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  #321  
Old Posted Dec 9, 2013, 6:38 PM
amor de cosmos amor de cosmos is offline
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Home / Press / Press releases / 2013 / PR 9.12.13
Solar cell degradation observed directly for the first time
X-ray examination shows structural changes in "plastics" solar cells


Hamburg, 9 December 2013. With the help of DESY’s X-ray light source PETRA III, researchers of Technische Universität München have, for the first time, watched organic solar cells degrade in real time. This work could open new approaches to increasing the stability of this highly promising type of solar cell. The team headed by Prof. Peter Müller-Buschbaum from the Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich) present their observations in this week's issue of the scientific journal Advanced Materials (Nr. 46, 10 December).

Organic solar cells, especially those based on polymers are inexpensive to produce on a large scale. Thanks to their physical flexibility, they can open up new applications of photovoltaics not possible today. Moreover, they can convert light into electricity at an efficiency of more than ten per cent and could contribute significantly to a large-scale power supply based on renewable sources. However, the efficiency of organic cells still rapidly declines and they have a shorter service life than conventional silicon cells.

At the P03 measuring station of DESY’s light source PETRA III, scientists have made the first live observations of the degradation of organic solar cells in operation. To do this, they lit a sample polymer solar cell using a solar simulator, which emits light that matches the spectrum and intensity of sunlight and recorded the electrical characteristics of the cell over time. At intervals ranging from several minutes to as much as one hour, the researchers also looked inside the solar cell using the sharply focused X-ray beam from PETRA III. In this way they were able to watch how the interior structure of the active layer of the solar cell changed in the course of seven hours, while the efficiency of the cell decreased by around 25 per cent.
http://www.desy.de/information__serv...index_eng.html

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Crowdfunding project makes you a solar investor for $25
A.K. Streeter
Energy / Renewable Energy
December 9, 2013

In the last few years peer to peer lending and crowdfunding have blossomed. While it's great to crowdfund the latest cool product that lets you cut down on using plastic or turns your regular bike into e-bike, it's infinitely cooler to crowdfund the shift to renewable energy.

Mosaic calls itself an online marketplace for solar. Basically the company provides debt financing to solar projects and lets individual and institutional investors buy shares in a project until it is funded. When projects are complete, the company sells power to a solar customer via a long-term contract, and shares returns of approximately 4.4 - 6.36% with its investors. Investment capital is paid back along with the interest over a 5 - 10 year period.

Now Mosaic wants to take that concept to larger number of potential investors with a new incentive - the company will give new investors $25 once they make their first investment (minimum investments are $25).

Once a new user sets up a Mosaic account and finds a qualified project to invest in, Mosaic will add $25 to the amount invested.
http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-...vestor-25.html
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  #322  
Old Posted Dec 10, 2013, 6:26 PM
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US solar industry enjoying ‘record-shattering year’ with 5GW installed
By Andy Colthorpe - 10 December 2013, 10:49
In News, Power Generation, Market Watch

The third quarter of this year was second only to the final quarter of last year for newly installed PV generating capacity in the US, according to a report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

According to GTM Research vice president Shayle Kann, solar is the second largest source of new electricity capacity in the US in 2013, behind only natural gas. GTM and SEIA have jointly published 'US Solar Market Insight 3rd Quarter 2013', which analyses the US solar power market.

In total, the report claims that 930MW was installed during the quarter, a 20% jump on the previous quarter, with over 400,000 solar power installations in place throughout the country by the end of this year. Blended average system prices for PV fell to a new low of US$3/w, a drop of 4.2% on the previous quarter.

Not only did the third quarter of 2013 represent the second largest quarter in the history of the US PV industry, it was also the largest quarter ever for residential installations in the country, with over 186MW of domestic installations during the period. The rapid growth in domestic solar was driven by the increasing economic attractiveness of PV along with fair net-metering policies, according to the report. Year-on-year, domestic installations leaped 45%.
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/us_solar..._5gw_installed

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US to Surpass Germany in Solar in 2013; 930 MW Installed in Q3
The second-best quarter for U.S. solar—and the best quarter for U.S. residential solar.

Mike Munsell
December 9, 2013

GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA®) today released U.S. Solar Market Insight Q3 2013, the definitive analysis of solar power markets in the U.S., with strategic state-specific data for 28 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

The U.S. installed 930 megawatts of photovoltaics (PV) in Q3, 2013, up 20 percent over Q2 2013 and 35 percent over Q3 2012. This represents the second-largest quarter in the history of the U.S. market and the largest quarter ever for residential PV installations. Even more importantly, 2013 is likely to be the first time in more than fifteen years that the U.S. installs more solar capacity than world leader Germany, according to GTM Research forecasts.


http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...nstalled-in-Q3
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  #323  
Old Posted Dec 11, 2013, 4:48 PM
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Is Solar Mainstream Yet? These 4 Factors May Provide an Answer
“When I consider this checklist, we’re pretty close.”

Stephen Lacey
December 10, 2013



Shayle Kann, GTM’s vice president of research, outlined four of those indicators at this morning’s Solar Market Insight conference. (The data can also be found in GTM Research's newest report on the U.S. market, released today.) When considering this broader range of factors, Kann concluded that the industry is “pretty close” to becoming a mainstream energy source.

Here’s Kann’s mainstream solar checklist.

1. Primary source of new electricity capacity: check

In 2012, solar was the fourth-largest source of new capacity in the U.S. This year, it is the second largest, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency.

"This year will be the first year that there will probably be more solar in the U.S. than in Germany," said Kann. "The U.S. market was slower [than Germany] and still has a long way to go, but is strong and consistently growing overall."



2. Cost-competitive without fickle incentives: half check

There's no doubt that the solar industry is still dependent on state-level incentive programs, many of which foster boom-bust cycles. More than 80 percent of solar installations are concentrated in five states, not because the fundamentals there are necessarily the best, but because "those are the states that have the right incentives in place," said Kann.

"As long as that's the case, it's going to be hard to check that off the list," he said.



3. Solar taken seriously by the electricity industry: check

This year marked a noticeable change in the way utilities, regulators and analysts are talking about the impact of distributed generation on the grid. This spring, the Edison Electric Institute issued a report warning that utilities could face serious financial losses as more customers invest in solar and efficiency. The report sparked a more serious look at the "utility death spiral" that is already underway in Germany.

"If you look at the conversations that have taken place, I think it’s clear that something fundamental has changed in the collective mindset of U.S. utilities. They are taking solar seriously, and that’s both a good and bad thing for the industry," said Kann.



4. Solar must be bankable: check

In order for solar to be mainstream, it must be treated as such by investors. The increased interest in solar on Wall Street is another positive sign.

According to GTM Research, residential solar finance grew from $1.2 billion in 2012 to $2.3 billion this year. And as new forms of securitization and yield co models pop up to help leverage retail investment in projects, new sources of capital continue to flow into the industry.

"Solar projects have to be a mainstream source of investment, and 2013 has been big year in this progression," said Kann. "We've seen some big precedent-setting events."
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...-helpful-guide

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What Happens When the Price of Energy Falls to Zero?
Germany’s energy market isn’t functioning the way it used to.

RenewEconomy, Giles Parkinson
December 10, 2013

One of the big questions about scenarios for 100 percent renewable energy production is how to structure the energy market. We now know that having electricity supplied to a major economy entirely by renewable energy sources is possible, and most likely no more expensive than building new fossil-fuel generation.

What we don’t know is how to structure the energy market so it provides the right incentives. If the marginal cost of solar and wind energy is close to zero (because there is no fuel cost), then the energy price in a 100 percent wind and solar market is going to be zero -- at least in the current market structure. But who would invest?

This is one of the major questions being put to regulators and policymakers around the world, but the country most in the firing line is Germany, one of the world’s most successful industrial nations.

It’s not that Germany is about to arrive at 100 percent renewables any time soon. But the penetration of renewables (now above 25 percent) is getting to the point where the current energy market, based around the cost of fuels, is no longer functioning as it used to. And by the time the country gets to 40 percent by 2020, and close to 60 percent soon after 2030, this will be a critical issue.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...-falls-to-zero



http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...-US-Solar-2013
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  #324  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2013, 5:39 PM
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NREL: Soft Costs Now Largest Piece Of Solar Installation Costs

Two reports published by the US Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) show that soft costs — such as financing and other non-hardware costs — now make up the largest section of solar installation costs, coming in at 64% of the total price for residential solar energy systems.

The two reports – ”Benchmarking Non-Hardware Balance-of-System (Soft) Costs for U.S. Photovoltaic Systems, Using a Bottom-up Approach and Installer Survey – Second EditionPDF” and ”Financing, Overhead, and Profit: An In-depth Discussion of Costs Associated with Third-party Financing of Residential and Commercial Photovoltaic SystemsPDF” — combine to show just how soft costs are becoming an increasingly more important part of solar installations.

“The two new reports, along with previous reports, provide a comprehensive look at the full cost of installing solar, while delineating and quantifying the various contributors to that final cost,” NREL analyst Barry Friedman said.

The first report showed that in the first half of 2012 soft costs represented the majority of all costs — 64% of the total price for a residential system, up from 50% as identified in a previous report conducted in 2012, and similarly high percentages for small and larger commercial installations.
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/12/12/...llation-costs/

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A new material for solar panels could make them cheaper, more efficient
By Tona Kunz • December 11, 2013

ARGONNE, Ill. – A unique solar panel design made with a new ceramic material points the way to potentially providing sustainable power cheaper, more efficiently, and requiring less manufacturing time. It also reaches a four-decade-old goal of discovering a bulk photovoltaic material that can harness energy from visible and infrared light, not just ultraviolet light.

Scaling up this new design from its tablet-size prototype to a full-size solar panel would be a large step toward making solar power affordable compared with other means of producing electricity. It would also help the nation toward its goal of creating a national power grid that receives one-third of its power through wind and solar sources.

This affordable sun-powered future could be closer than we think thanks to early tests on this new material, which was developed by a team led by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. The tests were conducted, in part, at the Advanced Photon Source housed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

The team created a new class of ceramic materials that has three main benefits. First, it can produce a solar panel that is thinner than today’s silicon-based market leaders by using one material to do the work of two. Second, it uses cheaper materials than those used in today’s high-end thin-film solar panels. Third, the material is ferroelectric, which means it can switch polarity, a key trait for exceeding the theorized energy-efficiency limits of today’s solar cell material.
http://www.anl.gov/articles/new-mate...more-efficient
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  #325  
Old Posted Dec 13, 2013, 5:00 PM
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Quantum waves at the heart of organic solar cells
Published
12 Dec 2013

Researchers have been able to tune ‘coherence’ in organic nanostructures due to the surprise discovery of wavelike electrons in organic materials, revealing the key to generating “long-lived charges” in organic solar cells - material that could revolutionise solar energy.

By using an ultrafast camera, scientists say they have observed the very first instants following the absorption of light into artificial yet organic nanostructures and found that charges not only formed rapidly but also separated very quickly over long distances - phenomena that occur due to the wavelike nature of electrons which are governed by fundamental laws of quantum mechanics.

This result surprised scientists as such phenomena were believed to be limited to "perfect" - and expensive - inorganic structures; rather than the soft, flexible organic material believed by many to be the key to cheap, 'roll-to-roll' solar cells that could be printed at room temperatures - a very different world from the traditional but costly processing of current silicon technologies.

The study, published today in the journal Science, sheds new light on the mystery mechanism that allows positive and negative charges to be separated efficiently - a critical question that continues to puzzle scientists - and takes researchers a step closer to effectively mimicking the highly efficient ability to harvest sunlight and convert into energy, namely photosynthesis, which the natural world evolved over the course of millennia.

"This is a very surprising result. Such quantum phenomena are usually confined to perfect crystals of inorganic semiconductors, and one does not expect to see such effects in organic molecules - which are very disordered and tend to resemble a plate of cooked spaghetti rather than a crystal," said Dr Simon Gélinas, from Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory, who led the research with colleagues from Cambridge as well as the University of California in Santa Barbara.
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/q...ic-solar-cells

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At Long Last: This Is One Of The Most Important Issues Facing Solar
December 12, 2013 Frank Andorka : 0 Comments

What a concept: The U.S. government has finally recognized how important bringing down manufacturing costs is to moving the solar industry forward — and they’re putting their money where their mouths are.

Building on the Energy Department’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue U.S. leadership in clean energy innovation, the Department today announced over $13 million for five projects to strengthen domestic solar manufacturing and speed commercialization of efficient, affordable photovoltaic and concentrating solar power technologies. As part of the Department’s SunShot Initiative, these awards will help lower the cost of solar electricity, support a growing U.S. solar workforce and increase U.S. competitiveness in the global clean energy market.

“The strong, continued growth in the U.S. solar industry over the past few years is giving more and more Americans access to affordable clean energy,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “We have a tremendous opportunity for American manufacturing to lead the global clean energy market and help pave the way to a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.”
http://www.solarpowerworldonline.com...-facing-solar/
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  #326  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2013, 6:39 PM
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Graph of the Day: The world’s top 10 solar countries
By Lindsay Wilson on 14 December 2013

In 2012 solar power produced just 0.5% of global electricity. It’s only a speck compared to coal (42%), natural gas (21%), hydro (15%) and nuclear (12%).

But solar is a startup. And market share is the wrong way to judge a startup. The fact that the iPhone had no market share in 2007 is cold comfort to Nokia shareholders today.

Now I’m not sure as to how big solar is going to be, but the last five years have made me a lot more optimistic than I used to be.

Just look at it go!
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/grap...ountries-29363

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Press Release 161/2013
POPUP – Novel Organic Solar Cells
KIT Scientists Participate in New Research Project on Organic Photovoltaics – Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Provides Funding of EUR 8 Million

Future solar cells will be light and mechanically flexible. They will be produced at low costs with the help of printing processes. POPUP, the new BMBF-funded research project, aims at developing more efficient materials and new architectures for organic photovoltaic devices. An interdisciplinary team headed by Dr. Alexander Colsmann of the KIT Light Technology Institute (LTI) works on improving the basic understanding and developing new architectures for semitransparent and non-transparent solar cells and modules.


Ten leading universities, research institutions, and companies in various areas are involved in the project “Development of New Materials and Device Structures for Competitive Mass Production Methods and Applications of Organic Photovoltaics” (POPUP). The project is coordinated by the pharmaceutical and chemical company of Merck. The total budget of the three year project is EUR 16 million. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funds EUR 8.2 million, the remainder is borne by the companies involved in the project. For its contribution to the research project, KIT is granted funding in the amount of EUR 1 million.

POPUP is to leverage organic photovoltaics. For this purpose, the consortium intends to develop more efficient and more stable materials for low-cost, industrially applicable printing and coating methods as well as new architectures for flexible and rigid, semitransparent and non-transparent solar modules. The tasks of KIT in this project comprise developing in-depth understanding and studying new component architectures for semi-transparent and non-transparent solar cells and modules in close collaboration with the industry partners.
http://www.kit.edu/visit/pi_2013_14324.php
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  #327  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2013, 4:24 PM
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India $11.7 Billion Solar Plan Needs Lenders: World Bank
16 December 2013

Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) — India needs to spur commercial banks to lend more to clean-energy projects to meet a goal of raising solar-power capacity sixfold by 2017, the World Bank said.

The absence of such project finance is a hurdle to raising the $11.7 billion of investment needed for the mission to add 10 gigawatts of solar, according to a bank report.

“It is inconceivable for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission to scale up to the levels envisaged under subsequent phases without the active participation of scheduled commercial banks,” the lender said in the Dec. 12 report.

India’s 2,080 megawatts of installed capacity was mostly funded by export credit agencies and lenders such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank’s International Finance Corp. The country, a growth market for equipment suppliers such as First Solar Inc. and Canadian Solar Inc., last year tripled annual installations to 956 megawatts of photovoltaic capacity.
http://about.bnef.com/bnef-news/indi...rs-world-bank/

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US energy department continues funding support for domestic PV manufacturers
By Mark Osborne - 13 December 2013, 15:26
In News, Fab & Facilities, Cell Processing, PV Modules

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is making a US$13 million investment in five separate projects designed to improve manufacturing competitiveness in the domestic solar industry.

Having taken over the mantle from NREL, the DOE's SunShot Initiative is increasingly the focus of attention on supporting US manufacturing companies in the sector.

The latest round of project funding is matched by over US$14 million in private cost share.
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/us_energ...v_manufacturer

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Researchers Split Water into Hydrogen, Oxygen Using Light, Nanoparticles
Technology Potentially Could Create a Clean, Renewable Source of Energy

By Jeannie Kever
December 16, 2013

Researchers from the University of Houston have found a catalyst that can quickly generate hydrogen from water using sunlight, potentially creating a clean and renewable source of energy.

Their research, published online Sunday in Nature Nanotechnology, involved the use of cobalt oxide nanoparticles to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Jiming Bao, lead author of the paper and an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UH, said the research discovered a new photocatalyst and demonstrated the potential of nanotechnology in engineering a material’s property, although more work remains to be done.

Bao said photocatalytic water-splitting experiments have been tried since the 1970s, but this was the first to use cobalt oxide and the first to use neutral water under visible light at a high energy conversion efficiency without co-catalysts or sacrificial chemicals. The project involved researchers from UH, along with those from Sam Houston State University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Texas State University, Carl Zeiss Microscopy LLC, and Sichuan University.



The experiment has potential as a source of renewable fuel, but at a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency rate of around 5 percent, the conversion rate is still too low to be commercially viable. Bao suggested a more feasible efficiency rate would be about 10 percent, meaning that 10 percent of the incident solar energy will be converted to hydrogen chemical energy by the process.

Other issues remain to be resolved, as well, including reducing costs and extending the lifespan of cobalt oxide nanoparticles, which the researchers found became deactivated after about an hour of reaction.
http://www.uh.edu/news-events/storie...216baohydrogen
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  #328  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2013, 7:24 PM
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Mongolia's Nomads Modernize Traditional Tent Homes with Solar Panels
by Nicole Jewell, 12/17/13

With 250 days of sunshine a year, Mongolia’s potential for solar energy is vast but mostly underutilized. That’s beginning to change though – a new government sponsored initiative aims to equip traditional dome-like homes called gers (tents made of felt and yak’s wool) with portable solar home systems (SHS) to make life a little easier in the northern highlands. So far, almost 70 percent of nomadic people now have access to electricity thanks to newly installed solar panels.


http://inhabitat.com/mongolias-nomad...-solar-panels/

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The Most Important Solar Statistics of 2013
Add these numbers together and what do you get? Another big year for solar PV.

Stephen Lacey
December 17, 2013

This year was the first time someone could use the words "solar" and "mainstream" in the same sentence and be taken seriously.

It's still too early to call solar PV a truly mainstream energy technology, but as GTM Research VP Shayle Kann recently pointed out, it's getting close. And there a lot of factors to consider other than how it stacks up in today's generation mix compared to legacy resources.

We've compiled a list of some of the best solar statistics of 2013 that demonstrate how far the technology has come -- as well as how far it still needs to go.

4 minutes

In 2006, U.S. solar installers were putting up a system every 80 minutes. This year, according to GTM Research, they installed a system every four minutes. By 2016, there could be a solar PV system deployed in America every 80 seconds.

100 gigawatts

In 2011, the global solar industry had 50 gigawatts of capacity installed. By the end of 2012, it had surpassed 100 gigawatts -- with more regions outside Europe becoming increasingly important. By the end of 2015, global solar capacity is expected to reach more than 200 gigawatts.

2.5 years

The 100-gigawatt number was an important benchmark for solar. It took nearly 40 years to get 50 gigawatts in the ground and on rooftops. But in just 2.5 years, two-thirds of all solar PV projects were built worldwide. The same goes for distributed (non-utility) solar projects in the U.S., where two-thirds of all capacity has been deployed since 2011.

10 gigawatts

With 930 megawatts of installations in the third quarter of 2013, America has already surpassed 10 gigawatts of cumulative capacity -- joining a small club of four countries that have reached the milestone. And for the first time in fifteen years, the U.S. will likely install more solar PV than Germany when 2013 comes to a close.

51 percent

The solar market is still dependent on state-level subsidy programs. However, California is witnessing a significant change as it phases out solar incentives for residential projects. According to GTM Research, 51 percent of residential PV systems were installed with no help from the California Solar Initiative -- a trend that GTM's Shayle Kann calls "the beginning of a monumental shift in solar in the U.S."

$0.70 per kilowatt

Although reliance on state subsidy programs may be starting to ease, net metering is still the backbone of solar promotion in the U.S. This year brought a number of key fights over net metering, as utilities worried that solar customers aren't paying the full cost of maintaining the grid. This fall, the Arizona Corporation Commission agreed to a compromise in order to preserve net metering, charging solar owners $0.70 per kilowatt a month. Industry onlookers are now wondering if this will set a precedent for other states.

$0.36 per watt

Since 2010, top Chinese firms dropped multicrystalline solar module costs by 54 percent. And according to GTM Research Senior Analyst Shyam Mehta, leading Chinese manufacturers are on a path to producing solar modules for $0.36 per watt by 2017. But rather than rely on price crashes for materials as they did in the past, Chinese firms will increasingly need to focus on refining technologies and automating plants to reduce labor costs.

59 percent

Twice this year, Germany's wind and solar installations provided 59 percent of power in the middle of the day, while also providing more than a third of generation throughout the entire day. On one occasion in October, solar peaked at 20.5 gigawatts of capacity and wind reached 16.6 gigawatts, with both providing more than 436 gigawatt-hours of electricity. That forced 23 gigawatts of conventional power plants to ramp down. And as GTM Editor Eric Wesoff pointed out, the grid did not explode.

One-third

That's how much Germany's second-biggest utility, RWE, has lost in value over the last three years, according to The Economist. With renewables taking center stage in Germany, they are creating steep drops in wholesale prices and forcing large fossil fuel plants to sit idle. Rather than sit on its hands, RWE has finally embraced this new reality, announcing this fall that it would become "a project enabler and operator, and a system integrator of renewables" based on a "prosumer" business model.

64 percent

The non-hardware costs of a residential solar installation now account for nearly two-thirds of the total system cost, according to new data from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. That's up from 50 percent in 2011. Those costs include labor, supply chain logistics, permitting and customer acquisition.

$1 billion

If the U.S. solar industry is going to hit the 362,000 installations in 2016 forecast by GTM Research, it will spend more than $1 billion to get the customer leads needed. That amounts to $0.49 per watt, or about 10 percent of the total cost of an installation. In order to address this expense, which is growing more important as technology costs improve, leading solar companies are developing new project management tools, crafting new sales strategies and buying up lead generation companies. As a result, GTM Research's Nicole Litvak sees customer acquisition as one of the most innovative areas of solar in the U.S.

25 percent

According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, only one-quarter of residential and commercial rooftops in America are suitable for solar. That creates a big opportunity for crowdsourced and community solar, two models that are gaining traction in the country. Clean Energy Collective, a Colorado-based community solar developer, suggests that shared solar could more than triple customer access to PV in the U.S. But with only 50 megawatts of community and crowdsourced solar installed, it will take a lot of regulatory and policy change to unlock that market potential.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...istics-of-2013
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  #329  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2013, 3:51 AM
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Small Size Enhances Charge Transfer in Quantum Dots
Single-particle study identifies possible path to improved conversion of sunlight to electricity in photovoltaic devices

By Karen McNulty Walsh | December 16, 2013

Quantum dots—tiny semiconductor crystals with diameters measured in billionths of a meter—have enormous potential for applications that make use of their ability to absorb or emit light and/or electric charges. Examples include more vividly colored light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photovoltaic solar cells, nanoscale transistors, and biosensors. But because these applications have differing—sometimes opposite—requirements, finding ways to control the dots’ optical and electronic properties is crucial to their success.

In a study just published in the journal Chemical Communications, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, and Syracuse University show that shrinking the core of a quantum dot can enhance the ability of a surrounding polymer to extract electric charges generated in the dot by the absorption of light.

“Photovoltaic cells made of quantum dots paired with plastic materials like conductive polymers are far easier to make and less expensive than conventional silicon-based solar cells,” said Mircea Cotlet, a physical chemist at Brookhaven’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), who led the research team. “These kinds of materials are inexpensive, easy to synthesize, and their assembly would be relatively easy.”

The downside is that, right now, solar devices based on silicon can’t be beat in terms of efficiency. But research aimed at understanding the photovoltaic process at the nanoscale could change that.
http://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=24487
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  #330  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2013, 6:52 PM
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betaray spherical glass solar energy generator by rawlemon

last year, german architect andré broessel of rawlemon presented designboom with his spherical glass solar energy generator concept in its early prototyping stages. developed as a stand-alone power charger station for electro-mobility, the project uses the advantageous strategy of implementing a ball lens and specific geometrical structure to improve energy efficiency by 35% when compared to existing photo-voltaic panels. by combining symmetrical and transparent spherical geometry as a concentrator lens and emitter, the unique dual axis tracking system can be fully incorporated into any building surface, improving existing efficiency and offering up to 99% transparency.

in contrast to its traditional photo-voltaic ‘dual-axis’ counterparts, the generator incorporates a fully rotational weatherproof natural optical tracking device that is adequate for functioning on inclined surfaces and curtain walls, empowering any building surface. the new solar generating concept even has the capability to concentrate diffused daylight or moonlight for a more effective site context application. on a cloudy day, the device produces 4 times more energy than a conventional PV system.
http://www.designboom.com/technology...on-12-18-2013/
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  #331  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2013, 6:23 PM
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Phase I of 400 MW Texan solar project complete
19. December 2013 | Markets & Trends, Global PV markets, Industry & Suppliers | By: Ian Clover

OCI Solar Power has completed the 41 MW Alamo I solar farm, which is phase I of a 400 MW project that will become the biggest PV installation in Texas once complete.

The largest U.S. state will soon boast one of the largest solar installations in the country once its ambitious 400 MW PV project is completed, with phase I – Alamo I solar farm – now in operation in the city of San Antonio.

Phase I has been completed by San Antonio-headquartered OCI Solar Power, adding the first 41 MW to a project that will propel Texas into the upper echelons of solar-producing states once completed. CPS Energy will manage the plant, which will generate clean solar energy for 6,600 local homes, mitigating some 57,000 tons of carbon dioxide – the equivalent of removing 9,500 cars from the roads of Greater San Antonio.

More widely, the 400 MW project is a result of the largest-ever economic development agreement between a private company and a municipal utility, and is expected to plow more than $700 million into the local economy, creating 800 permanent jobs in service and manufacturing in the process.

For CPS Energy’s CEO Doyle Beneby, the deal is a chance for Texans to drastically alter their own carbon footprint. "By 2020, 65% of our community’s electricity will come from resources that are low- or no-carbon emitting – reducing emissions in an amount that’s equal to removing more than a million cars from local roads," he said. "Reducing pollutants in the air we breathe is a no-brainer, and we’ve been pleased to partner with OCI Solar Power in our efforts to make that happen."
http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...ete_100013772/

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The 13 major clean energy breakthroughs of 2013
By Jeff Spross on 19 December 2013

1. Using salt to keep producing solar power even when the sun goes down. Helped along by the Department of Energy’s loan program, Solana’s massive 280 megawatt (MW) solar plant came online in Arizona this October, with one unique distinction: the plant will use a ‘salt battery’ that will allow it to keep generating electricity even when the sun isn’t shining. Not only is this a first for the United States in terms of thermal energy storage, the Solana plant is also the largest in the world to use to use parabolic trough mirrors to concentrate solar energy.

4. Solar electricity hits grid parity with coal. A single solar photovoltaic (PV) cell cost $76.67 per watt back in 1977, then fell off a cliff. Bloomberg Energy Finance forecast the price would reach $0.74 per watt in 2013 and as of the first quarter of this year, they were actually selling for $0.64 per watt. That cuts down on solar’s installation costs — and since the sunlight is free, lower installation costs mean lower electricity prices. And in 2013, they hit grid parity with coal: in February, a southwestern utility, agreed to purchase electricity from a New Mexico solar project for less than the going rate for a new coal plant. Unsubsidized solar power reached grid parity in countries such as Italy and India. And solar installations have boomed worldwide and here in America, as the lower module costs have drivendown installation prices.

7. Ultra-thin solar cells that break efficiency records. Conversion efficiency is the amount of light hitting the solar cell that’s actually changed into electricity, and it’s typically 18.7 percent and 24 percent. But Alta Devices, a Silicon Valley solar manufacturer, set a new record of 30.8 percent conversion efficiency this year. Its method is more expensive, but the result is a durable and extremely thin solar cell that can generate a lot of electricity from a small surface area. That makes Alta’s cells perfect for small and portable electronic devices like smartphones and tablets, and the company is in discussions to apply them to mobile phones, smoke detectors, door alarms, computer watches, remote controls, and more.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/13-m...kthroughs-2013

Last edited by amor de cosmos; Dec 19, 2013 at 6:41 PM.
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  #332  
Old Posted Dec 20, 2013, 5:35 PM
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Move Over, Wind? Solar Energy Market ‘Exploding’ in Iowa
“Solar growth in Iowa is where wind was in the first decade of the 2000s.”

Midwest Energy News, Karen Uhlenhuth
December 20, 2013

Iowa is well established as a national leader in wind energy and biofuels. Now the state is poised for serious growth in solar as well.

“The market is exploding in Iowa,” says Tim Dwight, a former Iowa Hawkeye and NFL star who has become one of his home state’s most visible solar energy advocates.

Homeowners, farmers, businesses and at least one school district in Iowa are going solar. Also, over the past year, several municipal utilities and rural electric co-ops have put up solar arrays, inviting customers to buy a share of the power generated.

“Solar growth in Iowa is where wind was in the first decade of the 2000s,” says Bill Haman of the Iowa Energy Center. “We saw an explosion in wind.”
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...loding-in-iowa

Quote:
Graphene sees the light
Sheets of carbon just one atom thick could make effective transparent electrodes in certain types of photovoltaic cells

Published online 18 December 2013

Graphene, a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon that is extremely strong and conducts electricity well, is the thinnest material ever made. Researchers believe that it could be used as a transparent electrode in photovoltaic cells, replacing a layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) that is brittle and becoming increasingly expensive.

Wee Shing Koh of the A*STAR Institute of High Performance Computing in Singapore and co-workers have compared these two materials. They found that graphene outperforms ITO when used with solar cells that absorb a broad spectrum of light.

The wavelengths of light from the Sun have a range of intensities and deliver varying amounts of power. To maximize a photovoltaic device’s performance, its transparent electrode should have a low electrical resistance, while also transmitting light of the right wavelengths for the cells to absorb.

Square sheets of graphene produced by today’s chemical vapor deposition technology have an electrical resistance roughly four times that of a typical 100-nanometer-thick layer of ITO. Although adding more layers of graphene reduces its resistance, it also blocks more light. Koh and his co-workers calculated that four layers of graphene stacked together had the best chance of matching ITO’s performance.

Graphene has one key advantage over ITO: it allows more than 97% of light to pass through to the solar cell beneath, regardless of its wavelength. In contrast, ITO tends to block certain wavelengths more than others. Four-layer graphene is slightly more transparent at near-infrared wavelengths than ITO is, for example.
http://www.research.a-star.edu.sg/research/6835
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  #333  
Old Posted Dec 21, 2013, 6:20 PM
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Producing electricity on the Moon at night
Scientists from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and other international collaborators have proposed a system of mirrors, processed lunar soil and a heat engine to provide energy to vehicles and crew during the lunar night. This would preclude the need for batteries and nuclear power sources such as those used by the Chinese rover that recently landed on the moon.

SINC | December 18 2013 09:55

The lunar night lasts approximately 14 days, during which temperatures as low as -150 ºC have been recorded. This complicates vehicle movement and equipment functioning on the lunar surface, requiring the transport of heavy batteries from Earth or the use of nuclear energy, as exemplified by the Chinese rover Yutu.

Now, a team of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, along with collaborators from the USA, have studied two options for storing energy on the Moon during the day for use at night. The details have been published in the journal ‘Acta Astronautica’, in an article featuring the participation of former NASA administrator, Michael Griffin.

“The first system consists of modifying fragments of regolith or lunar soil, incorporating elements such as aluminium, for example, such that it becomes a thermal mass,” Ricard Gonzalez-Cinca, a physics researcher at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and co-author of the study, explains to SINC.

“When the Sun’s rays hit the surface, a system of mirrors reflects the light to heat the thermal mass, which later,” he adds, “can transmit heat during the night to rovers and other lunar equipment”.
http://www.agenciasinc.es/en/News/Pr...-Moon-at-night
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  #334  
Old Posted Dec 23, 2013, 6:51 PM
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Hyundai installs South Korea's largest rooftop PV installation
23. December 2013 | Applications & Installations, Global PV markets, Industry & Suppliers | By: Ian Clover

The car giant has installed 40,000 solar panels on top of its production plant in the city of Asan. The installation will generation 11.5 million kWh of solar power a year.

South Korea's largest car maker, Hyundai, has this week installed the country’s largest rooftop PV installation – a 40,000 panel, 11.5 million kWh per year solar ceiling atop its production plant in Asan, a city some 95 kilometers south of the capital, Seoul.

Spread across 213,000m² and covering 68% of the ceiling space, the installation will be capable of producing enough clean PV energy to power 3,200 local households annually, delivering enough clean electricity to mitigate 5,600 tons of carbon emissions a year.
http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...ion_100013795/
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Old Posted Dec 29, 2013, 6:49 PM
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Researchers design a new catalyst to produce hydrogen from water and sunlight
The research results, published in 'Scientific Reports', open the door to renewable hydrogen production, essential if the gas is to become the energy carrier of the future.

25/10/2013

Researchers at the Institute of Energy Technology (INTE) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya· BarcelonaTech (UPC), the University of Auckland (New Zealand), and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Saudi Arabia) have developed a system to produce hydrogen from water and sunlight in a way that is clean, renewable and more cost-effective than other methods. The scientists behind the project have fused the optical properties of three-dimensional photonic crystals (inverse opals of titanium dioxide, TiO2) and 2-3 nm gold nanoparticles to develop a highly active catalyst powder. The research paper has been published in Scientific Reports, the open-access journal of Nature.

This new photocatalyst produces more hydrogen than others developed so far by harnessing the properties of both photonic crystals and nanoparticles of a metal. According to Jordi Llorca, a researcher at the UPC’s Institute of Energy Technology, the process involves “tuning” the two materials to amplify the effect. “You have to choose the right photonic crystal and the right nanoparticles", he adds.

In any photocatalyst made from gold nanoparticles and titanium dioxide crystals using ultraviolet light, which is only a small part of solar radiation (less than 3%), the process is the same: light excites the TiO2 electrons and promotes them to the conduction band, leaving holes on the other side. The electrons interact with the gold nanoparticles and are captured by them. According to the scientists, the novelty in this case is the use of a 3D photonic crystal that captures the visible part of the solar spectrum, precisely at the energy level at which the gold nanoparticles “resonate”. As a result, it’s possible to take advantage of the visible part of the solar spectrum rather than just the ultraviolet part. This translates into a significant boost in the performance of the process.

The new catalyst has great potential for application in industrial processes. According to researcher Jordi Llorca, making the move from the laboratory to an industrial plant would mean designing a reactor to operate outdoors in the sun, and using a solar collector to capture more sunlight.
http://www.upc.edu/saladepremsa/al-d...et_language=en

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On Rooftops, a Rival for Utilities
By DIANE CARDWELL
Published: July 26, 2013

For years, power companies have watched warily as solar panels have sprouted across the nation’s rooftops. Now, in almost panicked tones, they are fighting hard to slow the spread.

Alarmed by what they say has become an existential threat to their business, utility companies are moving to roll back government incentives aimed at promoting solar energy and other renewable sources of power. At stake, the companies say, is nothing less than the future of the American electricity industry.

According to the Energy Information Administration, rooftop solar electricity — the economics of which often depend on government incentives and mandates — accounts for less than a quarter of 1 percent of the nation’s power generation.

And yet, to hear executives tell it, such power sources could ultimately threaten traditional utilities’ ability to maintain the nation’s grid.

“We did not get in front of this disruption,” Clark Gellings, a fellow at the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit arm of the industry, said during a panel discussion at the annual utility convention last month. “It may be too late.”

Advocates of renewable energy — not least solar industry executives who stand to get rich from the transformation — say such statements are wildly overblown. For now, they say, the government needs to help make the economics of renewable power work for ordinary Americans. Without incentives, the young industry might wither — and with it, their own potential profits.



Utilities in California have appealed to lawmakers and regulators to reduce the credits and limit the number of people who can participate. It has been an uphill fight.

About a year ago, the utilities pushed regulators to keep the amount of rooftop solar that would qualify for the net metering program at a low level; instead, regulators effectively raised it. Still, the utilities won a concession from the Legislature, which ordered the California Public Utilities Commission to conduct a study to determine the costs and benefits of rooftop solar to both customers and the power grid with an eye toward retooling the policy.

Edward Randolph, director of the commission’s energy division, said that the study, due in the fall, was a step toward figuring out how to make the economics work for customers who want to install solar systems as well as for the nonsolar customers and the utilities. The commission wants to ensure, he said, that, “we aren’t creating a system that 15 years from now has the utility going, ‘We don’t have customers anymore but we still have an obligation to provide a distribution system — how do we do that?’ ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/bu...elf-power.html
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Old Posted Dec 30, 2013, 5:14 PM
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India’s Uttar Pradesh Signs Contracts for Solar Plants
30 December 2013

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) — Moser Baer India Ltd., a solar manufacturer based in New Delhi, won a contract to sell power from a proposed plant in Uttar Pradesh state, allowing it to proceed with the project.

State officials signed contracts with developers for 110 megawatts of solar power in total, Namrata Kalra, project officer at the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency, said today. Azure Power India Pvt., a company backed by the World Bank, was also among the winners.

Uttar Pradesh in northern India is among states expanding solar generation to meet government-set targets. The country, which suffers peak-hour power shortages of as much as 25 percent in some regions, is developing large-scale renewable plants to diversify its energy mix and reduce a current-account deficit exacerbated by fuel imports.
http://about.bnef.com/bnef-news/indi...olar-plants-2/

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UK energy minister to call for 4 million more solar panels
30. December 2013 | Top News, Markets & Trends, Investor news, Global PV markets | By: Ian Clover

Greg Barker is expected to announce ambitious plans to dramatically increase the U.K.'s solar capacity in the new year.

U.K. energy minister Greg Barker is expected to reveal ambitious plans in the new year for the dramatic increase in solar energy throughout the country.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the minister is lining up plans to introduce as many as four million solar panels built across government land, covering an area the size of 3,400 football pitches.

Combined, this proposed solar drive is expected to add 1 GW of solar energy to the U.K.'s total capacity, all derived from solar panels fitted on to "the government estate".

These bold targets are thought to be a personal ambition of the energy minister and not yet an officially sanctioned target for the government – a stance the Telegraph believes could set Barker at odds with many senior politicians in his party, including the Prime Minister David Cameron.
http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...els_100013802/

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The heavyweight PV projects of 2013
By Ben Willis - 30 December 2013, 06:00
In Editors' Blog

While 2012 was arguably the year the solar mega project entered the public consciousness, with what are (for now) some of the world’s largest PV plants reaching completion, 2013 has seen its fair share of solar behemoths too.

The usual suspects such as China and the US have been leading players in the utility-scale PV market this year, with the latter expected in 2013 to double the 3GW of large-scale PV it had at the end of 2012. But some new players, notably FiT-fuelled Japan, have joined the top table, and some fresh faces, such as Ethiopia, Uganda and Uzbekistan, have revealed intentions to join solar’s large-scale club. Although not expected in the overall top 10 biggest end markets of the year, Canada and Ukraine also deserve a mention as significant players in large-scale PV, with each adding numerous new utility-scale plants this year.



Here are the biggest projects of 2013 from the world’s biggest markets.

USA: California Valley Solar Ranch, 250MW

India: Neemuch, 151MW

Germany: Templin, 128MWp

China: Jiayuguan, 100.3MW

Japan: Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar Power Plant, 70MW

Greece: Sky Solar, 70MW

United Kingdom: Wymeswold Airfield, 33MW

France: Verrerie, 24MW

Italy: Borgo San Lazzaro, 13MW

Australia: Mildura Solar Demonstration Facility, 1.5MW (CPV)
http://www.pv-tech.org/editors_blog/...ojects_of_2013

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Lessons You Can Learn From the Big Solar Guys. Part 1: Enter The Cloud
December 29, 2013 Frank Andorka

By Pam Cargill, Special to Solar Power World

The large solar installers and financiers get a lot of attention. They get a lot of media airtime, utilize comparatively large marketing budgets to acquire their customers, and can support diverse operational roles in the overhead of their company. And yet the top five national solar installers only comprise 36% of the market share (according to GTM Research).

If you are a small or mid-size solar installer that is part of the other 64%, what can you learn from how the big guys have set up their solar operations that you can apply to your business? This is the first part of a series on best practices in operating your solar company.

Enter The Cloud

Cloud operations are making it easier to scale and “right size” your business. They do this by effectively outsourcing the database and application layers of software to remote servers or clusters of servers and serving the interfaces up via the web.

As a small business owner, this means you won’t need to keep track of software versions and manually update dozens of software tools sometimes at great cost. Everything from accounting software to project management tools have moved to the cloud or have extended options into the cloud. It also gives you more flexibility in terms of adding and subtracting seats as your business fluctuates, a challenge in a tight margin construction-based industry as solar energy installation.
http://www.solarpowerworldonline.com...1-enter-cloud/

Quote:
3 Fearless Predictions For Solar In 2014
December 29, 2013 Frank Andorka

By Frank Andorka, Editorial Director

2014 is nearly as fresh as newly fallen snow, filled with seemingly endless possibilities.

It’s also the time of year where people like me offer our predictions of what the solar industry will look like 12 months from now (I like to imagine my critics clipping and saving this column so they can come back to me in December and tell me what a fool I was).

It’s a rite of passage. So here are my predictions about what 2014 will look like:

1) Consolidation will continue.

The pace of consolidation, which I’ve relentlessly written about for the past two years, picked up significantly in 2013. I expect the trend to continue. I’d even go as far to say the pace will quicken again.

As I’ve written before, this is good. All industries go through it, and it will leave us stronger on the other end. The faster it happens, the better.

2) The focus will shift from module prices to driving down balance of system (BOS) costs. As Paula Mints from Navigant Consulting has been preaching for the past two years, module prices have hit bottom. In 2013, they started to rise slightly again. That’s good news for the panel manufacturers, who have struggled in recent years to be profitable as the price of silicon dropped through the floor.

Now the focus will be on driving down everything else in the installation supply chain. We’re not quite at grid-parity nationwide yet, but we’re getting there.



3) The national energy policy we all crave (that has been introduced — again — in the Senate) won’t even make it out of committee. Until we get a national energy policy (like every other leading solar country in the world), we will lag behind everyone else.

Why? Because when you have 50 states making 50 separate solar policies, reliably planning projects is nearly impossible. But 2014 is another “Year Of The Midterm Elections,” which means exactly nothing will get done in Congress (then again, that was true last year, and the solar industry flourished).
http://www.solarpowerworldonline.com...solar-in-2014/
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Old Posted Dec 31, 2013, 6:04 PM
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Shipping container with rollable PV panels inside could become an instant 100kW solar plant
Derek Markham
Technology / Solar Technology
December 30, 2013

Imagine if a huge solar array could fit inside a standard shipping container, complete with inverters and a large battery bank, which could be flown or driven directly to the point of use, and then quickly deployed for off-grid power in remote locations.

That's the idea behind Renovagen's Rollarray Isogen Transportable Solar Power Plant, which could revolutionize the way power is delivered to disaster relief efforts, or to provide power to remote facilities of any kind, from military operations to scientific fieldwork.

The company's flexible and rollable PV array materials differ from other options in rollable PV, as their version is not just a single module, but an entire array, completely pre-wired and connected with built-in power cables.

The material can be rolled onto a spool for easy transport and quick deployment, and when combined with inverters and a battery bank into a standard 20ft ISO shipping container (which can take advantage of existing transportation and container-handling infrastructure), could be the future of transportable solar plants.




http://www.treehugger.com/solar-tech...lar-plant.html



Quote:
Boost for made-in-USA advanced PV cell manufacturing
By Finlay Colville - 30 December 2013, 16:58
In Guest Blog

Having rebranded the Nexolon America operations in San Antonio, Texas, as Mission Solar Energy, the long-awaited rebound in US-based c-Si manufacturing has just received a significant boost; something that politicians and legislators in the US have been striving for ever since the high-profile demise of Solyndra.

Following the announcements of fab build-out and orders being placed with key tool suppliers for 2014 delivery, Mission Solar Energy has recently firmed up on a substantial wafer supply agreement for 500 MW of n-type material to cover the 3 year period from June 2014 to July 2017.

In fact, Mission Solar would instantly be propelled to top-3 c-Si cell manufacturer status, joining Suniva and SolarWorld as the only US-based producers with capacity at the 200-MW plus level.
http://www.pv-tech.org/guest_blog/bo..._manufacturing

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10 Predictions for Rooftop Solar Power in 2014
Cinnamon Solar prognosticates.

Barry Cinnamon
December 30, 2013

1. Net metering will win in big solar states and lose in small solar states. The efforts of SEIA, Vote Solar and others make a tremendous difference -- but the biggest factor is voters who want more solar. As such, states with a strong solar constituency (like California with almost 200,000 rooftop systems) will be most successful in passing solar-friendly policies. The lesson for the solar industry is that we need strong grassroots support coupled with effective lobbying. Happy net-metered voters are the foot soldiers who will win this war.

2. Nothing definitive will happen with the ITC in 2014, even though extending the ITC is a priority for all segments of the industry. The 30% ITC is the swing factor in states where electric rates and incentives are low. Although the ITC is not required where the economics of solar are already compelling (like HI and CA), there is no other single federal policy that is effective for both customer-owned and third-party-owned systems.

3. Public utility commissions will timidly propose changes to existing utility business models. The irresistible force of cheaper solar technology is stronger than the immovable object of a high guaranteed rate of return for utilities. I use the word “timidly” because utilities have money, political clout and legions of lawyers to effectively lobby to retain their business model.

4. The profitability of investor-owned utilities will begin an inexorable twenty-year decline. Factors such as slower growth in electricity sales, a decline in utility-owned generating capacity, higher borrowing rates, long-term customer uncertainty, inexpensive power substitutes (solar, wind), and the inevitability of cost-effective localized battery storage will apply downward pressure to utilities' stock prices. There is no good news for utilities (except EVs), and it is wishful thinking that they will act altruistically on behalf of DG solar instead of rationally on behalf of their investors.

5. Solar paperwork will get easier in some locations and tougher in others. San Jose, California is a great example of fast, over-the-counter solar permits. And PG&E has implemented procedures so that it can turn around interconnection applications in less than a week. But these victories are generally localized and temporary. Starting in 2014, San Jose will begin enforcing state fire code limits on rooftop solar that eliminate the best 30% of roof area, and PG&E is, after all, an investor-owned utility. Two steps forward, one step backward.

6. Prices for all solar equipment will continue their gradual decline. We are on track to meet GTM’s <$0.50/watt module cost target by 2016. Just because it’s nice to have consistently profitable solar manufacturers doesn’t mean we’ll achieve that goal. There will still be companies that will sell at a premium because they are “better” in some way. But since supply is still greater than demand (and supply can be ramped up relatively quickly), price premiums will not be sustainable, as other manufacturers will sell at marginal cost.

7. Customer acquisition costs will stay stubbornly high. Right now, they're on the order of $1/watt when sales-related overhead is included. Lead gen services, better software, and new prospecting tactics are unlikely to make much of a dent in these customer acquisition costs, because there are so many smart and aggressive companies with money to spend on marketing to keep their top line growing. Factors that will eventually reduce these costs are lower incentives, standardized solar equipment, better customer awareness of the costs and benefits, and more people having solar so they can refer their friends (the “diffusion” effect, which has been so successful in Germany).

8. Small solar companies will co-exist with large downstream installers. Little guys won’t go out of business, but they may go into hibernation when the air- and web-waves are blanketed with ads. Small installers will thrive because their overall operating costs are low and their service levels are high. New financing options, including bank loans and credit unions, will make it easier for local installers (as well as electricians, roofers and HVAC contractors) to compete with “no-money-down, free solar” offers.

9. New solar distributors will crop up, and old solar distributors will consolidate. The business of solar distribution will start to streamline when solar installation components become more standardized. We are not there yet; currently, the plethora of products and specifications makes it too difficult for distributors to establish well-stocked local distribution facilities. It is exactly this type of localized product availability that improves supply chain efficiencies for electricians, roofers and other contractors.

10. More focus will be directed toward mundane components like solar roof flashings, grounding, racking, job preparation and supply chains. RMI and Georgia Tech just released a terrific time-and-motion study of rooftop solar installations. Their conclusion: the biggest cost reduction opportunities are with integrated racking, and in eliminating the array of little nuts, bolts, wires, clips, pieces and parts that don’t add any functional value to the system, but still need to be assembled on the rooftop.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...-Power-in-2014
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Old Posted Jan 1, 2014, 7:43 PM
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Why You Should Consider Smart Modules For Your Next Solar Project
January 1, 2014
Kathleen Zipp

In typical Silicon Valley fashion, if there is a way to make something “smarter” a team of engineers will do it. In recent years this has been an increasing trend in solar. As microinverters, and then power optimizers, gained growing acceptance in the industry the value of adding intelligence at the panel-level started to become more tangible. Companies touted the benefits of more energy, visibility and safety as key differentiators in driving down the levelized cost of solar. However, as with moving from a regular phone to a smart phone, this “smartness” comes at a cost and installers, financiers and system owners are left to figure out whether this value has a positive ROI for thetigoir project.

Companies are finding ways to add this extra level of control faster, easier and cheaper than ever before. Six years ago when panel-level electronics were first delivered to an installer, he was getting a heavy brick full of hundreds — if not thousands — of components with full DC to AC conversion along with heat and reliability nightmares. In more recent years installers have shifted ever increasingly to power optimizer architectures with fewer components and better cost structures.
http://www.solarpowerworldonline.com...solar-project/

Quote:
Top Solar Stories Of The Year

Showing yet again how obsessive I am, via Planetsave,here are what I consider to be the top solar stories of the year. Again, I haven’t listed 10 or 20 or 30 stories, but 150. However, they are split into numerous categories, so feel free to peruse just the categories that interest you. Looking forward to an even brighter year for solar in 2014!

I just combed through nearly 1000 stories to come up with the top solar stories of the 2nd half of 2013. Beforehand, I thought I’d come up with 30 or so, but I just kept finding stories that I thought deserved some year-end highlighting. I ended up with 150, on the dot. Odd, considering that I ended up with 100, on the dot, for electric vehicles. (I swear that I didn’t manipulate at all to come up with these round numbers.) Anyway, as I realized the list was getting pretty long, I broke it up into several categories.


http://cleantechnica.com/2013/12/31/...-stories-year/
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Old Posted Jan 2, 2014, 5:52 PM
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US solar stocks rising at dawn of 2014
02. January 2014 | Top News, Markets & Trends, Investor news, Industry & Suppliers, Global PV markets, Features | By: Cheryl Kaften

Industry analysts expect the positive momentum seen in the solar sector throughout 2013 to continue in the new year. The U.S. Congress' tax reform could have long-term implications for U.S. investors and industry players, however.

Following a plunge in solar industry revenues in 2012, the "prodigal sun" returned during 2013 — with prices stabilizing, margins expanding and a better balance between supply and demand. Most analysts expect the positive momentum to continue into the new year. The only question is, how much growth should we expect?

Speaking to pv magazine, Angelo Zino, research analyst at S&P Capital IQ in New York City, says he expects solar industry revenue to increase by at least 10% in 2014. "This compares to our forecast for a low-single-digit rise in 2013 and follows significant declines in 2012 and 2011."

Pavel Molchanov, research analyst at Raymond James & Associates in Houston, concurs, but says investors will have to be smart and selective to turn a substantial profit during the next 12 months. "Easy money was made in 2013. It has been a bull market, with the Fed [U.S. Federal Reserve] printing currency and the global economy doing somewhat better." Yet Molchanov said that kind of growth would be harder to achieve this year. "It’s going to be more of a 'stock picker's market' in 2014."
http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...014_100013808/

Quote:
Georgia Power invites proposals for 500MW of utility-scale PV
By Lucy Woods - 02 January 2014, 13:01
In News

US electric utility Georgia Power has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for nearly 500MW of new utility-scale solar in the state.

Of the 500MW of capacity for which the company is inviting proposals, 70MW is to fulfil the Georgia Power Advanced Solar Initiative (GPASI), a purchase programme to contract 210MW solar capacity by November 2014. Another 425MW of the proposal is part of Georgia Power’s integrated resource plan.

The 500MW RFP process is to be conducted with energy consultancy, Accion Group, providing oversight and acting as independent evaluator.

Georgia Power is hosting a request for proposal bidders’ conference on 13 January and comments on the proposal will be accepted by Georgia Power until 31 January.

In July Georgia Power received approval for constructing 525MW of solar generation by 2016 after Georgia’s public service commission voted in favour of the solar development.
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/georgia_...solar_proposal

Quote:
Brazilian state approves 123MW of solar developments in energy auction
By Lucy Woods - 02 January 2014, 11:29
In News

The Brazilian state of Pernambuco has approved 122.82MW of solar projects after hosting the country’s first solar-only tender auction.

Competing in the auction were 34 project bidders – six from Brazil along with others based in China, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The largest of this six successful tenders was won by Sowitec for a 30MW solar plant, closely followed by Sun Premier Holding Participações, which won a 29.75MW bid, and Kroma Comercializadora de Energia, which won 29.25MW. Concierge Cone S/A has been commissioned to build 22.82MW and Enel Green Power two 5MW projects.

The winning projects are to be built in Santa Maria da Boa Vista, Flores, Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Joaquim Nabucco and two in Tacaratu.

According to Pernambuco government, the solar auction attracted BRL597 million (US$253 million) in investments.

The successful bidders will be paid an average of BRL0.229 per kWh over a 20-year contract. The winning projects have to be installed within 18 months and are expected to generate thousands of construction jobs.

The governor of Pernambuco, Eduardo Campos, said: “It is vital that we make this kind of investment, which can consolidate a cluster of solar energy here. This auction points to an investment policy that values ​​solar energy and renewable energy in the country, helping the sustainable development of Brazil.”
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/brazil_g...energy_auction

Quote:
Top 10 PV Tech news stories of 2013
By Mark Osborne - 02 January 2014, 10:40
In Editors' Blog



In total, the PV Tech website received visitors from 225 countries around the world in 2013, according to Google Analytics. Here, in reverse order, are our top 10 most-read stories of 2013.
Top 10 story review

Two heavily reported subjects throughout the year included the ongoing ‘solar shakeout’ and the EU anti-dumping case against China. However, these did not dominate in the top 10 rankings.

On a company basis, some familiar names that had appeared in previous listings emerged again but in respect to very different subjects.

10 Exclusive: Error leaves at least 16 Chinese manufacturers in EU trade limbo

The tenth most popular story in 2013 did cover the EU anti-dumping case but was actually in respect to its conclusion and subsequent issue over PV Tech’s exclusive findings that a number of Chinese module producers that had been shipping products into the EU were mysteriously missing from the official EU documents.

Over 16 companies were not listed and therefore had not been provided new customs reference numbers, effectively stopping them from importing into the EU unless they paid import duties as they would also not receive a shipment quota that had been agreed with Chinese authorities.

Strangely, since the administrative ‘error’ was covered in early August, that situation remains in limbo. Even today there is also no public information on how the shipment quota system was shared out to those originally on the list.

9 World’s largest battery storage system to be installed in Japan

A subject never appearing before in the rankings and one of the emerging developments for the PV industry, battery storage was the ninth most popular story.

The story concerned news that Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) would install the world’s largest battery system at an electrical substation in Hokkaido, which had an expected storage capacity of around 60MWh. The project would be completed in March 2015.

8 Suntech executives reportedly detained by Chinese police

In eighth place was a just one of numerous stories this year about the Suntech saga and its subsidiary entering bankruptcy in China. Part of the solar shakeout series, the story was about news reports from China that Dr. Shi, the ousted executive chairman and then current CEO, David King, had both been detained by Chinese police, a week after the news broke of Wuxi Suntech being forced into bankruptcy proceedings by a swathe of Chinese banks.

The Suntech Power Holdings saga continues today, although with the Shunfeng rescue of Wuxi Suntech, a major part of the saga has potentially been concluded.

7 Bill Gates gives boost to renewables storage

Putting Bill Gates and storage in the same headline was bound to gain people’s attention and that was exactly what happened with the seventh ranked story when PV Tech covered the news that the billionaire Microsoft founder had been an investor in a US$35 million funding round of Aquion energy, a Pittsburgh-based firm that is developing a new water-based battery system.

Since the story broke in April, Aquion has only recently announced a micro-grid technology collaboration with Siemens.

6 PV module costs to fall to 36c per watt by 2017: GTM Research

A topic that in one form or another tends to garner high traffic year-on-year relates to product pricing and cost trends. This year the sixth most popular story concerned a longer range PV module costing forecast from GTM Research.

The market research firm noted that China's tier one PV module manufacturers were on track to cut production costs to US$0.36 (cents) per watt by the end of 2017, a reduction of 14 cents from costs at the end of 2012.

The expected cost reductions were attributed to technology innovations and the increased use of automation in the manufacturing process.

With the general expectation of a technology buy cycle sometime in 2014, it will be interesting to see if the industry actually meets or even exceeds this figure before the end of 2017.

5 SunPower sold out in Q1 2013

Providing hard facts on a recovering industry and a perfect example of key players’ transition to the PVEP business model, the fifth most popular centred focused on SunPower’s first quarter financial results released in early May. A significant turnaround in its financial situation and the revelation the company was effectively sold out, a situation that is expected to continue through 2014, set the industry scenario since then.

Later in the year, SunPower continued to mirror industry developments with the announcement that it would build a new leading-edge production plant for next generation ‘Maxeon’ solar cells.

4 Fire risk fiasco as Dutch government warns over 650,000 Scheuten Solar modules

The fourth ranked story is one that the industry should never repeat. Product design issues within Scheuten Solar’s module junction box had been behind a series of rooftop fires stretching back several years. The scale of the fault was attributed to around 650,000 ‘Multisol’ modules distributed between September 2009 and October 2010, primarily across Europe.

The exclusive and in-depth feature was a collaboration between PV Tech and sister website, Solar Power Portal UK (SPP UK), reporting comments from the experts dealing with aspects of the problem.

The story was by a wide margin the most read on the SPP UK website and combined with PV Tech’s traffic was the most read story of 2013 across the Solar Media website portfolio.

Not surprisingly, the owners of Scheuten Solar were later forced to close down the company as it proved impossible to repair the damage to the reformed company’s brand image.

3 SunPower lifts lid on new record 21.5% efficient X-Series solar modules

A topic that always attracts high traffic is that of record cell/module efficiencies. In the past SunPower has received a top 10 ranking based on this topic and returns this year at number three. SunPower claimed in April that its new X-Series modules provided approximately 8 to 10% more energy per rated watt when compared with conventional crystalline-based modules and had a conversion efficiency of 21.5%.

2 Bosch shuts down solar division; total loss amounts to €2.4 billion

The second most viewed story featured another solar shakeout development, this time in regards to Bosch exiting the sector by the end of 2013. The rapid and significant price declines due to massive overcapacity in the industry, despite its own efforts to reduce production costs, were given as the key reasons for the industry exit.

The news reverberated around the world and not least in Europe, especially at a time when every European-based manufacturer was feeling the financial effects of more than two years of fierce competition from China-based rivals.

Recently some good news has meant that the production facilities and staff will be transferred to SolarWorld with the hope it will be a new start and boost to regaining its market competitiveness. The story on that development is waiting to be written.

1 First Solar to manufacture copper-based crystalline silicon solar cells

Finally, we have arrived at the most popular story on PV Tech in 2013. Normally, we get a sense of the big stories and certainly these appear in this year’s rankings but it was a surprise that the top story garnered significantly more page view traffic than even the higher ranked stories this year.

The story literarily rocked the industry when First Solar, the world’s leading thin-film manufacturer and PVEP, announced the acquisition of little-known start-up, TetraSun and would be aggressively ramping its copper-based advanced monocrystalline cell technology.

Though not a seismic shift in First Solar’s module manufacturing, as CdTe remains a central part of its business model, it could prove seismic for its tier one rivals in the future. The company is already placing equipment orders for the new venture and we should gain further insight next year, which is obviously going to be of great interest to readers.
http://www.pv-tech.org/editors_blog/...tories_of_2013

Quote:
Massive Minnesota solar project preferred over gas plants
By Joanna Foster on 2 January 2014
Climate Progress

The largest-ever proposed solar project in Minnesota received a powerful legal boost Tuesday, when administrative law judge Eric Lipman recommended Geronimo Energy’s Aurora Solar Project above five other proposals that utility Xcel Energy submitted to state regulators as part of a competitive bidding process. The other projects considered were almost exclusively for new natural gas generators.

Xcel, one of Minnesota’s biggest utilities, needs to add an additional 550 megawatts of new electricity generation by 2020 to meet predicted rising energy demands. And solar, according to Lipman, is the best deal. The Geronimo proposal is for a 100-megawatt distributed solar project, with 20-25 sites in 18 counties. Each solar park would range from 2-10 megawatts. The largest of the Geronimo solar parks would be five times bigger than the state’s largest solar array in Slayton, Minnesota.

In his report, Lipman wrote that “The Geronimo project will have numerous socioeconomic benefits, minimal impacts on the environment and best supports Minnesota’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.” He also called the Geronimo project “the most reasonable and prudent alternative to meet Xcel’s near-term needs.”

“We feel like the judge found that our proposal was effective in a number of ways,” Betsy Engelking, Vice President of Geronimo told SCTimes. “It’s “the first time that solar’s gone head-to-head with gas facilities in this sort of a proposal and has received this sort of a recommendation.”

Geronimo’s Aurora Solar Project would receive no state or utility subsidies, but would qualify for a federal investment tax credit. It is expected to cost $250 million. If approved, construction would begin in 2015.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/mass...al-boost-70923

Quote:
CES 2014: Ford to introduce solar-powered hybrid car
Published on 2 January 2014

Ford Motor Company announced today the C-MAX Solar Energi Concept, a first-of-its-kind sun-powered vehicle with the potential to deliver the best of what a plug-in hybrid offers -- without depending on the electric grid for fuel.

Instead of powering its battery from an electrical outlet, Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept harnesses the power of the sun by using a special concentrator that acts like a magnifying glass, directing intense rays to solar panels on the vehicle roof.

The result is a concept vehicle that takes a day's worth of sunlight to deliver the same performance as the conventional C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid, which draws its power from the electric grid. Ford C-MAX Energi gets a combined best miles per gallon equivalent in its class, with EPA-estimated 108 MPGe city and 92 MPGe highway, for a combined 100 MPGe. By using renewable power, Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept is estimated to reduce the annual greenhouse gas emissions a typical owner would produce by four metric tons.

C-MAX Solar Energi Concept, which will be shown at the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas, is a collaborative project of Ford, SunPower Corp. and Georgia Institute of Technology.

The C-MAX Solar Energi Concept debuts as Ford caps a record year of electrified vehicle sales.
http://www.solarnovus.com/ford-annou...car_N7328.html

Quote:
Credit Suisse: Renewables to meet 85% of US energy demand growth
By Zachary Shahan on 2 January 2014
Clean Technica

Credit Suisse on December 20 released a report with some quite bullish projections regarding renewable energy growth and generation in the United States, which someone in the solar industry kindly passed on to me. Here’s the short summary:
Our take: We see an opportunity for renewable energy to take an increasing share of total US power generation, coming in response to state Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and propelled by more competitive costs against conventional generation. We can see the growth in renewables being transformative against conventional expectations with renewables meeting the vast majority of future power demand growth, weighing on market clearing power prices in competitive power markets, appreciably slowing the rate of demand growth for natural gas from the power sector, and requiring significant investment in new renewables.
What percentage of future growth does Credit Suisse say might come from renewables? About 85%.
Renewables will meet most of US demand growth. We estimate that ~85% of future demand growth for power through 2025 (including the impact of coal plant retirements) could be met by renewable generation with compliance to the existing 30 mandatory and 8 voluntary RPS programs. From this we would see over 100 GW of new renewable capacity additions with wind and solar market share more than doubling from 2012 to 2025.
Other key points are that falling wind and solar costs make them competitive with natural gas, even ignoring externalities. As a result, Credit Suisse has cut its natural gas projections considerably. “We estimate renewables slowing the rate of natural gas demand growth from power generation to <0.5 bcf/d through 2020 versus our prior estimate of 1.0-1.2 bcf/d even when taking into account planned coal plant shutdowns and assumed nuclear plant retirements.”

I think this report and the revisions implicitly highlight something very interesting that is going on in the energy industry. Renewable energy costs are primarily based on the cost of the technologies themselves, while fossil fuel costs are largely based on the fuel sources. As renewable energy grows, the technology costs come down. The opposite is true for fossil fuels. Forecasts should take this into account, but they routinely seem to underestimate renewable technology cost drops, and thus also underestimate renewable energy growth. Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and others that are a bit better at these projections are quickly shifting their forecasts to catch up with the renewable energy revolution we’ve been seeing. This new report from Credit Suisse analysts is certainly one of the most positive I’ve seen. The title of the first section says it all: “Renewables Are Economic and Disruptive to Conventional Markets.”

Credit Suisse analysts see Renewable Energy Standards (RES) as driving much of the coming growth, but they aren’t shy about saying (repeatedly) that renewables are also now cost competitive, and that technology improvements just keep advancing their prospects.

“We think old-line arguments against renewables – too expensive, too intermittent, too remote – will continue to fade, allowing a resource base that is underappreciated in the market but is positioned to have a broad impact on power and energy markets.”
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/cred...enewables-2025

Quote:
TransCanada acquires additional Ontario power plant from Canadian Solar
BERTRAND MAROTTE
The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Jan. 02 2014, 8:19 AM EST

TransCanada Corp. is acquiring another solar power facility as part of the ongoing expansion of its presence in the renewable energy sector.

Calgary-based TransCanada said on Thursday it has acquired Mississippi Mills in eastern Ontario from Canadian Solar Solutions Inc. The facility is a newly built 10-megawatt installation west of Ottawa.

The deal is part of a previously announced agreement with Canadian Solar to buy a total of nine Ontario solar facilities as TransCanada expands its carbon-free portfolio while also pushing ahead with higher-profile projects such as the Keystone XL and Energy East oil pipelines.

The controversial $5.3-billion (U.S.) Keystone XL initiative to move Alberta crude to Texas refineries is still waiting for the green light from Washington.

TransCanada has already acquired from Canadian Solar the facilities known as Brockville 1, Brockville 2 and Burritts Rapids.

Total cost of the nine photovoltaic facilities – with a combined capacity of 86 megawatts, enough to power some 17,000 homes – is about $500-million.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle16167364/

Last edited by amor de cosmos; Jan 2, 2014 at 6:20 PM.
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Old Posted Jan 3, 2014, 5:51 PM
amor de cosmos amor de cosmos is offline
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Quote:
Better Racking Drives Down Solar’s Soft Costs
A study from RMI reports on the results of classic time-and-motion studies of solar installation.

Herman K. Trabish
January 2, 2014

“Of the average $4.93 per watt cost of a residential rooftop solar system, over 60 percent of the total is attributable to ‘soft costs,’” according to Reducing Solar PV Soft Cost: Focus on Installation Labor, a joint report from Rocky Mountain Institute and the Georgia Tech Research Institute. “U.S. installers incur median installation costs of $0.49 per watt [but] a composite ‘best of the best’ virtual U.S. installation that draws upon the fastest observed individual installation activities across all U.S. installations would incur installation costs of only $0.29 per watt,” the report concludes.

By comparison, the study reports, the median German installation labor cost is $0.18 per watt.

Researchers used classic time-and-motion study methods to directly observe and document costs incurred by installation labor; permitting, inspection, and interconnection; customer acquisition; financing costs; and installer-integrator margin factors.

According to the report, the biggest cuts in U.S. installation labor costs tend to stem from:
  • Adoption of technologies and processes that enable one-day installations
  • Overhauling the racking base installation process
  • Use of standardized systems that reduce the need for one-off engineering and design work
  • Innovating on all AC-related electrical activities
  • Eliminating several non-value-add activities typical to the U.S. installation process
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...ars-Soft-Costs

Quote:
Net-energy metering rollbacks unlikely to impact US states in 2014
03. January 2014 | Top News, Markets & Trends, Industry & Suppliers, Global PV markets | By: Edgar Meza

Some U.S. states are looking to revamp net-energy metering programs but potential changes will not impact solar markets this year, according to research group IHS.

Despite efforts from some U.S. states to re-evaluate their net-energy metering (NEM) policies, the impact of any potential changes on the U.S. photovoltaics industry is expected to be negligible in 2014, according to market research group IHS.

"States including Arizona, Colorado and California are re-evaluating their NEM policies," said Wade Shafer, senior analyst covering North American PV at IHS. "This has spurred some concern about the development of distributed solar in the U.S., since NEM incentives are critical to supporting the customer-sited PV market."

After examining proposed changes and recent utility commission rulings, IHS determined that net metered PV project economics would not be significantly impacted in 2014, Shafer added.

IHS estimates that 85% of distributed solar PV capacity installed to date in the United States is located in states with full retail-rate NEM, according to the new IHS report US Debates Rolling Back Net Energy Metering. An estimated 70% is located in states that are reviewing their NEM policies.
http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...014_100013815/

Quote:
Researchers Find Simple, Cheap Way to Increase Solar Cell Efficiency
Tracey Peake | News Services
Release Date: January 2, 2014
Filed under Releases

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found an easy way to modify the molecular structure of a polymer commonly used in solar cells. Their modification can increase solar cell efficiency by more than 30 percent.

Polymer-based solar cells have two domains, consisting of an electron acceptor and an electron donor material. Excitons are the energy particles created by solar cells when light is absorbed. In order to be harnessed effectively as an energy source, excitons must be able to travel quickly to the interface of the donor and acceptor domains and retain as much of the light’s energy as possible.

One way to increase solar cell efficiency is to adjust the difference between the highest occupied molecular orbit (HOMO) of the acceptor and lowest unoccupied molecular orbit (LUMO) levels of the polymer so that the exciton can be harvested with minimal loss. One of the most common ways to accomplish this is by adding a fluorine atom to the polymer’s molecular backbone, a difficult, multi-step process that can increase the solar cell’s performance, but has considerable material fabrication costs.

A team of chemists led by Jianhui Hou from the Chinese Academy of Sciences created a polymer known as PBT-OP from two commercially available monomers and one easily synthesized monomer. Wei Ma, a post-doctoral physics researcher from NC State and corresponding author on a paper describing the research, conducted the X-ray analysis of the polymer’s structure and the donor:acceptor morphology.

PBT-OP was not only easier to make than other commonly used polymers, but a simple manipulation of its chemical structure gave it a lower HOMO level than had been seen in other polymers with the same molecular backbone. PBT-OP showed an open circuit voltage (the voltage available from a solar cell) value of 0.78 volts, a 36 percent increase over the ~ 0.6 volt average from similar polymers.
http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/tp-solarefficiency/

Quote:
China cuts the cord on struggling solar manufacturers
By John Parnell - 02 January 2014, 13:14
In News, Fab & Facilities, Materials, Cell Processing, PV Modules

The Chinese government has excluded almost 80% of operating manufacturers, including Shunfeng and LDK Solar, from benefitting from domestic support measures as it looks to curb oversupply and increase the quality of its solar manufacturing sector.

The ministry of industry and information technology (MIIT) received 500 applications for the list “photovoltaic manufacturing industry norms conditions” [sic], approved companies that can continue to take part in state-run tenders and support mechanisms.

An initial list of 134 companies was released in November and a final list of 109 published on 30 December following “expert review”.

Many of the omissions are from rationalising subsidiaries into smaller groups.

The criteria looks at a number of factors including minimum conversion factors for solar cells, minimum manufacturing capacity for polysilicon, ingot, wafer and rod producers and environmental conditions as well.

Companies not on the list will not be able to benefit from domestic policy support, take part in domestic tenders or benefit from export tax rebates.
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/china_cu..._manufacturers

Quote:
Winchester City Council grants planning permission for 40MW solar farm
By Peter Bennett | 03 January 2014, 15:59 Updated: 03 January 2014, 16:16

Councillors have voted in favour of a proposed 40MW solar farm on the Southwick Estate, just north of Portsmouth.

At a meeting of the council’s development control committee, councillors voted seven to three in favour of approving the 82-hectare development proposed by Hive Energy and Welbourne Solar Ltd.

The planning application was reported to the committee due to the number of objections received which ranged from the need to preserve agricultural land for food production, to construction traffic concerns.

The developers had revised the plans slightly to help mitigate impacts of the site on matters of archaeological and ecological importance and agreed that the planned landscaping activities would minimise visual impact as well as provide wildlife habitats.

The committee noted that the solar farm “would not result in adverse visual impact on the immediate wider landscape, including the setting of heritage assets, would not result in any detrimental harm on surrounding residential amenities and [would] not result in any significant highway or ecological implications.”
http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/ne...olar_farm_2356

Quote:
Credit Suisse: Renewables to meet 85% of US energy demand growth
By Zachary Shahan on 2 January 2014
Clean Technica

Credit Suisse on December 20 released a report with some quite bullish projections regarding renewable energy growth and generation in the United States, which someone in the solar industry kindly passed on to me. Here’s the short summary:
Our take: We see an opportunity for renewable energy to take an increasing share of total US power generation, coming in response to state Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and propelled by more competitive costs against conventional generation. We can see the growth in renewables being transformative against conventional expectations with renewables meeting the vast majority of future power demand growth, weighing on market clearing power prices in competitive power markets, appreciably slowing the rate of demand growth for natural gas from the power sector, and requiring significant investment in new renewables.
What percentage of future growth does Credit Suisse say might come from renewables? About 85%.
Renewables will meet most of US demand growth. We estimate that ~85% of future demand growth for power through 2025 (including the impact of coal plant retirements) could be met by renewable generation with compliance to the existing 30 mandatory and 8 voluntary RPS programs. From this we would see over 100 GW of new renewable capacity additions with wind and solar market share more than doubling from 2012 to 2025.
Other key points are that falling wind and solar costs make them competitive with natural gas, even ignoring externalities. As a result, Credit Suisse has cut its natural gas projections considerably. “We estimate renewables slowing the rate of natural gas demand growth from power generation to <0.5 bcf/d through 2020 versus our prior estimate of 1.0-1.2 bcf/d even when taking into account planned coal plant shutdowns and assumed nuclear plant retirements.”

I think this report and the revisions implicitly highlight something very interesting that is going on in the energy industry. Renewable energy costs are primarily based on the cost of the technologies themselves, while fossil fuel costs are largely based on the fuel sources. As renewable energy grows, the technology costs come down. The opposite is true for fossil fuels. Forecasts should take this into account, but they routinely seem to underestimate renewable technology cost drops, and thus also underestimate renewable energy growth. Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and others that are a bit better at these projections are quickly shifting their forecasts to catch up with the renewable energy revolution we’ve been seeing. This new report from Credit Suisse analysts is certainly one of the most positive I’ve seen. The title of the first section says it all: “Renewables Are Economic and Disruptive to Conventional Markets.”

Credit Suisse analysts see Renewable Energy Standards (RES) as driving much of the coming growth, but they aren’t shy about saying (repeatedly) that renewables are also now cost competitive, and that technology improvements just keep advancing their prospects.

“We think old-line arguments against renewables – too expensive, too intermittent, too remote – will continue to fade, allowing a resource base that is underappreciated in the market but is positioned to have a broad impact on power and energy markets.”
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/cred...enewables-2025

Last edited by amor de cosmos; Jan 3, 2014 at 10:16 PM.
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