

Monday, May 14, 2012
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released a new repeatable test protocol that simulates real shade conditions and can predict with much greater precision the effects of shade on a solar array.
The new test demonstrated that under heavy shading conditions the use of microinverters instead of typical string inverters can help mitigate the impacts of shade by improving system performance by more than 12 percent.

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Category: Business / Economics, Solar, Technology |
SLevy | May 11, 2012
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Tennessee Needs to Create TLC to bring in Solar Investments

What is TLC? Back in 2009, the Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisers published a study tracking 270 major climate policies in 109 countries. The results of the study was that successful projects where those that offered investors TLC – transparency, longevity and certainty. The research went on to find that the United states lacked TLC and was lagging behind other countries, notably China and Germany. While other counties have adopted strong policy frameworks with integrated plans and clear targets, incentives and mandates, the Federal regulatory regime has been described as a “chaotic patchwork, constantly changing” with short-term approaches that amount to nothing more than just stop gap measures.
Other states are creating the jobs and bringing in solar such as California. California’s most recent step is called the California Renewable energy Resources Act (CRERA), which requires all California electricity providers to obtain at least 33 percent of their energy from renewable resources by the year 2020. The measures associated with CRERA have attracted capital to the State, driven economic recovery and produced jobs. Venture capital investments in California approximated $6.6 billion from 2006 to 2008, more than all other states combined.

While other neighboring states of Tennessee are being selected for cell and solar module plants, none have selected Tennessee. Durham-based Semprius announced plans to build a pilot plant to produce high efficiency, low-cost high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) solar modules in Vance County, NC; solar panel manufacturer Jetion Solar (US) Corp., opened its first North American headquarters in Charlotte NC in May which will employ 250+ people within five years. Mississippi has Stion making panels, Calisolar, a California-based producer of solar and industrial materials, is investing $600 million to construct a new silicon metal production facility and silicon refinery operation near Columbus, Mississippi. A total of 951 direct full-time jobs with an average annual salary of $45,000 plus benefits are expected to result from this investment. With an anticipated $42.7 million annual payroll, the project also will create an estimated 1,000 temporary construction jobs. Arkansas has a new startup Calisolar, a California-based silicon manufacturing company, to build a factory in Columbus. Suniva’s corporate headquarters and manufacturing plant, with a capacity of 170 MW, are located in Norcross, Georgia

Why? It appears that these factors are lacking in our state’s long-range planning for continued investment in solar manufacturing here. We have manufacturers such as Hemlock and Wacker located here. They will provide the basic raw material for solar modules. Except for Sharp in Memphis which was began there in 1979 before the great interest in solar photovoltaics, we have been at a standstill regarding the progression of polysilicon to panels. So far this year there has been no visible progress in attracting either a solar cell or panel manufacturing plant here in Tennessee.

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, Solar, Tennessee |
SLevy | May 11, 2012
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U.S. Bond Program Backing Green Energy

Will Toor, a Boulder County commissioner, who advocates the use of Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds.

Even as state and local governments struggle to meet higher green energy standards with ever-shrinking budgets, billions of dollars of so-called Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds have gone unused. As of May 3, only about 20 percent of the bonds — roughly $663 million — had been issued, with many states not dipping into their allotments at all. Federal officials still stand behind the program, pointing out that it has no expiration date.

Under the program, the federal government covers up to 70 percent of the applicable tax credit rate as a direct payment to the issuer or as a tax credit to the investor. For eligible localities, it can effectively bring their interest cost down to about 0.5 to 1.5 percent, according to Elizabeth Bellis of the Energy Programs Consortium, a research and policy group that represents state energy officials.

Congress originally authorized $800 million for the program, but eventually increased that to $3.2 billion in 2009 as part of the stimulus act.

Municipalities have found the program difficult to navigate, as it wasn’t always clear how clean energy projects could qualify. For example, localities could sell bonds for projects that reduced energy consumption in public buildings by 20 percent. But some officials were unsure how to calculate the savings, either for individual buildings or the overall group. Another category allowed governments to create “green community” projects, but the program offered little detail on what that meant.

“Guidance from Treasury on a number of outstanding legal questions would help speed up the use of these funds and facilitate projects that have been delayed due to legal uncertainties,” Ms. Bellis said. “These projects have the potential to create thousands of local jobs, update public buildings, develop local green industry and significantly reduce fossil fuel emissions.”

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Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, Grants and Incentives, National, Solar, Tennessee |
SLevy | May 10, 2012
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Saudi Arabia targets 41GW of solar installations by 2032

This solar rooftop in Saudi Arabia, shown here during construction, is now complete and connected to the grid.


The world’s largest oil producer is now generating electricity from the sun. Saudi Arabia’s National Solar Systems (NSS) and Conergy, a German-based solar consortium, last week announced the completion of a solar park on the rooftop of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

“For the first time, clean power is flowing into the national grid. This is a historical event for us in Saudi Arabia,” explained Abdulhadi Al-Mureeh, the managing director of NSS.

Although it sits on about 20% of the world’s proven oil reserves, Saudi Arabia seeks to make solar power a significant component of its energy supply within the next decade. This includes plans for a series of solar-powered desalination facilities, incorporating locally developed nanotechnology.

The solar rooftop at KAUST is a modest start, generating 2 MW of power. However, the oil-rich kingdom sees a sunny future: “Saudi Arabia aspires to export as much solar energy in the future as it exports oil now,” Saudi Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ali Al-Naimi, declared in a recent interview.This is a wake up call for the United States that the oil rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia is planning 41 GW of solar for their country. The proposed framework would cost tens of billions of dollars and see Saudi Arabia producing almost 25% of its electricity from solar power installations.

If the plans come to fruition, Saudi Arabia will become one of the world’s largest solar power producers. King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE), the government body directing alternative energy development, have announced the country’s ambitious long-term goals for solar power. The first round of bidding will be in the first quarter of 2013, where 1.1GW worth of PV project and 0.9GW of concentrated solar PV (“CSP”) will be up for sale. The second round of bidding will take place in the third/fourth quarter of 2014, when they will be offering 1.3GW worth of PV project and 1.2GW of CSP. The minimum project size for sale is expected to be 5MW. Project offers will be assessed on qualitative measures such as experience in the development of solar projects as well as suggested price per kWh of produced electricity.

Through the implementation of the program according to KA-CARE aims to diversify Saudi Arabia’s energy mix to create jobs, generate green power and reduce the wasteful use of hydrocarbons.

Category: Business / Economics, Global, Solar |
SLevy | May 8, 2012
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Utilities’ Honest Assessment of Solar in the Electricity Supply

Constellation Energy’s Senior Vice President of Green Initiatives Michael D. Smith predicts that “If we fast-forward to this conference five years from now, half of the agenda is going to be storage.”
Photovoltaic solar is now the concern of utilities and the nation’s biggest energy companies.
At the GTM solar summit in Phoenix last week, GTM CEO Scott Clavenna probed planners for insights into the industry’s future.
“We look at solar as a way to build clean generation and help our customers save money on the cost of their electricity and meet their sustainability goals,” offered power giant Constellation Energy’s Senior Vice President of Green Initiatives Michael D. Smith.
“With the RPS in California beginning in 2002 to 2003, we have a lot of wind and some biomass,” said J.C. Thomas, Regional Manager of investor-owned utility San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), who continued, “We’re now starting to see the solar roll in on a larger scale.”
With solar’s growth, Thomas said, “We are ground zero for all its effects. One of the effects we’re seeing is the significant cost shift that’s occurring once you start net metering and the other customers are picking up the tab. It’s a serious issue.” On Thomas’ concern about net metering, Barmack noted that it “takes money away from conventional generators and gives it back to load. Theft is very profitable if you can get away with it.” Calpine follows solar “pretty closely,” he added, but “until the utilities start looking much harder at the operating characteristics of some of the different types of renewable resources, geothermal will not beat PV or wind.”

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Category: Business / Economics, National |
SLevy | May 8, 2012
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Why SolarCity Is Succeeding in a Difficult Solar Industry

Solar suburbs: A residential solar installation in Peoria, Arizona. SolarCity


After a steady stream of bankruptcies, poor earnings reports, and canceled IPOs for clean-energy companies, this week SolarCity bucked that trend by announcing that it had filed the necessary paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO.

The key difference between SolarCity and many other clean-energy startups is that it isn’t trying to take on incumbents with new technology. It makes money by deploying existing solar technology with a novel approach to financing.

SolarCity designs, installs, and maintains solar-energy systems fitted to homeowners’ roofs. Instead of asking for a big upfront payment, it leases the systems. As the panels produce power, surplus electricity is sold back to the local utility. Combined with the savings that come from using less power from the grid, this will typically reduce the homeowner’s electric bill by enough to offset the lease payments.

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Category: Business / Economics, National, Solar |
SPartin | May 7, 2012
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The Simple Tool That Saves Women’s Lives

A woman at the Iridimi camp in Chad boils water in a solar cooker (photo courtesy of Jewish World Watch)

A cardboard box is saving the lives of thousands of people in Africa. It’s called a solar cooker, and it is pure ingenuity. Take two pieces of cardboard, add some tinfoil and sunlight—and anything can be cooked. You can even get water to boil.

With the help of thousands of Americans, solar cookers have found their way to camps in Chad that house refugees who fled the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. More than 250,000 live in these camps, each sheltering about 20,000 people.

The cookers have made a huge difference—and not just because they are a way to heat food. Without them, refugee women must go outside the camp to gather firewood. But to leave camp is to gamble with death. Women and children—especially girls—are “particularly vulnerable to attack and rape when they are out getting wood,” says Rachel Andres, director of the Solar Cooker Project at Jewish World Watch. The equation is simple, she says. A solar cooker keeps you in camp, and that helps keep you alive.

The numbers back this up. A recent survey at one refugee camp showed that journeys to collect firewood outside the camps dropped by 86% after the solar cookers were made available.

Full Article

Category: Fun, Global, Solar |
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