December 2013 – Solar Magazine

Scotland reaches 100 MW of solar

Scotland tops 100 MW of installed PV

Scotland has got 106 MW of PV capacity installed, meaning the country overcame de 100 MW milestone with 36% growth in only one year.

Official data from British energy analysts, Ofgem, show that the new 106 MW of installed PV capacity bluster represents a growth of 36% in 2013.

Although in Scotland the radiation rate is low, positive political policies and the desire for solar energy has influenced the industry boost this year and the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) joined Scottish solar lobbyists in their cause to pursue the Scottish government to help the burgeoning industry develop.

Three years ago the country had only 2 MW of installed plants, 429 small-scale solar installations. This year over 28,000 homes, 56 communities, 22 industrial sites and 465 have solar modules installed, fact that encouraged the Scottish Solar Energy Group, WWF Scotland and the Energy Technology Partnership to ask the Scottish government to offer more political support for solar.

“Scotland might seem like an unlikely place for solar, but if you look at a solar radiation map, parts of Scotland receive about 80 to 90% of the solar energy of Germany, the world leader in solar deployment, with 35 GW installed to date,” said chairwoman of the Scottish Solar Energy Group, Anne-Marie Fuller. He also added that there is no reason for which significantly more solar could not be installed if people really wanted to.

The country also plans to have 100% green energy sources by 2020 taking into account the fact that offshore wind power is transitioning. Still, the country should not ignore the potential of solar PV power, especially the commercial and residential installations.

Roxana MORARU

Every hour of the first three months of 2014 a PV plant will be installed

Solar PV demand to reach 49GW in 2014

The PV market data analyst, NPD Solarbuzz, shows that global solar PV request will get to 49 GW next year.

The forecast shows that 5 MW of phtovoltsics are to be installes evey hour, at least in the first trimester, a record for solar installations. Global solar analysts NPD Solarbuzz have predicted that the PV demand will gow to 49 GW in 2014.

Moreover, starting from the final three months of this year and finishing with the first one in 2014, 22 GW of capacity will be planted, meaning a new 5 MW farm will rise every hour. Though 36 GW of estimated capacity is to be installed by the end of next year, that figure is said to be aced by 30%.

“The solar PV industry has reached a critical tipping point, with end-market demand hitting record levels almost every quarter.” said NPD Solarbuzz vice president Finlay Colville. “This growth is being driven by leading module suppliers and project developers that returned to profitability during 2013, and which have now established highly effective global sales and marketing networks,” he added.

The data analyst also says that the last semester of this year will break even more records for solar capacity since the 12GW barrier is set to be broken for the first time in the history of PV, record to be overcome in the first semester of the next year.
At the top of the list with the higher demand are the Chinese market, the Japanese one and U.S is leading,, and most of the panels installed next year will be located in this areas.

“Manufacturing overcapacity and pricing erosion within the PV industry was previously a key factor in limiting annual growth to between 10-20% between 2011 and 2013.With a more stable pricing environment and the prospect of increased end-market globalization, NPD Solarbuzz forecasts a return to annual growth above 30% for the PV industry in 2014.” announced Colville.

Roxana MORARU

Solar Powered Christmas Lights for a Merry Christmas and a small energy bill

Green Christmas lights

At Christmas time we all become little children fascinated by the beauty of the Christmas lights. We see them everywhere. On the street, in stores, in coffee shops, and last but not least in our homes. It’s a natural thing to want your home to express happiness and joy too. Still you can’t keep the lights on all the time as you don’t wants your electricity bill to steal away the light the Christmas gave you. Luckily, there is a solution for this particular problem. The solution is called solar powered lights. They are a beautiful way to light up out home for Christmas for a very inexpensive price.

Solar powered lights are, as you may guess, powered by the sun. How does it work? Well, you just have to set up the lights and the solar panel that is stuck on the ground and at night your house will shine. And most important, you don’t have to worry about tangling hundreds of power cords, paying for a huge electricity bill after the holidays, or anything of the sort. You just have to put the lights up on your trees or roof,, and when the night comes, your house will give away a beautiful Christmas spirit, all thanks to the power of the sun.

You may think this comes at a higher price than you can pay for. But these green lights are very cheap. One string is two dollars or less and has about 50-100 lights. So, you can light your home as much as you like and not worry about bills. The lights have a life expectation of about three years so they can be the best solution when it comes to decorating for this year.
Where can you get this lights? In stores or online even on Amazon. The sets usually have 100-300 lights. The solar panel is included in the set so you do not have to worry about recharging the lights.

So if you want your home to be a fantasy come true you don’t have to worry about anything. Go and have fun buying yourself nice Christmas lights and don’t worry about electricity. Let the sun keep them shining.

Merry Christmas

Half a million homes roofed by solar panel by the end of the year in the UK

Until 2014 solar paels will reach half a million in the U.K

UK will have haalf a million installed solar panels

Half a million homes from the United Kingdom to own solar panels. This panels are to be installed on until the end of the year. Moreover, the clean energy industry says it could reach a million two years from now.

Half a million homes to be coved by solar panels in the British country until the end of the year as official figures show. In addition to this, the clean energy industry says the number will double by 2015.

Data given by the British government reveal that 495,459 solar panels were already installed. Most of them were planted on houses as a program of subsidies began three years ago. In this rhythm of more than 2,800 panels per week, the half million achievement could happen by the end of the year when about 2% of U.K homes will own a solar panel.

The Solar Trade Association announced that it wants to reach 1 million installations until the end of 2015.

Those who install solar panels under the ‘feed in tariff’ scheme will benefits from subsidies which are paid for through levies on all consumer energy bills.

Ministers’ initial effort to reduce the tariffs in in December 2011were controlled illegally by the High Court. Still the tariffs were eventually cut in March 2012 and the installation rate declined.

The cost of subsidies for small renewable installations like solar panels and wind turbines were £500m in the year to April 2013, against original forecast of £200m.

Untill 2015 they will reach £817m, meaning they will almost double the original £446m forecast.

UK to introduce new WEEE rules on PV recycling

U.K will introduce new recycling laws for P>V

PV recycling laws to be introduce on January 1 in U.K

The U.K government is adapting EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive that will function starting from January 1, 2014, supported by PV Cycle.

U.K will take a step forward regarding the disposal of PV modules, and starting from January 1, 2014, the British government is going to announce their own interpretation of the European Union’s WEEE Directive in a move complimented by pan-European recycling organization PV Cycle.

By being placed before Parliament on December 10, U.K became the first EU member state that has ratified their national laws before the deadline on February 14 the upcoming year.

The WEEE Directive was brought up to date a year ago to include PV modules and the PV industry received a transition period for one and a half year within which all EU governments have to introduce new

The WEEE Directive was updated in August 2012 to incorporate PV modules, with the industry given an 18-month transition period within which all 27 EU governments must incorporate new intructions on PV waste into their own laws.

“While it’s unusual to see the introduction of new regulations take effect before the legal deadline, it makes sense in this instance as the new regulations come into force at the start of a new compliance year, which is defined on a calendar year basis, and to introduce changes part way through the year would have caused confusion and additional costs,” reported David Burton, PV Cycle U.K.’s country manager of producer compliance scheme.

As the new directive states, all PV modules that are no longer functional have to be disposed of correctly. PV Cycle, an organization that is responsible for the PV disposal, is taking care of some collection points for PV modules in Europe. The organization is also guiding PV producers to recycle theirs products as the law states.

“The regulations are traditionally focused upon ensuring collection and recycling of consumer PV products, but not necessarily on the very nature of PV panels with their long lifecycle and B2B character,” said Burton. “Thankfully, the U.K.’s Department of Businees, Skills and Innovation (BIS) have taken a pragmatic approach, in consultation with the PV sector, to ensure that the industry takes responsibility without damaging its long-term sustainability objectives.”

Roxana MORARU

Concentrated PV solar is to blossom

Concentrated PV is blooming

If in the past few years concentrated PV was having a slow progress, now CPV is advancing towards a momentum and installations and it will grow an important percentage every year through 2020, as the latest IHS report shows.

The concentrated photovoltaic global market is on the edge of a massive explosion and s international installations are arranged to catapult 750% between 2013 and 2020, as the report published on Tuesday by market research group HIS announced.

The report also says that IHS believes that CPV installations will get to 1,362 MW in 2020, given that in 2013 it has 160 MW. Of course , the installations discussed are to Indeed, installations are expected to enlarge to double-digit percentages every year through 2020.

CPV technology makes use of lenses or mirrors to focus sunlight onto solar cells. This process allows a more efficient PV energy generation, the use of additional optics for focusing sunlight has also driven up the cost of CPV compared to conventional PV installations, limiting the acceptance of concentrated solar solutions.

The situation is advancing in a high speed and rapidly changing, still, even though advancements in CPV technology cost effective.

“What is happening in today’s CPV market is very similar to that of the overall PV space in 2007, beset by high costs and an uncertain outlook,” are Karl Melkonyan’s words, a photovoltaic analyst at IHS. “However, the CPV market in 2013 is on the verge of a breakthrough in growth. Costs for CPV have dropped dramatically during 2013 and are expected to continue to fall in the coming years. Furthermore, when viewed from the perspective of lifetime cost, CPV becomes more competitive with conventional PV in large ground-mount systems in some regions.”

Roxana MORARU

Solar PV more and more concentrated on energy savings

PV market is tuning into an energy saving market

The industry of solar energy is rapidly transforming from an investor’s market into an energy savings market, as the PV Parity Project states.

The solar photovoltaics industry provides its customers with electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity. The PV Parity Project is willing to participate with everything necessary to bring the technology in the EU electricity market and increase the competitiveness of the industry.

The group thinks that when the project comes to an end it will promote renewable energy technology and culminate in greenhouse gas emissions reduction, as well as diversifying energy supplies.

A new report shows that the existing costs of supporting schemes have helped the PV market grow and become more competitive, such as investment grants, net-metering, feed-in tariffs and green certificates in Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Austria. It also analyzed alternative support schemes.

The results of this report reveal the fact that self-consumption measures must be led by fair compensation for the electricity brought into the grid, in order to establish competiveness of installation driven by self-consumption.

This implies that for the time being, in most European countries, the compensation for the electricity fed into the grid, and not self-consumed has, to be even bigger than the market price for electricity.

“Self-consumption needs a specific regulatory framework, with a right to self-consume to be implemented and a lot of design criteria to be considered”, announced Fabian Pause, from SUER, the German Foundation for Environmental Energy Law.

The report noted that the self-consumption business model is dependent on the savings on grid costs and taxes.

President Obama demands federal buildings to rise clean energy use

U.S government to triple the use of green energy until 2020

Obama oreders federal agencies to triple the use of renewable

Obama announced that the U.S government must be an example for the people and he set a goal for all 500,000 federal buildings and ordered them to use three times more clean energy until 2020.

The U.S. government has been obliged to set an example for everybody and use 20% more renewable energy, as the President of the country announces.

Barack Obama asked the federal government to rise up their use of green energy and to reach a 2020 target of 20% renewable energy use.

As part of his decision to minimize the U.S dependence of fossil fuels, the President signed a memorandum Thursday stating that a greener future would also help minimizing pollution, put climate change on hold, and last but not least, promote American energy independence and boost domestic employment opportunities regarding solar and wind energy.

“In order to create a clean energy economy that will increase our nation’s prosperity, promote energy security, combat climate change, protect the interests of taxpayers, and safeguard the health of our environment, the federal government must lead by example,” are Obama’s word in the memorandum.

“During my administration, federal agencies have reduced their annual greenhouse gas emissions by more than 15% (7.8 million metric tons) – the equivalent of removing 1.5 million cars from the road. Today I am establishing new goals for renewable energy as well as new energy-management practices.”

The federal government occupies more than 500,000 buildings and uses about 600,000 vehicles in the U.S.A. Moreover, it also consuming goods of $500 billion every year meaning that any progress regarding a more renewable future made by the government it is possible to be felt heavily.

EU puts an end to the anti-subsidy actions for Chinese solar

Price on Chinese solar products stay the same

No new anti-subsidy action on Chinese solar products

As foreseen, the EU reported that the summer trade deal is going to be the universal solution for its subsidy and dumping investigations. This comes as disappointment to the European producers.

The European Union announced that they will not change the prices agreed in the summer with the manufacturers of Chinese solar wafers, cells and modules will not change. So the minimum price and the export volume cap discussed with the manufacturers will put an end effectively to the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations.

The official EU announcement on Monday was not declared so but the effectively uses the agreement thrashed out by trade commissioner Karel De Gucht and his Chinese Ministry of Commerce counterpart in July as a blanket solution to the twin-track trade war.

EU also announced the provisional anti-dumping duties of almost 50% applied to all solar products from China since August will be extended for two years for two years from Friday as a final measure.

But still, the hefty duty that enlarges the provisional decision for not imposing duties for the anti-subsidy part of the objection of the EU solar manufacturers is not valid for the producers from China as part of the EU-brokered minimum price commitment and volume cap.

The anti-subsidy investigation has come to the conclusion that the that subsidies were implemented by the Chinese government in contravention of World Trade Organization rules, yet has decided to give no extra punishment above the De Gucht trade deal.