Category: Market News

Renewable energy contributes to Kings Lynn-based KL Technologies energy supply providing 80% of its power needs.

A U.K.-based subsidiary of juwi group, Renewable Energies Ltd, finished a ingenious clean energy program for KL Technologies last week.

The Kings Lynn company has put their money into juwi’s facility to create a hybrid solar and wind power plant that stands for 80% of its energy needs.

The full capacity was not reached from the beginning since the 1.5 MW wind turbine was added only recently. The hybrid now brings KL Technologies the joy of low energy costs.

Since last year, when the solar plant was linked to company’s power grid, has broght approximately 2,000 MWh of renewable energy. But now, with the new wind turbine, KL technologies have little to worry about energy costs since the majority of energy is renewable. Moreover, it gives everybody an example of how solar and wind can shake hands and help companies meet their goals of using both low-priced and renewable energy.

“We save money and secure jobs by stabilizing our energy costs. The plant provides a real financial benefit to the company. With energy price increases expected each year for the foreseeable future we have locked in an electricity rate that allows the project to pay for itself while fixing our electricity price at a level where we can operate without fear of untenable energy costs” as Mark Hamilton, KL Technologies‘ financial director, announced.

Juwi said that at first the project seems difficult to implement but since the company had experience in difficult situations, it helped KL Technologies accomplish it’s plan.”We had to work around an existing industrial facility and connect the plant to it while the business was in full operation. We constructed the plant with lower costs so we could run it economically even with the lower FIT,” Jan Sisson, juwi Renewable Energies Limited MD.

From the moment the plant was put into function, the employees responded in a good way. “Employees see the investment in a UK manufacturing plant as very positive for the sustainability of the site, Customers also like the idea that their product is made by using eco-friendly energy, and the profile of the site within the local community has also increased significantly” in Hamilton’s opinion.

The latest founding, Institut Photovoltaique d’Ile-de-France (IPVF), will be partially financed by France’s state-backed French National Research Agency (ANR) in order to provate solar R&D.

In France, in Paris to be precise, The Ecole Polytechnique has made an alliance with the government to leading energy firm to build the IPVF for solar R&D.

The government has focused on the country’s solar research and development industry and decided to put money into this. Thus the French National Research Agency (ANR) was announced this week that it will benefit from a €18.5 million financing deal for the Institut Photovoltaïque d’Ile-de-France (IPVF), a top priority project for the solar technology initiative.

IPVF is an alliance between the oil company Total, the energy giant EDF, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), and Ecole polytechnique engineering school. It is run by ANR on behalf of France’s agency for investment policy, with its main purpose to help French cities encounter up coming renewable energy targets.

“The institute aims to make France a global leader in solar energy and to shape the future landspace of PV,” are Jean-François Minster, senior Vp of scientific development at Total’s words. “We must support the energy transition by speeding up the development of affordable, efficient solutions.”

The IPVF will concentrate on some types of research activities created to help with the creation and development of new concepts, and enhance existing technologies and widen the understanding of solar power’s environmental benefits. The R&D sector will have as priorities five scientific programs: materials for high-efficiency silicon cells, high-efficiency, thin-film solar cells made using chalcogenide materials, new concepts for a competitive PV industry, a multidisciplinary program on advanced characterization techniques, theory and modeling and a program dedicated to environmental impact studies.

The project is to rise starting at the beginning of the next year with a total budget of €150 million. The location for the new institute is Paris-Saclay campus. The institute will be a second home for about 200 researchers and scientists.

In kind of a secret action, Italian ultility company Enel has acquired licenses for rising 102.5 MW of new solar PV parks in Greece.

The Italian company Enel has recently achieved 26 Greek licenses for the constructon of new solar parks in the country.

To be precise, Enel bought 17 licences where as 73.46 MW are from Enexon Hellas, seven licenses for 25.57 MW from Kalenta and two licenses for 3.54 MW from Solar Thessalias.

Enel Green Power and Mismats Holdings Ltd. respectively own 88.81% and 11.19% of Enexon Hellas’ 17 licenses. Enel Green Power and Sharp similarly own 100% of Kalenta’s seven licences while Enel Green Power fully owns Solar Thessalias’ two licenses.

Greece’s regulatory authority for energy, RAE agreed with the purchase deals in May. What was important in the decision making process was Enel’s submission for strong clues that the company had secured or was able to secure appropriate resources for a long lasting reliable on going projects.

This last purchases were not included in the company’s business plan for the year, plan made public in April. That only combined installations by 2017 of 55 MW and 21 MW of new photovoltaic capacity in Romania and Italy, respectively.

Still this kind of achievement is not a surprise for Enel. For example, in Januay, the company purchased 19 new photovoltaic plants with a capacity of around 42 MW online in Greece. The projects were supposed to happen in 2012-2016. Moreover, Yet the company also connected to the Greek grid a further 15 MW of solar PV operated by ESSE, a 50/50 joint venture between Enel Green Power and Sharp that aims to develop photovoltaic power in the

Mediterranean region, that month. And since since Enel purchased the majority of the Greek PV licenses through joint ventures, it was not necessary for the anticipated Greek projects to be included in the 2013-2017 business plan.

An important factor of this move is that it demonstrates that Greeks financial troubles do not need to be an impediment for foreign investors to put their money into the Greek PV market.

 

The Prime Minister of the UK was criticized after he vowed to change ‘green regulations’ for the lowering of the energy bills. The STA announces that the degree of public debate regarding clean energy is ‘frustrating.’

The STA, a UK trade body the Solar Trade Association, talked about the consequences regarding the ‘reactionary’ nature of the political debate set off by David Cameron’s comments about ‘rolling back green regulations.’

The leader of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government, at Wednesday’s weekly Prime Minister’s questions promised to lower the ‘green levies‘ that come with the household energy bills. He also talked about introducing a higher level of competition between energy dealers to lighten the burden on households.

The Prime Minister did not succeed to give additional details when he was inquired about the questions addressed by the STA’s spokespersons Labour leader Ed Milliband and Leonie Greene that said “To say they (green taxes) are going to be rolled back is pre-judging a review into green levies announced by the government recently,” said Greene, “although, that said, there seems to be no consultation related to that review. It’s very frustrating for the industry, all this reactionary stuff, the level of the political debate is quite frustrating and doesn’t help investors.”

Greene also announced coalition government partners the Lib Dems had quickly distanced themselves from Cameron’s comments on green regulations.

“Nick Clegg said the Lib Dems were very annoyed by David Cameron’s statement,” added Greene, “and they said nothing will be rolled back and he doesn’t understand what the Prime Minister means. The good thing to come out of this debate is that people in the UK – who consistently support solar in polls – are starting to understand that the so-called green levies applied to energy bills are not solely related to renewables obligations and FIT schemes.”

Moreover, “renewables-related levies are actually only about a third of the amount added to bills, the rest is taken up by programs like the ECO scheme to improve the energy efficiency of vulnerable households as well as the EU levy to finance its ETS (emissions trading scheme).”

The prime Minister was also criticized by Renewable Energy Association. Dr Nina Skorupska, the chief executive believes that “David Cameron must clarify which levies he is looking to roll back and how, or risk severely undermining investor confidence at a time when this country desperately needs investment in new low carbon capacity. Renewables policy makes up only 3% of average bills overall. It is the ever-increasing cost of gas which has been the main cause of rising bills in recent months and years.”

On the other hand the UK government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), report: “This review will be led by OFGEM (the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) in conjunction with the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) and drawing on the expertise of the new Competition and Markets Authority, when it comes into existence. The details will be developed by the regulators and we do not want to prejudice that, but the assessment may look at prices, profits, barriers to new entrants and how easy it is for customers to get the best deal. DECC will come forward with further details shortly.”

 

A new 60 cell black polycrystaline module belonging to AxSun, named AX P-60 premium black “black poly hammer” was successfully been brought to the public, into the European PV market.

The AxSun 60 cells module range has been expanded with the Wp fully black module that includes black cells, black back sheet and black frame. Because the cell technology has been improved with the help of a 260 Wp black poly module will bee accessible to the public starting next year

The CEO of the AxSun, Axel Skuthan, has the following opinion: “AxSun Solar always ensures that the latest technical know-how incorporates into the enhancement of our products. The new black poly module is a great option for homeowners who focus on aesthetical matters.”

The householders but also the installing firms are happy with the idea that they can purchase black polycrystalline modules rather than the more expensive black monocrystalline modules. AxSun Solar have credits for designing modules that are not only remarkable for their longevity, high quality workmanship and above-average performance and also for their robustness.

“We are proud that all AxSun PV-systems that are located in the specific South German area where severe hail storms have damaged almost every house in late July, have withstood the hail stones which reached the size of golf and tennis balls,” as AxSun area partner, Mr. Voehringer, said. AxSun solar modules come with a 12 year product warranty and a 25 year linear performance warranty.