Energy Market – Page 3 – Solar Magazine

Next generation of Photovoltaics to boom this year

PV market is growing with a new wave of PV

New wave of PV to be used this year

The new generation of photovoltaics are said to enter the clean energy market in 2014 as analysts predict and since investments are coming back.

Analysts at IHS Technology believe that the new wave of PV technologies like n-type substrates and diamond wire will be more available this year since solar companies boost the capital expenditure.

Resilience and trust in global solar markets, combined with new spending cycles, will do much for solar’s transition from nowadays technologies to next-generation PV, as analysts say. They also announce that people will spend $3.4 billion in 2014 on PV this year.

“Innovative technologies will be atop the agendas of major solar manufacturers globally now that supply and demand has come to closer alignment,” reports IHS solar demand analyst, Jon Campos.

“While most experts thought that overcapacity issues would remain significantly longer, the fundamental assumptions made by IHS were that the industry would move toward market equilibrium behind increasing demand in the emerging markets, and that PV manufacturers would turn to advanced technologies to compete with traditional forms of energy production – assumptions that are now coming to fruition,” he added.

Diamond wire, n-type and CdTe are going up. A report IHS made this year says that solar producers that have made it through the past year and a half is are searching for more profitable ways to get slicing tools. Taking this into account, diamond wire is going to take the place of steel wire. Moreover, industry norms will also move in the monocrystalline market, where N-type cells will start to substitute p-type substrates because of the bigger tolerance to common impurities and high minority carrier diffusion lengths.

Switzerland will adopt PV self-consumption rules

Homeowners that want green electricity helped by the gorverment

Switzerland has new rules regarding small-PV systems

The new ruling will be adopted starting from the beginning of the next month. Residential PV customers can choose to reimburse 30% of the bills or a FIT.

Swiss homeowners that want to use green energy and decide to purchase solar panel systems can’t consume the resulted electricity right way, but they have to wait until Switzerland’s law will be amended, on the 1st of April.

At the moment, all Swiss photovoltaic systems that work have to turn over to the electricity grid all energy they produce. Even though owners are qualified to take in a feed-in tariff FIT, self-consumption is banned.

But the newly adopted rule accepted by the Swiss Federal Council also, says that the ones involved in using small-scale PV systems could enjoy the energy it generates. The remaining power will be delivered to other members of the community that need electric power, as the authorities announce.

The government of Switzerland wants to help homeowners even more and help them to make the installation process a little bit more affordable. This means they are giving them the right to choose between a 30% reimbursement of the installation price, or qualification to the FIT scheme.

Switzerland’s leading solar association, Swissolar, agrees with the new regulations and announced that they want to be a part of the process by making the FIT acceptance easier to reach.

In 2013, Swissolar disagreed with the Swiss government’s plan to lower the country’s fit rate by between 35-40%. That‘s because they didn’t want the huge tariffs to be an impediment for the solar sector’s development.

New storage solution developed

Solar energy storage is now more efficient and cost-effective

Bionic leaf for solar energy storage

Researchers from a well-known laboratory in the United States have found a new method of storing solar energy. The solution is called bionic leaf that can transform the energy from the sun into a fuel obtained in a similar way that plants convert light into energy. This leads to much more efficient way of obtaining energy.

The idea is based on an easy process. So the process of using photovoltaic cells to get electric power you cause a chemical reaction that can stock energy the form of hydrogen that can be used in a hydrogen fuel cell to produce electricity.

This method allows you to stock the energy on a long term and in any quantities. The biggest advantage is the fact that this new type of storage is not affected by the unstable nature of solar energy. The concept is simple, you just have to drop a photoelectrochemical cell in a bucket of water and let it go to work stripping out the hydrogen.

This means that there is more way of sustainable way of obtaining hydrogen than the standard that is used at the moment. And if big brands like Toyota and GM set to bring hydrogen fuel cell cars into the light, there is a competition to develop solar powered hydrogen production at scale.

The only thing about this cell is that you have to figure out the perfect combinations of materials that can bring a cost-effective energy.

The general cost of the process is more important than the cell efficiency since in the solar energy market the electricity consumption is very little. The researchers are also taking into account the fact that the performance of the photocathode

Solar power has reached Indian ATMs

ATMs in rural India to work on green energy

Solar ATMs installed in Indian rural areas

Telecom towers, bank branches, data centers and ATMs in power deficient rural India can now benefit from solar power energy. This applies to the pour in energy area of the Asian country.

Not only is the government showing its support, but companies are also helping with supplies for power back-up and solar power producers. This direction is getting popular as many companies are in need of green power.

Sunil Khanna, president and Managing Director, Emerson Network Powe r “We are providing solar inverters of smaller ratings to ATMs. More than ATMs, our concentration is bank branches. At present, the adoption of solar power in the banking sector is at a nascent stage, but it is aggressively picking up.”

Still, he said that it is not easy to keep a record of the ATMs using solar energy but he is optimistic about Tier-3 and Tier-4 cities adopting this movement and believes it is a domain that can be explored. Moreover, he says that banks can change the old-fashioned way of data centers with ones in a box , with many advantages and financial benefits.

Telecom companies are also using solar power for telecom towers. The Chairman at Omnigrid Micropower Co. Pvt. Ltd, Sushil Jiwarajka says that “at present, we are powering more than 20 telecom towers and by April1 2014, the number will go up to 40. From one micro solar power plant site, we are powering three towers of different companies.”

He also said that thay “are providing surplus power to banks, schools, petrol pumps and even households in the locality to make our project viable.”

A big boost for the trend has something to do with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI’s) request for companies to introduce the use of clean energy for at least half of their towers in villages.

New power station will be installed at Dwarka by Delhi Metro

Delhi metro to install PV at it’s stations

Delhi Metro, which became the country’s first public transportation system, is willing to install pv power plants on the roofs of its stations, in order to attempt preservation of the enviroment in New Delhi.

At Dwarka Sector 21 metro station will be the first 500 kwp solar power plant and it is predicted to become functional within six months.

This remains the largest roof top station with the aforementioned capacity in the Delhi-NCR region. This wiil be set after a PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) has been signed between Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and a multinational company engaged in the installation and management of solar power worldwide, in the presence of DMRC’s officials.

The central financing shall be provided by the developer and DMRC will afterwards pay for the units generated by the plant. This power will be offered to the DMRC at the presented station.

Anuj Daval, Executive Director at Corporate Communications mentioned: “After the installation of this roof top plant, Delhi Metro will also explore the possibility of installing more such plants at its stations, depots, parking lots as well as residential complexes.”
For the preservation of the surrounding environment, Delhi Metro has already got involved with a number of measures of providing sustainable means of energy.

DMRC was confirmed in 2011 by the United Nations to be the no. 1 Rail and Metro Rail based organization in the world to get Carbon Credits for downsizing Green House Gas Emissions, this aided in lowering pollution levels in the city by by 6.3 lakh tons yearly discharges and so reducing global warming.

A military base from Arizona is going to have the biggest solar power plant of this kind

Solar power plant in a Arizona military base

solar power plant to be used in Arizona

35 percent of the electricity needs in Arizona’s military base will be fulfilled by the new installation. The U.S. Air Force is planning to use 25% more renewable electricity by 2025.

California’s SunEdison and MIC Solar Energy Holdings are the companies responsible for completing the 16.4 MW PV plant situated in the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base outside Tucson in Arizona.

The project represents the largest solar power plant in the U.S. Department of Defense installation and is said to diminish the Air Force’s utility costs by $500,000 per year in the upcoming 25 years.

“This project was very rewarding for our team because we are helping save our fellow taxpayers’ money. The Air Force, like other branches of the armed forces, is a perfect candidate for solar power because they have high electricity demands and often have large plots of underutilized land,” is the opinion of Bob Powell, SunEdison president of North America.”

SunEdison views the project as doable because of a public-private alliance between Davis-Monthan AFB, SunEdison, the North American Development Bank (NADB), MIC Solar Energy, Chevron Energy Solutions and local officials.

A subsidiary of Macquarie Infrastructure Company, MIC Solar Energy , specializes in framework contributions and took over the project. The SunEdison Renewable Operation Center (ROC), that supplies asset management, monitoring and reporting services, all day every day will administer plant operations with the help of a contract with MIC Solar Energy.

The plant is made to supply 35 percent of the base’s electricity needs and can provide the necessary electricity for 5,173 houses. As the biggest consumer of energy in the federal government, the Air Force is planning to bring up the use of green energy.

ITC finished investigations regarding third party manufactured cells and discovered some in the U.S.

Chinese products with third party components are harming the solar industry

Products based on Taiwan cells harm U.S. manufactureres

The International Trade Commission taking care of anti-dumping duties investigated chineese products and found third-party produced cells.

The investigation on Chinese third party manufactured cells revealed the fact that the asian’s country’s products bring damages to the U.S solar investors. The research was possible with the help of the U.S. International Trade Commission

The decision made public on ITC’s website says that the accusation that third-party produced cells are prejudicing the U.S is just and is hurting the U.S. corporations by being drained in the U.S solar market and by taking advantage from the country’s diminish.

The commission started the investigation as a follow-up to the charges brought by the German manufacturer Solar World. The company claims that Chinese module manufacturers were bypassing the AD and anti-subsidy offsetting duties practiced for Chinese-manufactured solar products by seting up panels with cells made in Taiwan or other third-party states. SolarWorld’s U.S. business says that Chinese manufacturers brought calls manufactured in Taiwn in other countries as an escape from U.S. duty regime.

The ITC’s verdict came after a day in which the Chinese solar giant Trina Solar acquired a cell producing operation back in mainland China. The verdict is seen as a prior decision to the duties to be applied to every Chinese produced modules despite the origins of the cells. This is to happen in the following weeks and a final decision will be made in June with the duties backdated three months.

Nevada hosts the largest solar power plant

World's lagest solar thermal project is completed

The biggest solar power plant is in Nevada

The solar industry has found a way to make the Mojave Desert a place that people could benefit from with the help of hundreds of thousands of panels. These panels helped to reach a milestone in the industry as the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System represents the largest solar thermal power project in the world.

The project is now officially generating solar electricity for Californian users. The 450 high towers gathering produce enough green energy to be delivered to 140,000 houses. Moreover, this way the emission of 400,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year is avoided, the equivalent of the disappearance of 72, 000 cars.

A project this big, spread on 5 square miles of land in California couldn’t have been accomplished without a well-defined team work of NRG, Google and BrightSource Energy. The investment was not a small one either as the project stands for $2.2 billion dollars. Still, the project meant a boost in the economic field of the area as thousands of jobs were created. 3,000 site workers were employed and they completed more than 8.35 million man-hours. Nearly $650 million in salaries were paid and more will be paid over the next years.

The West American power plant project was supported by President Barack Obama that aims to put an end the country’s coal dependence and build a cleaner, greener country supported by solar power, nuclear energy and natural gas.

The president of NRG Solar, Tom Doyle, believes that “Cleantech innovations such as Ivanpah are critical to establishing America’s leadership in large-scale, clean-energy technology that will keep our economy globally competitive over the next several decades.”

Pro-nuclear governor has been elected in Tokyo

Japan has a new pro-nuclear governor

In the Japanese pv-module business, it remains unsettled what the election means. A pro-nuclear appeal could be a backsliding of considerate solar FITs, yet it could also be an approval of the system that proposed them.

It stands a subject of controversy regarding what this election of Yoichi Masuzoe as governor represents for the solar business in Japan. Despite the fact that Masuzoe was the only candidate with a pro-nuclear policy, BBC News reports show us that political analysts consider it to be an essential plan for economic and social benefit.

The governor of the capital has more power over expenses by virtue of Tokyo’s position, its dividends are free from the government allowance that takes place over the rest of other Japanese cities, and its governor is viewed as the second most important political man in Japan, given the city’s 2014 budget of around JPY13 trillion (US$127 billion).

The report from BBC, that alleged amounts from the AP news agency, Masuzoe, with 2.1 million polls, hat more votes than both his nearest – anti-nuclear – competitors Kenji Utsunomiya and Morihiro Hosokawa. The Liberal Democrat party and its main member, prime minister Shinzo Abe, backed up Masuzoe and his call to turn the reactors back on, decision that was suitable for the PM.

Although there is a dread for the Japan to go back nuclear, and the dissolving of the world’s most hospitable FIT regime, the grand surplus of victory for the newly established governor could equally strike as a confirmation of the ‘Abenomics’ package of public spending measures – which includes renewable allowances – that were brought in by Abe as a well calculated remedy for the latest Japanese recession.

Taiwanese solar exporters asked for help from the government to deal with U.S anti-dumping duties

Taiwan suspectd to beinvolved in dumping process with China

COmpanies from Taiwan need help in the U.S dumping investigations

Retailers from Taiwan’s solar energy product exporters required help from their government in order to cope with the U.S government researches on dumping pleas against them.

The firm from the Asian country is concerned about financial penalties that can come from claims that they have been covering for Chinese exporters in order to avoid tariffs in the U.S by providing the solar cells.

A subsidiary of a German company, Solar World Industries America Inc. won a ruling for imposing duties on Chinese solar products imported in U.S.A in 2012.

It later claimed that Chinese companies have found a way to dismiss tariffs by exporting panels using solar cells made in different countries, basically, Taiwan. These tariffs were not implied in the main ruling. But in January, the U.S. Commerce Department and International Trade Commission (ITC) had begun an investigation into Taiwanese solar energy product enterprises that were part of the pleas.

The International Trade Commission is aiming for a ruling by the middle of the month, a ruling that can ensure that there are certain evidences that China or Taiwan are bringing prejudice to the U.S. solar industry. And if so, the Commerce Department will try and resolve this conflict on subsides until March and until June on dumping.

Until then, two Chinese solar energy product makers, Yingli Solar and Hanwha SolarOne, that purchase cells from Taiwanese companies, made a petition at U.S. Commerce Department to represent the Taiwanese firms that are part of the investigation. This decision is to be made by the 21st of February.

Still, the Taiwanese companies are concerned that they cannot defend themselves if the two Chinese enterprises are allowed to represent them as Sam Hung, head of the Taiwan Photovoltaic Industry Association declared.

The TPVIA, therefore, has asked Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade come up with an approach for the situation. Solar market sources say that Taiwan-made cells were not involved in dumping as the cells produced in the country are 8% more expensive than the rest.