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Old Posted Mar 27, 2013, 4:49 PM
amor de cosmos amor de cosmos is offline
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Quote:
Rooftop solar could power all households, slash electricity prices
By Sophie Vorrath on 27 March 2013

What would happen if every Australian household installed solar PV on their rooftops? That’s the hypothetical question a new study has set out to answer, with the main aim of proving a solar point (while rattling a few cages along the way): that solar power is a viable solution to Australia’s energy challenges and has the potential to dramatically change the nation’s energy landscape.

The study, conducted by solar provider Energy Matters using government data, found that if every suitable rooftop in Australia was turned into a solar power station, the amount of energy generated would supply more than 134.8 per cent of the country’s residential electricity needs, and would drive down power prices from an average of 30c per kilowatt-hour to 7c/kWh.

According to Energy Matters, there is just under 400 square kilometres of available roof space on residential roof tops in Australia that could accommodate solar panels – equal to the size of inner Melbourne. By the company’s calculations, each one of the suitable houses could theoretically hold an 8kW, 32-panel solar power system. The cost for each system at the current market rate would be less than $14,000.

These houses would then generate 36kWh per day; and with the average household currently consuming 18kWh per day, the excess electricity would earn the household between $2100 and $3,200 per year. This way, the study estimates each household’s solar system would be paid off in between four and six years.

And then there is what Energy Matters describes as the “knock on effect” to factor in, with energy prices and CO2 emissions reduced dramatically, and a huge boon in green jobs.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/roof...y-prices-57950

Quote:
India achieves 1.4GW cumulative capacity
By Nilima Choudhury - 27 March 2013, 12:08
In News, Power Generation

India has achieved a total a cumulative capacity of 1,447MW for grid-connected solar PV.

According to statistics from the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) India added 210MW in February, taking the total grid-connected solar deployed in this financial year to 505MW.

The country is targeting a total of 800MW of new solar capacity by the end of the financial year ending this month.

For off-grid systems of more than 1kW in size, the MNRE did not supply figures for February, but its total deployment for 2012-2013 has reached 17.59MW. The country now has a cumulative capacity of 108MW, which has surpassed its 30MW target for 2013.
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/india_ac...ative_capacity

Quote:
NREL Study: Securitization Could Cut Solar LCOE by 16 Percent
A new source of capital that also lowers costs

Herman K. Trabish: March 27, 2013

“Securitization,” explained GTM Research VP Shayle Kann, “is taking a portfolio of contracted revenue from solar [or wind] projects, bundling it, and selling it as individual securities.”

In addition to providing a new source of capital, securitization could also lower the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of best-quality solar projects up to 16 percent, according to a new report from NREL.

Michael Mendelsohn’s report on the early progress of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded research on opening up solar to public investment through securitization showed it could lower the levelized cost of solar energy-generated electricity by 8 percent to 16 percent for the best quality projects.

Another measure of the potential rewards from securitization is the prestigious list of participants in the NREL Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) working group, which is a renewables industry who’s who of major banks (Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Rabobank); venture capital firms (Capital Fusion Partners, CleanPath Ventures); law firms (Bingham McCutchen LLP, Chadbourne & Parke LLP); ratings agencies (Standard and Poor's, Kroll Bond Ratings); and, especially, solar financiers (Clean Power Finance, Sungevity, SunPower [NASDAQ:SPWR], Sunrun).



To head off concerns that securitization in the renewables, especially solar, would blow up the market as it did in the housing sector in 2008, NREL’s SAPC working group’s DOE grant charged it with a three-year, three-task purpose:
  • Simplify investors' due diligence by standardizing evaluation, legal practices, and documents necessary for securitization of renewables investments;
  • Evaluate securitization in other economic sectors. Identify the strengths and flaws in assumptions and proposals about how pooling project shares would work for the renewables; and
  • Collect data for the evaluation of securitization’s potential performance and credit default risk.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...-To-16-Percent

Quote:
New solar leasing push Down Under
27. March 2013 | Applications & Installations, Markets & Trends | By: Jonathan Gifford

A new campaign to introduce the solar leasing model to Australian households was kicked off today. The campaign is called "Every Rooftop" and is the result of a collaboration between solar developer Ingenero and the NGO Green Cross Australia.

The residential sector still dominates the Australian photovoltaic market, and that may remain the case if a new push to promote solar leasing is taken up by homeowners. Australian solar installer and developer Ingenero is behind the move to promote solar leases in Australia.

The Every Rooftop campaign is essentially a website and referral system, where homeowners are encouraged to assess their suitability for a solar lease and to sign up for one. Green Cross Australia is supporting what is being called "a social venture" and will receive a commission for each sale.

Green Cross Australia’s CEO Mara Bún said solar leasing would expand photovoltaics in the country. "Currently nearly one million Australian homes have solar power - a number worth celebrating. Under a moderate growth scenario, the Australian Energy Market Operator expects this number to grow eight-fold by 2031," said Bún.
http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...der_100010706/

Quote:
27.03.2013
Magnetic fingerprints of interface defects in silicon solar cells detected

Using a highly sensitive method of measurement, HZB physicists have managed to localize defects in amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells. Now, for the first time ever, using computer simulations at Paderborn University, the scientists were able to determine the defects' exact locations and assign them to certain structures within the interface between the amorphous and crystalline phases.


In theory, silicon-based solar cells are capable of converting up to 30 percent of sunlight to electricity - although, in reality, the different kinds of loss mechanisms ensure that even under ideal lab conditions it does not exceed 25 %. Advanced heterojunction cells shall affront this problem: On top of the wafer’s surface, at temperatures below 200 °C, a layer of 10 nanometer disordered (amorphous) silicon is deposited. This thin film is managing to saturate to a large extent the interface defects and to conduct charge carriers out of the cell. Heterojunction solar cells have already high efficiency factors up to 24,7 % – even in industrial scale. However, scientists had until now only a rough understanding of the processes at the remaining interface defects.

Now, physicists at HZB’s Institute for Silicon Photovoltaics have figured out a rather clever way for detecting the remaining defects and characterizing their electronic structure. "If electrons get deposited on these defects, we are able to use their spin, that is, their small magnetic moment, as a probe to study them," Dr. Alexander Schnegg explains. With the help of EDMR, electrically detected magnetic resonance, an ultrasensitive method of measurement, they were able to determine the local defects' structure by detecting their magnetic fingerprint in the photo current of the solar cell under a magnetic field and microwave radiation.
http://www.helmholtz-berlin.de/pubbi...che=en&typoid=

Last edited by amor de cosmos; Mar 27, 2013 at 5:30 PM.
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