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Posted Apr 1, 2014, 4:07 PM
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BANNED
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: lodged against an abutment
Posts: 7,556
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Hong Kong Property Tycoon Makes $533 Million Bet on Solar
By Bloomberg News Mar 31, 2014 4:01 PM PT
A Hong Kong real-estate tycoon has spent the past year accumulating stakes in failing solar companies, piecing together what may become the biggest collection of photovoltaic factories in the world.
Zheng Jianming, also known in Cantonese as Cheng Kin Ming, has spent or pledged about $533 million to buy assets that at their peak were worth almost $20 billion, according to regulatory filings in the U.S. and Hong Kong, where he has a home and office.
The transactions, if completed, would transform Zheng, a newcomer to the solar industry, into one of its most powerful leaders. Another Zheng solar investment in 2012, a 30 percent stake in Shunfeng Photovoltaic International Ltd. (1165), has surged more than 2,900 percent and is now worth more than $745 million.
“He’s a bit mysterious and not really well documented in the industry,” said Andrew Klump, managing director at the Shanghai-based consulting company Clean Energy Associates. “If he wanted to be more high-profile he would be. He’s probably going to continue to stay under the radar.”
Zheng declined to comment when contacted at home and through companies he owns, Faithsmart Ltd. and Fulai Investments Ltd. He didn’t respond to questions left in writing at his office and home in Hong Kong. Apple Daily said in December that he’s 48, and his age couldn’t be verified in company records.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-0...-on-solar.html
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Apr 1, 2014
Canadian Solar Gets $46 Million From Manulife for Mighty Project
April 1 (Bloomberg) — Canadian Solar Inc., the best-performing solar maker last year, received a C$51 million ($46 million) loan from Manulife Financial Corp. for its Mighty project in Ontario.
The 10-megawatt solar farm is expected to begin producing power in the second quarter, Guelph, Ontario-based Canadian Solar said today in a statement. The project will be acquired by Concord Green Energy Inc. after it begins operation, according to the statement. BowMont Capital & Advisory Ltd. advised the project sale. Terms weren’t disclosed.
The Ontario Power Authority has agreed to a 20-year contract to purchase electricity from the solar farm.
Canadian Solar increased more than eightfold in 2013, the most in the Bloomberg Industries Global Large Solar Energy Index.
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http://about.bnef.com/bnef-news/cana...ighty-project/
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/04/01/...gy-motherload/
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Is the SolarCity Model the Only Way to Scale Residential Solar?
Deconstructing the latest wave of activity in the residential market
Nicole Litvak
March 31, 2014
The U.S. residential solar market is growing rapidly and undergoing a major transformation at the same time. A new acquisition, partnership, or project fund seems to be announced every week.
But what is the underlying trend here? For a while, many of us simply boiled it down to industry consolidation. The most recent developments, however, point to something even more specific: vertical integration.
Follow the leader
SolarCity and Vivint Solar, the top two residential installers in the U.S., installed more than one-third of all residential systems in 2013 and raised more than half of the $2.3 billion in project funds announced last year. (We’ll discuss more finance trends in an upcoming update to last year’s U.S. Residential Solar PV Financing report.) The two companies have very different strategies, especially when it comes to acquiring customers. Vivint is known for selling exclusively door-to-door, while SolarCity has a diversified approach that includes retail partnerships, cold calling, advertising, and anything else you could think of.
However, there are two key similarities between these installers: they both primarily offer third-party owned solar (leases and PPAs), and they are the only two national, completely vertically integrated residential solar companies. Across these and other finance providers, the TPO model has proven easy to scale given the large addressable market of consumers who can afford a lease but not the purchase of a system. But does having control of both the project funding and installation give SolarCity and Vivint an additional advantage over their competitors?
Recent moves from several of their competitors suggests that it does:
- Sunrun and NRG Residential Solar Solutions are -- or rather, were -- two of a number of finance and service providers which own and operate systems but work with partners for installation. Each of these companies recently acquired one of their installation partners (Sunrun bought the residential division of REC Solar and NRG picked up Roof Diagnostics Solar), and while both plan to retain their existing partner networks, this is clearly a move in the direction of the SolarCity model. Having an internal installation team not only removes the installer profit margin, but also gives the finance providers visibility into the strategies of their competitors.
- On the opposite end of the spectrum, RGS Energy (formerly Real Goods Solar) is a leading national installer that uses companies like Sunrun for financing. However, last month RGS announced that it will develop an in-house leasing program for residential solar, noting that this will help the company “accelerate growth while benefiting from the long-term ownership of the solar assets.”
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http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...idential-solar
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China to Install More Solar than Europe in 2014 as Asia Drives Global PV Installations to 46 GW, IHS Predicts
Category: Design & Supply Chain, Design & Supply Chain Media
Tuesday, April 1, 2014 5:00 am EDT
China to Install More Solar than Europe in 2014 as Asia Drives Global PV Installations to 46 GW, IHS Predicts
London (April 1, 2014)—Global solar photovoltaic (PV) installations will grow by a robust 22 percent in 2014, largely as a result of recent policy changes in the two largest markets, China and Japan, according to IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS).
Worldwide installations in 2014 will rise to 46 GW (gigawatts), 5 GW higher than had been predicted in October 2013, based on a quarterly review of PV installations in more than 100 countries conducted by the IHS PV Demand Tracker Service.
IHS increased its forecast in light of recent policy changes in China and Japan.
Figure 1 (below) presents the current forecast and the October prediction.
The recent announcement by the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) that it would increase its target for ground-mount PV projects, as well as its total installation goal, was a key factor in driving up the forecast.
“IHS previously expressed its doubts about the Chinese government’s capability to reach an ambitious target of 8 GW worth of rooftop solar projects in 2014,” said Ash Sharma, senior director of solar research at IHS. “While IHS still predicts this goal will not be met, China’s recent announcement that it will shift its focus to ground-mount projects and increase its installation target for this segment to 6 GW has led us to raise our forecast for 2014.”
IHS predicts that China will install 4.8 GW of rooftop projects and 8 GW of ground-mount projects in 2014—some 2 GW higher than the NRDC’s target. Total installations in China will amount to 13 GW this year, compared to 10 GW in 2013.
*snip*
China to install more PV than Europe
Europe’s decline is anticipated to continue in 2014. China this year for the first time will install more PV capacity than the whole of Europe, based on the latest IHS forecast.
European PV installations in 2014 will fall to 9.7 GW, marking the third annual decline from the peak year of 2011, when the total amounted to 19 GW. IHS slashed its forecast for European installations in 2014 by nearly 700 megawatts (MW) due to reductions in Germany and also Ukraine—the latter as a result of the political uncertainty in Crimea.
“Despite the continued reduction of government support for PV in Europe, worldwide growth is continuing as conditions elsewhere around the globe continue to improve,” Sharma added. “The long-term IHS outlook for worldwide PV installations remains largely unchanged, with double-digit annual growth predicted for the next five years and total installed capacity exceeding 400 GW at the end of 2018. IHS has identified 32 countries that will install more than 100 MW this year, and seven of these surpassing 1 GW.”
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http://press.ihs.com/press-release/d...bal-pv-install
http://www.solarserver.com/solar-mag...an-demand.html
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Utilities Enter the Era of Distributed Generation
Mackinnon Lawrence — March 31, 2014
From the “Internet of energy” to the “utility death spiral,” the causes and effects related to the distributed generation (DG) transformation go by many names. Faced with what is increasingly recognized as DG’s inevitability, utilities and the companies that supply DG technologies are faced with the difficult challenge of defining viable business models in a multi-dimensional technology landscape.
Former Energy Secretary Steven Chu and outspoken NRG CEO David Crane have loudly pointed out the futility of business-as-usual thinking in the face of DG’s advance. It’s a mistake to think the power sector is oblivious to the changes enveloping it, though: most utilities do not actually have their heads in the sand, as recent headlines suggest. According to Utility Dive’s 2014 State of the Electric Utility survey, 67% of U.S. utility professionals believe their company should take a direct role in supplying DG to their customers ‑ either by owning and leasing distributed assets or by partnering with established DG companies. At the same time, key suppliers like GE, recognizing a dawning opportunity, are positioning themselves for growth.
Tip of the Iceberg
Although solar PV has provided a blueprint of sorts, a suite of technologies – collectively called distributed energy resources (DER) – is primed to usher in a reimagining of DG’s value proposition. Composed of renewable and fossil-based generation, diverse fuel sources like the sun and biogas, power generation and storage assets, and applications from microgrids to combined heat and power (CHP), DG’s multi-dimensionality suggests that existing business models are just scratching the surface. An estimated 37 million homes in the United States, for example, now have natural gas lines running directly to them, which opens up the possibility of micro-combined heat and power and fuel switching.
For utilities, the challenge is fairly straightforward. Demand-side generation is leading to death by a thousand cuts, as the cost of maintaining and operating the grid is spread over a gradually declining revenue base due to eroding customer demand.
In its widely-cited Disruptive Challenges report, published in 2013, Edison Electric Institute lists the financial risks created by DG: declining utility revenues, increasing costs, and lower profitability potential. Simply charging higher rates – one solution offered by the most entrenched utilities – risks accelerating the revenue ”death spiral,” as rising rates make it increasingly attractive to adopt otherwise expensive DG technologies. Recent experiences across Europe have demonstrated that utilities must adapt (see RWE) or risk obsolescence, at least in the traditional revenue sense.
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http://www.navigantresearch.com/blog...ted-generation
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Support for Solar Energy Has Climbed to Nearly 80 Percent of Americans
March 31, 2014
Favorability reaches highest levels since 2009, survey finds
Since 2009, Navigant Research has conducted an annual national consumer survey to gauge public perceptions of energy and environmental concepts. Between 2009 and 2012, there were steady declines in favorability for some concepts, particularly the ones with most favorable rankings in the past, such as solar energy, wind energy, hybrid vehicles, and electric cars. Click to tweet: According to the most recent consumer survey from Navigant Research, however, consumer favorability for a number of these concepts has rebounded. In particular, positive overall impressions of solar energy have now reached 79 percent of Americans – a level close to the results of 2009, when 81 percent of the respondents had a favorable view of solar energy.
The average favorability rating for the 10 concepts, which fall under the categories of clean energy, clean transportation, smart grid, and building efficiency, also rose, to 51 percent, the highest level seen in Navigant Research’s survey since 2010.
The survey results are summarized in a free white paper, which is available for download on the Navigant Research website.
“Solar energy is one of the most popular and least controversial green technologies in the eyes of consumers,” says Clint Wheelock, managing director with Navigant Research. “But it is followed closely by wind energy, which gained a favorable response from 72 percent of Americans.”
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http://www.navigantresearch.com/news...t-of-americans
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Engineers design ‘living materials’
Hybrid materials combine bacterial cells with nonliving elements that can conduct electricity or emit light.
Anne Trafton, MIT News Office
March 23, 2014
Inspired by natural materials such as bone — a matrix of minerals and other substances, including living cells — MIT engineers have coaxed bacterial cells to produce biofilms that can incorporate nonliving materials, such as gold nanoparticles and quantum dots.
These “living materials” combine the advantages of live cells, which respond to their environment, produce complex biological molecules, and span multiple length scales, with the benefits of nonliving materials, which add functions such as conducting electricity or emitting light.
The new materials represent a simple demonstration of the power of this approach, which could one day be used to design more complex devices such as solar cells, self-healing materials, or diagnostic sensors, says Timothy Lu, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and biological engineering. Lu is the senior author of a paper describing the living functional materials in the March 23 issue of Nature Materials.
“Our idea is to put the living and the nonliving worlds together to make hybrid materials that have living cells in them and are functional,” Lu says. “It’s an interesting way of thinking about materials synthesis, which is very different from what people do now, which is usually a top-down approach.”
The paper’s lead author is Allen Chen, an MIT-Harvard MD-PhD student. Other authors are postdocs Zhengtao Deng, Amanda Billings, Urartu Seker, and Bijan Zakeri; recent MIT graduate Michelle Lu; and graduate student Robert Citorik.
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http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/engin...ving-materials
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-Ge...aic-Cells.html
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Researchers develop simple method for light control based on direction
English.news.cn
2014-03-28 06:10:43
WASHINGTON, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Researchers from the United States and China said Thursday they have developed a simple method for filtering light waves based on direction, a finding that could ultimately lead to advances in solar photovoltaics, detectors for telescopes and microscopes, and privacy filters for display screens.
Light waves can be defined by three fundamental characteristics: their color, or wavelength, polarization, and direction. While it has long been possible to selectively filter light according to its color or polarization, selectivity based on the direction of propagation has remained elusive.
In a paper published in the U.S. journal Science, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Zhejiang University, however, reported a system that allows light of any color to pass through only if it is coming from one specific angle while reflecting all light coming from other directions.
The researchers said they "are excited" because it represents " a very fundamental building block" in the efforts to control light.
According to Yichen Shen of the MIT, lead author of the study, the structure of the system consists of a stack of ultrathin layers of two alternating materials where the thickness of each layer is precisely controlled.
"When you have two materials, then generally at the interface between them you will have some reflections," Shen said. "But at these interfaces, there is this magical angle called the Brewster angle, and when you come in at exactly that angle and the appropriate polarization, there is no reflection at all."
While the amount of light reflected at each of these interfaces is small, by combining many layers with the same properties, most of the light can be reflected away except for that coming in at precisely the right angle and polarization, he explained.
Using a stack of about 80 alternating layers of precise thickness, Shen said they are able to reflect light at most of the angles over a broad range of wavelengths.
The new findings could have great applications in energy, and especially in solar thermophotovoltaics, by ways of selectively controlling light reflections to improve its efficiency, Shen said.
The findings could also prove useful in optical systems, such as microscopes and telescopes, for viewing faint objects that are close to brighter objects, for example, a faint planet next to a bright star.
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sc..._126325646.htm
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SunEdison announces financial close on largest merchant solar project in Latin America
By Lucy Woods - 01 April 2014, 12:21
In News, PV Modules, Power Generation, Grid Connection, Market Watch, Finance, Project Focus
SunEdison has announced financial close on a 50MW solar plant in Chile, which it claims is Latin America’s largest operational PV plant and also one of the biggest PV projects in the world operating without subsidies.
An investment consortium led by EverStream Energy Capital Management and financial services firm Claro Y Asociados, confirmed financial close of the 50.7MW 'San Andres' power plant.
"As one of Latin America's first merchant solar plants, the San Andres merchant PV plant demonstrates that solar PV is already a competitive energy source in countries like Chile," said Jose Perez, SunEdison vice president and head of Europe and Latin America.
Set in the desert conditions of the Atacama region, near the city of Copiapo the San Andres project is grid connected to the Central Interconnected System (SIC), and has no set power purchase agreement (PPA). Prices are determined by the spot market, often used by mining facilities in Chile to meet extra demand. Due to high solar radiance in the Atacama region, and pricing on the spot market, the 50MW solar power project is economically competitive with fossil fuels, with no subsidies.
"As one of the largest solar merchant power plants in the world, this project will bring advanced solar generation technologies and advanced operation and management practices to Chile, while having a significant positive impact on the environment, local businesses and people,” said PJ Lee, managing partner of EverStream.
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http://www.pv-tech.org/news/financia...oject_in_chile
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Solar Supporters: It’s Open Season on the Utilities’ Duck
| Written by John Farrell | 1 Comment | Updated on Mar 25, 2014
The rapid changes to the electricity system being wrought by distributed solar have utilities crying out, and they’ve poured much of their distributed solar angst into a chart being shared throughout the energy nerdocracy – the duck.
The duck is the perfect vehicle for utility complaints because it casts the growth of distributed solar as a major technical problem (an area where most policy makers defer to utilities) rather than an economic one, where utility complaints can be contrasted with their customer’s desires for more local control over their energy use and costs.
The utility companies crying “fowl” highlight a particular part of the duck chart: the dramatic ramp up in power generation on the light-green 2020 curve that happens in the late afternoon, as energy produced from solar wanes but energy demand rises. In the traditional grid operating model, accommodating this ramp-up in energy use requires a lot of standby power from expensive to operate, rapid-response power plants.
Evidence suggests utilities are crying “wolf,” with several experts poking large holes in the utility argument. The Clean Coalition and Regulatory Assistance Project have both offered numerous strategies utilities can use to “flatten the duck” or “teach it to fly:”- Target energy efficiency measures for the “ramp up” period
- Orient solar panels to the west to catch more late evening sun
- Substitute some solar thermal with storage for solar PV [I'd suggest adding storage to PV also works]
- Allow the grid operator more demand management via electric water heating [already done extensively by rural cooperatives in Minnesota]
- Require large new air conditioners to have two hours of thermal storage accessible to the utility
- Retire inflexible generating plants (read: coal and nuclear) that need to run constantly in off-peak periods
- Concentrate utility demand charges on the ramp up period.
- Deploy electricity storage into targeted areas, including electric vehicle-to-grid
- Implement aggressive demand response programs (subscribing more businesses and homes into programs to shed their energy demand at key periods)
- Use inter-regional power transactions
- Selectively curtail a small portion of solar power generation
In other words, the technical challenges of the duck are manageable, largely with existing technology.
The economic problems for utilities – stemming from an outdated business model – may not be so manageable.
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http://www.ilsr.org/solar-supporters...tilities-duck/
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/sola...ies-duck-28229
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California Celebrates a Solar Milestone with Big Clean Energy Implications
Peter Miller
April 01, 2014 | 0 Comments
California can feel good about the fact that it has more than half of all the solar rooftops in America, but now there’s even more to celebrate — the 100,000th such installation and the commitment it signifies.
This milestone demonstrates the substantial opportunity we have to make use of this ample and clean energy source — the sun — and the importance of this effort for all stakeholders to achieve California’s clean energy goals, which are among the most ambitious in the world.
Yesterday, I joined with Steve Malnight, vice president for customer energy solutions at PG&E, in writing an op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News laying out the enormous progress that’s occurring in solar in California and the way we see the future.
The high points:- NRDC and PG&E agree that solar is a key part of California’s energy future.
- Government, utilities, researchers, advocates and individuals can work together and avoid divisiveness to exploit this ample and clean energy source.
- An infrastructure is needed to support a surge in clean energy innovations.
- The electric transmission grid needs to be modernized.
- Policies and planning are needed to maximize the value of the grid.
- Clear regulations and stable policies at the state level help create an investment climate for a thriving green economy.
The California Way
NRDC and PG&E often have different views on energy policy, but progress in the solar arena has brought us together as demand for solar grows.
In some states, thorny issues have pitted utilities against solar power companies and solar customers against non-solar. In California, we’re proud to do things differently. We’re committed to working with all stakeholders to strike a balance that enables us to succeed.
Malnight and I are convinced it’s possible to speed the deployment of solar power, energy efficiency, energy storage, electric vehicles, and other locally generated resources while improving the resiliency of the electric transmission grid and providing opportunities for all to enjoy the benefits of such technologies.
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http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/...y-implications
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Solar Decathlon Houses Make Up a Solar Village to Test Microgrid Technology
A new project at Missouri Science and Technology will be used as a test ground for innovative research on advancing renewable energy, energy storage and microgrid technology.
Jennifer Runyon, Chief Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com
March 31, 2014 | 3 Comments
New Hampshire, USA -- In yet one more example of the rising interest in how microgrids that incorporate renewable energy and energy storage will change the energy landscape, Missouri University of Science and Technology (MST) has created what it says is the first “Solar Village” in the U.S.
Consisting of a grouping of Solar Decathlon houses that students at MST built for competitions between 2002 and 2009, the solar village is a project created in collaboration with Missouri S&T students, faculty and staff, along with members of the university’s microgrid advisory board (Investor-owned utility Ameren, City Utilities of Springfield, Rolla Municipal Utilities and Electric Power Research Institute), several Missouri manufacturers (Milbank and Ford Motor Company) and the Army Corps of Engineers. The engineer-of-record and installer for the project was Microgrid Solar, a U.S. and Caribbean solar developer, installer, and engineering company based in St. Louis, MO.
The project has been in the works for two years and is expected to be complete by the end of next month. A utility grant and the DOE Sunshot Initiative contributed funding for the project.
Project Specs
There are four former Solar Decathlon houses in the microgrid. The buildings each have 5- to 10-kW PV systems and there is a mix of crystalline silicon PV and thin film. The buildings also have solar thermal systems for hot water. The energy storage components consist of two 100 kW / 100 kWh lithium-ion iron nano-phosphate battery racks that were donated by A123 Systems. There is also a fuel cell and a heat recovery unit as part of the microgrid.
Graduate students currently live and work in the houses, which also include electric vehicle charging stations. The microgrid is built so that it can island from the utility grid indefinitely.
Even though the military has been designing microgrids for ten years now, the project is a first “from the perspective of testing new designs and new equipment in a very closely monitored research setting,” according to Marc Lopata, PE, the Principal Engineer on this project and President of Microgrid Solar. “We have the capability to power any of the houses independently from the grid or the central plant,” he said. “And we have the capability to plug in new equipment for testing and do graduate level experimentation.”
Tony Arnold, Assistant Director of the Office of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engagement at MST said in a statement that the solar village will be used “as a research tool and testing center for microgrid technology, battery technology and system communications.” He believes that projects like the solar village need to be “scalable, replicable and flexible, so that we have the opportunity to test as many different scenarios as possible.” According to Arnold, major utilities, companies and the U.S. Army’s Prime Power School have expressed interest in the project.
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http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/...rid-technology
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California Farm Chooses the Sustainable Option with Solar
Published on 1 April 2014
REC Solar, a specialist in commercial solar electric system design and installation, today announced the completion of a 1MW solar energy system for Vignolo Farms. Located in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
Vignolo Farms will offset 75% of its energy use at its cold storage facility with the four-acre array while significantly reducing its carbon footprint.
The installation of the solar energy system is the capstone in the farm’s comprehensive sustainability portfolio, which includes on-site recycling of growing materials, drop irrigation to preserve water, and composting to enrich crops and reduce waste. Vignolo Farms, a third-generation, family-run farm that produces wine grapes and organic potatoes, is a leader in sustainable agricultural practices.
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http://www.solarnovus.com/california...lar_N7614.html
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German Energy Cooperative Moves to a Direct Market Model
Written by Andreas Breyer 1 April 2014
Energy cooperatives are nothing new in the German landscape of renewables. Several hundred of them are active throughout the country; a lot are dealing with wind power, many others with PV energy and some with a mix of both or even with a share of biogas. So far, however, these cooperatives have only produced and not actively sold their energy because the German FiT was profitable and the goal was to feed as much power into the grid as possible. As an interesting side effect of this situation, there has never been a real link between the suppliers of the various eco-tariffs for consumers and the producers of clean energy. The green power just vanished in the grid and was mixed up there with energy from nuclear and fossil fuels.
This is changing, since the FiT rates for new installations are constantly decreasing. A pioneer in active commercialization of the produced green power is the energy cooperative EG Rittersdorf in Thuringia, which has built a 1.5MW solar plant and wants to become successively independent from FiT rates. For this, the cooperative has partnered with Grünstromwerk to market their solar power directly and in the very region where it is being produced. The Hamburg-based utility Grünstromwerk has specialized in PV energy and a decentralized power supply, and it has created an electricity tariff for end consumers that includes 25% solar power produced from the PV plant in Rittersdorf.
Regional tariffs can both strengthen the influence of ecologic thinking end consumers and the influence of energy cooperatives on the German Energiewende The basic concept is as follows: Currently the PV plant mostly financed on the regular FiT rates. Grünstromwerk now offers to buy the solar power at a slightly better rate than the FiT from the cooperative. Through mixed calculation with 75% of cheaper water power, the utility can create a competitive tariff for end consumers. The more customers that opt to choose this tariff in the region, the more independent the PV plant becomes from all subsidies, as the produced power is marketed directly.
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http://www.solarnovus.com/german-ene...del_N7608.html
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IEA: Solar PV meets more than 1% of electric demand in 15 nations
The International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power System Programme (IEA PVPS) has released a report which finds that PV is now meeting more than 1% of electricity demand in 15 nations. Globally, PV represents 0.85% of electricity production, and is expected to reach 1% in 2014.
This is led by Italy, where IEA estimates that PV is already meeting 7.8% of annual electric demand, compared to 3% in Europe overall. The report finds that PV is meeting 6.2% of German electric demand, and 5.8% of demand in Greece.
Nations crossing the 1% threshold in 2013 include Australia, Israel and Japan, however China and the United States have not yet reached this benchmark.
“PV has become a major source of electricity extremely rapidly in several countries all over the world,” notes IEA PVPS. “The speed of its development stems from its unique ability to cover most market segments; from the very small individual systems for rural electrification to utility-size power plants (today above 250 MW).”
“PV finds its way, from the built environment to large ground-mounted installations, depending on various criteria that make it suitable for most environments.”
134 GW deployed globally
“Snapshot of Global PV in 1992-2013” is the second annual edition of a report looking at the rise of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology over the last 21 years, finding that 134 GW of PV has now been installed globally.
The report estimates that PV deployed in 2013 grew 26% to at least 36.9 GW, however the agency notes that with additional installations not yet reported this number could be above 38 GW.
Europe and Asia trade places
This is after only 0.6% market growth in 2012, but 2013 growth occurred in different locations. The agency estimates that the Asia Pacific region grew to 59% of the global PV market in 2013, compared to Europe which fell from 59% of the global total in 2012 to 28% in 2013.
This is the first time in more than 10 years that Asia has been the largest PV market, instead of Europe. It also finds that more than 5 GW was deployed in the Americas for the first time in 2013, including 4.75 GW in the United States as the third-largest market.
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http://www.solarserver.com/solar-mag...5-nations.html
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