Europe – Page 7 – Solar Magazine

Sol Voltaics will get $9.4 million funding for developing nanotech

A sweden company will recieve 10 milions for nanotech development

Norwegian investor Umoe and others investors were convinced to put their money, almost $10 million, to help the Sweden company work on nanotechnology which can be used for 25% more efficient solar cells.

A solar technology startup based in Lund, Sweden named Sol Voltaics made a deal to get more funding, over $9.4 million, because the initial sum of 6.2 million from a Swedish government agency is for the pilot production.

The company’s Solink nanomaterial may increase the energy output of the solar cells by 25%. The company got finanacial backing of a Norwegian investment company Umoe AS and other investor like including Industrifonden, Nano Future Invest, and Foundation Asset Management. Besides, a former chief technology officer at REC Solar named Erik Sauer has also invested.

The company managed to get the biggest loan in the history of Sweden offered by a government agency. The agency hopes that Sol Voltaics’ technology can provide green energy in a more affordable and efficient way.

“The combination of shortage of energy in the world and global warming trends presents a unique long-term opportunity of capitalizing on a trend towards alternative energy,” announced Jens Ullveit-Moe, Umoe’s CEO and former chairman of REC Solar. “The technology that Sol Voltaics is developing promises to be disruptive in the solar market.”

David Epstein, CEO of Sol Voltaics, says: “With this closing we now have the resources to take the company to pilot production. Together with strategic partners, we plan to demonstrate Wave Concentrated Photovoltaics using large quantities of nanowires on commercially viable solar cells.We are tremendously gratified to add the support oft he Swedish Energy Agency and Erik Sauer”

“We have two goals: to make solar more profitable for solar manufacturers and developers, and to lower the price of solar energy for consumers, utilities, and businesses. We look forward to demonstrating our technology later this year,” continued Epstein.

French Pv industry is in need of a growth in the solar sector

The French PV system is in need of a boost

The French union of solar energy professionals named Enerplan demands the French government to come up with new measures to increase the solar sector as a result of the latest publication of disappointing results.

The redesign of the solar PV support system, new tariffs for photovoltaic installations in buildings, or allowing for net metering were part of the list of proposals made to the French government by Enerplan. Moreover, Enerplan also asked for a new tender to be introduced to the public until the end of 2013, as the goal is to reach 1000 MW of installations per year.

A recent report was revealed to the public opinion by the French general office for sustainable development (CGDD) announcing that only 207 MW of solar PV capacity was installed during the first half of the year, which means a 73% decline from the former year. This means that France has a total of 4.26 GW of installed solar PV power.

Enersplan warns the public opinion about the so-called “emergency” measures announced by Delphine Batho, previous Energy Minister, in last year’s fall the were proven to be inadequate to rise up the sector, the necessity for new Energy Minister Philippe Martin to undertake new measures.

An EU report with worldwide restrictions does not mention Chinese solar manufactures

None of the Chinese solar manufacturers are mentioned in the almost 200 page report. Taking care of the green energy industry from 2011 onwards is the closest form of criticism in the report.

The EU has an ongoing anti-subsidy investigation related to Chinese solar projects, but a report made by the European Commission’s directorate-general for trade into restrictive trade measures worldwide does not mention explicitly any pleas for the Chinese government who has dishonest subsidies for its solar manufacturers.

The Tenth EU report on potentially possibly prohibitory trade measures was made before the G20 summit of world leaders in St Petersburg, Russia.

The almost 200-page report shows some possibilities of maybe restrictive measures that include also ‘behind-the-border’ restrictions such as measures “to stimulate domestic industry or exports at the expense of competing foreign economic players.”

Inceptive measures condemned hold subsidized interest rates about export credits in India, US$1.5bn of state grants by the G20’s Russian host for luxury goods retailers, preferential government loans and insurance for South Korean retailers and a JPY200bn (US$2bn) Japanese subsidy to cover up to half the costs of retail firms. Still, China is noticeable by absenting from the recap of displayed stimulus measures applied this year until May 31.

The closest approach of the EU to the mentioning of the pleas by solar manufacturers of subsidized loans from Chinese-state-owned banks is in a mention of China’s 12th five-year plan – to govern industrial policy from 2011 to 2015 – that reported an intention to take care of seven strategic industries that ‘green energy.’

Greek PV, war against job losses

Greek PV industry asks The Prime Minister for help in the war against job losses

The Hellenic Association of Photovoltaic Companies (HELAPCO) wrote yesterday an open letter to the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras reporting that three quarters of the solar sector jobs were lost this year only. HELAPCO also asked the Prime Minister to provide means of restarting the Greek solar PV market.

The words addressed to the Greek Prime Minister have a powerful tone reporting that besides the three quarters of the solar sector jobs lost so far, another one could by lost by the next year if no one tales any measures to prevent this

The solar PV industry also announced Samaras, with the help of HELAPCO that the solar sector has provided thousand of working places in the whole country. Moreover, they claim to have attracted significant investment from domestic and foreign sources in moments when the country was facing a big economic crisis and had the biggest unemployment rate on the continent.
HELAPCO is proud to announce that this year only, the PV sector supplied Greece with €1.5 billion, and over the past five years the association invested €4.5 billion.

Samaras is also reminded that the greek solar PV industry supplied 20,000 direct and 30,000 indirect jobs, benefiting about 100,000 Greek households. In specific terms, HELAPCO claims that 38,000 residential consumers and 14,000 companies have invested in the domestic solar market for the past years.

So, as HELAPCO reports, there are at least 40 % of the services, materials and components used in PV arrays that are manufactured domestically by Greece’s tax payers which are hired on 60 different job positions.

Roxana MORARU

The biggest rooftop system will be built in by Solon

The largest rooftop system in Bucharest will stand on top a a logistics centre

15% of the energy will go into the Romanian grid

A 2.2 MW grid tied system made comprised of nearly 9,000 Solon 220/16 modules that is set to be planted in only seven week on top of a Bucharest logistics center.

Berlin-based solar module producer Solon Energy is on the way to plant Bucharest’s biggest system in a seven week’s period.

Solon announced to finish installing the system of 8,000 if its 220/16 modules on top of the logistics center until the end of the month.

The 2.2 MW system is going to produce 2.8 MWh per year and about 15% of that generated energy will be spend by the firms in the building, and the rest of the green energy will go into the Romanian grid company, Transelectrica, fact that will guarantee green certificates for the company.

The logistics center is owned by Romanian PV installer SC Atwar & TH Services, a company that was founded by logistics company Elcyrom Realty & Development.

Roxana MORARU

EU journal gives details on the trade case

There was a settlement in the Eu-China trade

The EC published details of the China trade, some questions are still unanswered.

The trade dispute over Chinese modules and cells regarding the minimum import price was approved on Friday. Still, some questions have not been answered.

Some details about the EC’s trade dispute have been published in the 6th of August edition of the Official Journal. The EU reported that it agreed with the compromise.

The decision reveals details about the way that the negotiation lead to a minimum price for the freely imported PV. The first step the commission took was to verify whether a minimum price could be associated with the indexes of some commodities. PV modules do not permit an easy correlation between the commodity prices and retail prices. It is implied the the EC used indexes compiled by Bloomberg and pvXchange.

The Commission says the following aboutthe impact of the minimum prices: “In order to assess whether that price undertaking removes the injurious effect of dumping, the Commission has analysed, inter alia, the current export prices and the level of provisional duty. On that basis, it was concluded that the price undertaking removes the injurious effect of dumping.”

However details about the specific minimum prices will nor be revealed. But, accordind to the media reports the price range is between €0.56 and €0.57 per watt with the ceiling on imports from China set at 7 GW.

The pertinent questions the have not been answered are:
-Imports of participating companies will reflect current annual levels. But what is the correct annual level in such a fast changing market?
-What happens if the targeted annual level is exceeded, and how will individual producers, in this context, be coordinated?
-Price indexes compiled by Bloomberg and pvXchange were used for the negotiated minimum price. The document does not explain how changes in the minimum price will be negotiated.

-How will modules be treated that are not manufactured in China nor the EU, but that contain Chinese cells?

Roxana Moraru

A raise is predicted to come in the Residential PV storage global market

home solar PV systems

The latest report done by the research group IHS shows that installations of residential PV storage systems will go up to 2.5 GW until 2017. The report also says the Germany’s energy storage subsidy has quick started the flow.

If encouragements and With incentives and bonuses like FITs being cut keep coming, than it is highly desirable for end-consumers to self-consume. Lately, the idea of sending the extra energy generated by a PV system into the grid and retail electricity prices became very unattractive.

“Residential PV customers are striving to maximize their own consumption of the energy they are generating,” announced Abigail Ward, PV analyst at IHS. “This is because rising electricity prices and decreasing feed-in-tariffs (FITs) are serving as a disincentive for consumers to export their power to the electricity grid”, he added.

The total amount of installations is said to grow up to 2.5 GW by 2017, a leap from 12 MW in 2012. The number of PV residential energy storage installations is predicted to be higher than the total number of residential solar systems in Germany today.

“An energy storage solution enables a PV system owner to shift energy from when it is generated to a later time for consumption,” in Ward’s terms . “As a result, demand for residential energy storage products will continue to accelerate as PV energy reaches grid-parity in a number of countries.”

Roxana Moraru

The lowest module price in UK solar industry needs to be malleable

The deal between EU and China regarding the solar panel prices should have been over by now, the minimum price should be lower, and the government of the UK should, soften the blow of ‘Brussels’ meddling as the Solar Trade Association announces.

The STA , a solar trade body, disagrees with the ongoing situation between the two continents, regarding solar panel imports.

The EU trade commissioner, Kerel De Gucht, confirmed that a settlement has been made. This decision is about a minimum price for Chinese modules but also about an annual volume cap on imports to the EU, as STA reports. They also believe the Uk government must constrain it’s support policy for the sake of solar projects in the country.

The STA also says the if the minimum price for Chinese modules , €0.56 per watt, is also applied to the UK the existing projects might not be economic.
Moreover, in a press release they asked that the duration of Brussels agreement to be shortened for a better fluctuation of the minimum price.
“Thank God we’ve moved a long way from the original proposals, which were truly appalling and without justification” as STA chief executive Paul Barwell announced.

“However, we’re concerned the deal reached by China and the commission will ultimately achieve little, as German manufacturers are unlikely to be able to compete long-term with the Asian giants. Meanwhile in the short term, the proposals could do real damage to the U.K. downstream solar industry and to national deployment levels. They leave the U.K. non-domestic solar industry in a very difficult position, when in fact the U.K. is one of the major EU growth markets, and ought to remain so”, he added.

“It would make little sense from a public value-for-money perspective for the U.K. government to allow the solar industry to grind to a halt because of Brussels’ meddling” STA PV specialist Ray Noble concluded.

Roxana Moraru

Negotiations between E.U and China are standing still

The subject of cheaper Chinese PV important is still a reason of discussion since Beijing is not satisfied with the minimum import price of €0.57/W for modules suggested by E.U.

The European Commission and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce are still negotiating about the import of cheaper crystalline modules, cells and wafers. The two parts didn’t reach a conclusion.

The chance of settling was still possible until the Friday. The Commission was planning to implement a maximum import ceiling of 7 GW on Chinese modules and a minimum module import price of €0.57/W (US$0.76/W).

Beijing was suppose to report a settlement on the import ceiling for modules with the EU, but after the minimum import price became a sensible matter on Friday, the negotiations were postponed. The cause of the discontinue of the negotiations was the fact that the Chinese delegation didn’t agree with the minimum import price.

€0.57 is not a good offer for China because the Asian and European manufacturers who purchase cells from Asia offered acceptable prices before the negotiations. So, the import ceiling compromise of 7GW is not an option either.

The strategy of the Chinese delegation will be negotiated on Sunday and the new offer should be available by the 5th of August.

Roxana Moraru

MITHRIL gmbH has been advised by HFG China and Deutsche Mittelstandsfinanz to go on with the transaction of Global Solar Energy to Hanergy

Advice has been offered by HFG China and Deutsche Mittelstandsfinanz to Mithril GmbH, a German family business, who represents 100% of the shares in the selling of Gloal Solar Energy, Inc .to Hanergy.

Since its foundation in 1996, Global Solar has always been a pioneer in the PV production. This is the world leading manufacturing company in extensive construction of CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide) with the light-weight, highly effective renewable energy products that reside with flexible cells, arrays, and integrated shingles. These arrays are laid out for crucial parts of the high-end, high-growth malleable PV trade, especially when glass array systems are inadequate because of their weight constraints and the necessities for flexibility. GS (Global Solar) changes the traditional glass array products, designing integrated PV (BIPV) roof systems. The thin film production within the facility of the company is 40 MW annually.

Being the world’s top thin-film PV company, Hanergy Holding Group Ltd. is a global clean-energy power producer. Hanergy employs in the unification of the entire PV industry chain, and to withhold R&D, top quality equipment construction, PV array manufacturing and de the development of PV power plants.

After the development of GS into a mass extent manufacture company, it raises the need for a large international strategic associate in order to market their one of a kind technology. By purchasing Global Solar, Hanergy is increasing its competence and service offering in the thin film section, which represents an important goal in the growth strategy.

HFG China and Deutsche Mittelstandsfinanz are glad to empower the transaction with the restructuring expert Johann Stohner of Alvarez & Marsal and Chris LeWand of FTI Capital Advisors. The two companies represented joint financial advisors to Mithril GmbH.

Roxana Moraru