Solar Power Updates

Solar News in 3 Sentences

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A Need To Make Solar Permitting More Efficient

Last month, New York launched a simplified solar permit that can be adopted anywhere in the state, and momentum is building across the country to bring down the cost and hassle of solar permitting, making it easier, and as much as $600 cheaper, to install solar power in your home. Making solar permitting more efficient across the country could help bring down the cost of solar energy nationwide. Our friends at Vote Solar, together with the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, have developed a set of 9 best practices for solar permitting that can bring down the cost of permitting by as much as 60 percent-as much as $600 per home.

Full article: http://www.earthtechling.com/2013/08/a-need-to-make-solar-permitting-more-efficient/

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Analyst: Grid-Parity Era Now Underway for Global Solar Markets

New Hampshire, USA - The global solar industry is in the midst of another "Inflection point" that sets the stage for "The beginning of the grid parity era," where solar is at equal cost or cheaper than traditional energy sources, according to a new report from Deutsche Bank. Looking out over the next year and a half, Deutsche Bank analyst Vishal Shah sees the solar sector entering a "Third growth phase" led by distributed solar as leasing models become more mainstream and new policies in international markets. Markets in India and Africa are also seeing solar as cheaper than diesel-based electricity generation, with solar project bids in India at 12 c/kWh vs. 20c/kWh for diesel, he points out.

Full article: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/08/analyst-grid-parity-era-now-underway-for-global-solar-markets

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First Solar buys GE's CdTe thin film IP and forms business partnership

As part of the deal, GE Global Research will collaborate on future CdTe solar technology development with First Solar as well as team on commercial levels that include purchasing and branding First Solar's modules for future global GE PV power plants. "We're excited to partner with First Solar to accelerate innovation and bring our complementary technology and R&D to market faster through its manufacturing capabilities." First Solar would be increasing its R&D expenditure by US$75 million to accommodate the R&D collaboration with GE, yet noted that it was unlikely to update its technology and production cost roadmap until next year, probably at its annual analyst day event.

Full article: http://www.pv-tech.org/news/first_solar_buys_ges_cdte_thin_film_ip_and_forms_business_partnership

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Distributed Solar PV Benefits & Costs

Snowmass, Colo.-July 22, 2013-Today, Rocky Mountain Institute announced the release of a report from the Electricity Innovation Lab, entitled "A Review of Solar PV Benefit and Cost Studies." This robust discussion document provides a critical framework for understanding the benefits and costs that increasing levels of distributed solar photovoltaics on the electricity grid offers utilities, customers and technology developers. "Balancing the cost and benefit equation will determine whether consumers pay reasonable costs for new energy infrastructure development or pay for costs that may be unnecessary and wasteful." Tags: Distributed Solar, distributed solar benefits, distributed solar costs, RMI, rocky mountain institute, solar power benefits, Solar Power Costs.

Full article: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/07/27/distirbuted-solar-pv-benefits-costs/

[solarupdates]

EU announces solar trade deal reached with China

"After weeks of intensive talks, I can announce today that I am satisfied with the offer of a price undertaking submitted by China's solar panel exporters, as foreseen by the EU's trade defence legislation. This is the amicable solution that both the EU and China were looking for," said De Gucht. "We are confident that this price undertaking will stabilise the European solar panel market and will remove the injury that the dumping practices have caused to the European industry. We have found an amicable solution that will result in a new equilibrium on the European solar panel market at a sustainable price level." The offer includes a minimum import price and terms to cancel negative impacts of previous dumping, with monitoring to be carried out by the European Union.

Full article: http://www.pv-tech.org/news/eu_announces_solar_trade_deal_reached_with_china

[solarupdates]

The Rise of Solar Warranty Management Plans for Homeowners?

Assurant announced two warranty management plans this month for U.S. homeowners and are offering them through solar panel maker and system integrator Aleo Solar and Connecticut's Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority, which just launched a new $60 million solar fund. Solar warranties typically deal with the guaranteed performance of the solar panels, inverters and other gear over time as well as at manufacturing-related defects. As the solar market grows, banks and utilities that buy power from solar project owners often require insurances from project developers and owners.

Full article: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/07/the-rise-of-solar-warranty-management-plans-for-homeowners

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The Real Solar Feed-in Tariff Story In Spain

Craig Morris of Renewables International has a great piece getting into the Spanish feed-in tariff story in a much more useful way. The Spanish have done those of us who campaign for feed-in tariffs a tremendous disservice since 2008. As Couture told Renewables International, "Everyone has heard of the Spanish debacle - from Malaysia to North America." Spanish renewables policy serves as an example to those who want to claim that feed-in tariffs cause markets to overheat and lead to a boom and bust cycle.

Full article: cleantechnica.com/2013/07/24/the-real-solar-feed-in-tariff-story-in-spain/

[solarupdates]

The Case for Distributed Energy Storage

"In some cases there are transmission constraints that could benefit from energy storage, and in some cases it makes sense for the energy storage to be sited near the system load" to reduce system losses, explained Frank Novachek, director of corporate planning for Xcel Energy. "Where energy storage is closer to the load, it can be particularly effective at managing the effects of distributed renewable energy resources, and thus protect power quality and grid stability." Deploying distributed energy storage in a building-block approach "May be particularly valuable as the industry gains more experience in applying and operating energy storage systems," he added. "What we're evaluating most is distribution upgrade deferral," he said, installing energy storage for "Pretty standard peak shaving." Deploying that energy storage in the load center, he explained, "Allows you to effectively debottleneck all that upstream transmission infrastructure" - monetizing the value of that battery, the energy arbitrator, and the infrastructure investment.

Full article: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/07/the-case-for-distributed-energy-storage

[solarupdates]

China Confirms Goal for 35 GW of Solar Capacity by 2015

BEIJING - China, the world's biggest maker of solar panels, plans to increase fivefold its installed solar capacity to more than 35 gigawatts by 2015 to support an industry faced with declining profits, slowing exports and a supply glut. Hareon Solar Technology Co. rose as much as 6.8 percent and traded 4.6 percent higher to 6.49 yuan as of 1:25 p.m. in Shanghai. The government encouraged makers of polysilicon, the raw material used to make solar panels, to form partnerships or combine with "Advanced chemical enterprises."

Full article: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/07/china-confirms-goal-for-35-gw-of-solar-capacity-by-2015?cmpid=rss

[solarupdates]

Is Solar Cheaper than Grid Electricity? Yes and No

You either lease the solar array to get the solar energy or buy the solar energy on contract. Electricity prices have rarely increased that fast over a long period of time, which means that the solar customer may actually end up paying more for their solar energy than if they had stayed with the electricity from their utility. While the price of solar has tumbled across the country, places reach parity based more on their local electricity price or solar resource.

Full article: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/07/is-solar-cheaper-than-grid-electricity-yes-and-no?cmpid=rss

[solarupdates]

Solar takes a step closer to trillion-dollar securities market

Tapping into the trillion-dollar securities market for portfolios of solar projects moved a significant step forward at a meeting last week of the Solar Access to Public Capital working group in San Francisco. SunPower, SolarCity, Sunrun and Recurrent Energy are among those solar companies participating in the working group along with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Rabobank, Union Bank and Standard & Poor's rating agency. Many in the industry agree that solar customer payments have a very low risk of default, much lower than mortgage payments or car loans.

Full article: www.pv-tech.org/news/solar_takes_a_step_closer_to_trillion_dollar_securities_market

[solarupdates]

Thin-film PV Breakthrough Could Cut Solar Costs By One Third

A new Silicon Valley developer of thin film solar PV modules, backed by an Australian venture capitalist, has claimed an engineering breakthrough that could cut the manufacturing costs of PV modules by one third. RSI has broken cover after five years of development to announce it has created a 1.5 square metre cadmium telluride PV module, twice the size of conventional modules. Matt Jones, from Nth Power, said RSI had the highest potential of profit and investor return of any solar module the VC firm had seen.

Full article: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/07/14/thin-film-pv-breakthrough-could-cut-solar-costs-by-one-third/

[solarupdates]

China becomes first country to hit 3GW milestone for utility-scale solar

China leapfrogged Germany in June to become the first country in the world to install 3GW of utility-scale solar power, according to the latest data from Wiki-Solar. Figures from online project tracker Wiki-Solar show that global utility solar added 3.75GW in the first half of 2013 alone, with China contributing more than 1GW of that alone. The slowdown there has been more than offset not just by China, but also the US, which added even more new capacity than China with 1.36GW. "Wiki-Solar founder Philip Wolfe said globally, utility-scale solar had avoided the setbacks created by various trade disputes:"This is partly because of the large pipeline of projects in progress.

Full article: http://www.pv-tech.org/news/china_becomes_first_country_to_hit_3gw_milestone_for_utility_scale_solar

[solarupdates]

Chinese Solar Companies: We Can Survive

Let's start with a closer look first at Canadian Solar, whose forecast of a return to profits for all of 2013 is part of a larger announcement about the sale of a solar power plant that it built. Finally there's LDK, the weakest of China's major solar players, which announced it has issued 25 million new shares to Fulai Investments for $1.03 per share. Look for Fulai to keep boosting its stake, most likely at the expense of existing shareholders, as it slowly takes over LDK. Bottom line: Canadian Solar looks set to survive the solar industry's ongoing crisis using its new business model, while LDK is slowly being taken over by an opportunistic buyer.

Full article: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/07/chinese-solar-companies-we-can-survive?cmpid=rss

[solarupdates]

World Solar PV Market To Hit 45 GW In 2014, Deutsche Bank Forecasts

In a preview to the Intersolar conference in San Francisco this week, Deutsche bases its forecasts on strong demand from "Sustainable" markets such as Japan, US, India, and China; the acceleration in demand from emerging markets such as Chile, the Middle East, and South East Asia; and stabilising demand from Europe. Deutsche's analysis is more bullish than an NPD Solarbuzz report last week that forecast solar PV demand for calendar 2013 to reach a record high of 35.1 GW, after a strong second half that would result in 20 GW being installed. In March, the research group predicted full year demand of just 31 GW. NPD Solarbuzz analyst Michael Barker said the market was still in transition, and would continue to rely on four key countries for the bulk of demand - Germany, China, Japan, and the US - which accounted for more than 60% of demand in the first half.

Full article: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/07/08/world-solar-pv-market-to-hit-45-gw-in-2014-deutsche-bank-forecasts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29

[solarupdates]

Aggressive Development In China And Japan Drive Massive PV Demand

Aggressive photovoltaic development by China and Japan in the second half of 2013 is expected to push the global solar photovoltaic demand up 22% year over year to 20 gigawatts according to the new NPD Solarbuzz Quarterly report. The latest Quarterly shows that global PV demand for the first half of 2013 reached 15 GW, a figure up 9% compared to the first half of 2012. While the first half PV deployment was spread primarily across four countries, NPD believe that 45% of demand in the second half of 2013 is going to come from China and Japan alone.

Full article: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/07/04/aggressive-development-in-china-and-japan-drive-massive-pv-demand/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29

[solarupdates]

Residential Solar PV Systems Experiencing Slow Adoption in China

BEIJING - China launched a series of policies at end of 2012 to encourage the deployment of residential solar photovoltaic systems that can generate sufficient power for one household. The experience in other countries suggests that fast development of the novel power source will rely on high subsidies and supportive policies from the government. The Chinese government encourages and promotes adoption of home PV power systems, and is trying to find a way to address these challenges.

Full article: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/07/residential-solar-pv-systems-experiencing-slow-adoption-in-china?cmpid=rss