Domestic PV in danger because of the Ukraine crisis

Not a good time for domestic PV as the Ukraine crisis moves on

Ukrain PV in times of trouble

The situation in Ukraine is threatening the European country’s incipient PV industry as the necessary changes in Crimea take place. Employees in the PV industry’s is not the greatest position and the people there have been wrecked by the country’s crisis. PV magazine reveals the opinions of two anonymous employees from Activ Solar. As one of them reports, Vienna-based Activ Solar has no future projects and they are cutting people off. “A lot of people were already fired. For me, the last day in this company is known as well,” were his words. The other source said the same thing and he added that “the company is now optimizing costs at all levels with no additional staff, except maintenance for the existing plants.”

The company finished the work on a 69.7 MW PV facility in Crimea. Moreover, Activ Solar was amog the best PV developers in Ukraine as they planted 127 MW of capacity only in Q1 2013.

The most Active domestic PV company in Ukraine has troubles

As far as the future plans are concerned, the company says: “The current political instability and the ensuing tensions have caused a severe disruption of economic activity in Ukraine. We are closely monitoring the ongoing political discussions and developments. We expect the situation to remain difficult for the foreseeable future causing a slowdown in economic activities. In this environment of sustained uncertainty, Activ Solar remains cautious regarding undertaking new projects until the situation in the country stabilizes,” as PV magazine reports.

The ongoing projects are not being stopped but the future ones don’t have the same fate. “The current Crimean government has already commented on solar parks in Crimea, saying that now they are a vital part of the energy infrastructure in the peninsula and will continue to generate power. However, the question is open as to who pays for the solar electricity and at what rate. Most of the solar projects in Crimea were financed by Russian banks so I would assume that very soon we will see a sudden growth of the cumulative solar capacity in Russia.”

PV in Crimees no longer bought

Energorynok’s officially announced this month that they no longer buying energy made in Crimea. The energy company in Ukraine says that the country adopted the draft resolution with 9 out of 9 votes.

The COO at Hamburg-based Enerparc, the company that installed Russia’s biggest power plant says that. “All the power plants in Crimea have been annexed by the Russians so they are not being paid by the Ukrainian government. And there is no discussion as to what will happen with the plants if they degrade, even if the plants are now Russian.”

Southend Airport in Britain planted 496 solar panels as a part of the £10m expantion

London Southern Airport Solar Panels

Clean energy is at home at Southend Airport in Britain as almost 500 panels were installed at the new terminal building. The solar power plant is part of the £10million terminal extension that opened its gates in March and provided the airport with more check-in desks, a bigger departure lounge and a larger variety of shops for travelers. The 496 solar panels are there to provide the airport with green electricity for many years from now.

Clean energy provided by London airport

The airport operations director, David Lister, declared: “We are delighted to add the provision of clean solar electricity to a range of ‘green’ initiatives we’ve introduced as the terminal has developed. Environmentally friendly initiatives are very important to us and the whole building has been designed to incorporate a number of them, including sustainable drainage, specialist coating to improve insulation, extensive glazing to enhance natural lighting and slow start escalators.”

The solar panels are provided by Conergy and planted by Photon Energy on the terminal’s curved roofs. They will help the airport diminish the carbon emissions by approximately around 1,000 tons in the next 20 years.

Solar PV for Britain

The managing director of Photon Energy managing director, says that: “Solar is Britain’s favorite renewable energy and it’s great Southend Airport has shown its commitment to self-generation. You can’t necessarily see the panels from the ground, but millions of people will get a bird’s eye view of them as they take off or come in to land.”

He also believes that airport terminals are a perfect location for solar panels because the space they provide is more than enough for green electricity.

The Stobart Group invested more than £120million into the airport since they purchased it in 2008.

Coloured solar panels for building exterior introduced by Antec Solar

New thin film coloured panels are available for building integration

Colored PV

Antec Solar’s thin-film applications are accessible terracotta, green and blue.

Antec’s new product line is named ATFKrom and it is considered a premiere as it is made of the the first coloured photovoltaic modules for façade integration. This modules are built thanks to the company’s thin-film technology and are ready for use in colours like terracotta, green and blue.

New coloured solar panels

The new photovoltaic modules of the ATFKrom product line are supplied with an exclusive solar glass. The new patented solar glass is responsible for the persistent and aesthetically refined presence. The new basic photovoltaic technology is now close to being invisible. Antec Solar GmbH uses the exclusive Kromatix™ solar glass of SwissINSO, a company founded in Lausanne (Switzerland).

Tailor-made solutions for any facade
Norbert Kreft, CTO of Antec Solar GmbH believes that “It is the first time that a glass technology is available providing coloured solar panels which can be integrated in a way, that they act look like normal cladding. With this innovative solar glass architects, developers, installers and private investors will now receive a high-quality aesthetic solution, which so far did not exist – and that at a high efficiency.This enables us, to deliver tailored solutions for every facade and in virtually any PV technology ” The customers are free to choose the colour, the format, the form and needed amount of panels.

Coloured solar panels for building integration

Moreover, Antec Solar delivers with the product line ATCKrom coloured modules for building integration based on intermediate products found in nearly all PV technology. Taking into account the requirements, favorite appearance and requested design, the user can pick the right technology and achieve the desired energy output.

Europe goes green as solar energy costs the same as conventional power in Germany, Italy and Spain

Solar costs the same as conventional

European PV has reached a point where the green power costs the same as conventional power in countries like Germany, Italy and Spain. This is shown in a report that also says that the fact that stops other countries to be in the same position is the high installation costs.

Solar energy is as profitable as conventional power

The form Eclareon made an analysis made in the interest of international group of sustainable energy interests. The study shows that solar energy joined the energy market. This means that solar is no longer much more expensive than conventional light. On the contrary, clean energy has reached the point where solar energy is at the same price as Italy, Spain and Germany
Still, the report also shows future prospects in Spain are not so good as the poor regulations could constrain the progress.

Solar energy costs in Europe

“In countries such as Italy and Germany, both at grid parity and with proper regulation, PV systems (photovoltaic system) for self-consumption represent a viable, cost-effective, and sustainable power generation alternative,” are David Pérez’s word, partner at Eclareon in charge of the study.

Researchers analyzed a 30 kilowatt solar power system regarding the leveled cost of energy. This includes installation, maintenance, depreciation and investment.

Solar energy cost arround the world

Eclareon also analyzed the LCOE of solar power in Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Spain. The report says that LCOE is smaller in the past years, even if the drop was less big in well-developed countries such as Italy, Germany and Spain. Progress in Brazil, Chile and Mexico is still impeded by high installation costs.

The rise of solar in Germany is based on the fact that the country stopped its support for nuclear energy since the unfortunate events in Japan. Two years ago the country was producing a record of 22 gigawatts of power that is about 50 percent of the nation’s power quota.

“Never before anywhere has a country produced as much photovoltaic electricity. Germany came close to the 20 gigawatt (GW) mark a few times in recent weeks. But this was the first time we made it over,” Norbert Allnoch told Reuters news agency.

Heliatek GmbH set new record regarding efficiency for 40% transparent cells

Organic PV efficiency record

An organic film producer, Heliatek, has reached a new milestone in regarding efficiency reaching 7.2% while tested. This progress could help cars and BIPV field.

The German producers report that they set a new record for transparent organic solar cells efficiency, reaching 7.2% at a 40% transparency.

Heliatek GmbH also set the record for non-transparent solar cells and is willing to reach a bigger conversion for transparent cells and thinks that this achievement means a lot for the building integrated PV field.

New efficiency record set by Heliatek

“The transparency of our products is at the core of our market approach.Our HeliaFilm is customized to meet our partners’ specific needs. We are a component supplier and this component is a film that can combine transparency and energy generation. This unique combination widens our market potential.” said Heliatek CEO Thibauld Le Seguillon.

The patented HeliaFilm can be used on dyed glass and is also good for the roofs of the cars for harvesting solar electricity and lead to a cleaner environment by lowering carbon emissions. As for the building integration, the new build transparent cells can generate solar power without interfering with the building design.

Efficiency record in global solar industry

Even if the efficiency is smaller than the one given by the non-transparent cells, this achievement is a premiere in the global PV industry as it is a world record. Semi-transparency means that only 60% of the light is for producing energy, so as far as 40% transparent cells are concerned, this record is a surge for the technology.

Producers announce that the equilibrium between light diffusion and electricity can be adapted, fact that allows more adjustments for the future use of the product.

The new-generation PV to be developed by First Solar and GE

First Solar, Inc. and GE's Power Conversion work for next-gen technology

PV comapnies to develop a more efficient way to produce a better utility-scale PV power plant design

First Solar, Inc. and GE’s Power Conversion business are willing to use a new technology to develop a more efficient way to produce a better utility-scale PV power plant design made out of First Solar’s this film CdTe modules and GE’s new ProSolar 1,500-volt inverter system. The latter is more efficient than the usual systems. The combined technologies bring a more efficient way to produce energy.

New-generation PV updated by First Solar

The next-generation solar technology was already adopted by First Solar and adapted for the 1,500-volt DC applications. If the inverter/transformer station is put together with this new development, a better working power plant design is created. This way the solar array grows and the number of inverters needed for each plant decreases. The inverters needed to convert the direct current or DC into alternating current or AC transport the energy to the grid. This type of system means a highly efficient way of obtaining energy from the economic and maintenance point of view.

Mahesh Morjaria, First Solar’s vice president of product management announced that “this is a significant step in establishing the next generation of utility-scale PV power plants. Partnering with an industry giant such as GE, we are able to take our power plant design to the next level and bring additional value to our customers.” Morjaria also believes that future generations of First Solar modules will have a better optimization thanks to the purchase of GE thin film PV technology.

New-generation solar inverters

“GE is known throughout the industry as an established leader in power generation technology. With our ProSolar inverters, we were able to draw from our experience developing and manufacturing technology for traditional power plants to create a highly efficient solution with industry-leading capabilities. The inverters’ design enables our customers to apply engineering design that significantly increases efficiency of energy production. Together with First Solar, we can help customers get the most out of their solar power systems,” is the opinion of Joe Mastrangelo, CEO of GE Power Conversion.

America Navy wants solar energy directly from space

Navy space solar panels

For many years the Pentagon has been the number 1 oil consumer in the world. The continuous rise of prices has determined the military to research other ways to get energy. These researches expanded till space.

A new technology that will give the military the possibility to collect solar energy in orbit and take it to earth is being developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Space solar energy will save the Pentagon a great deal of money, and could also simplify military arrangements. Fuel tankers wouldn’t need to reach remote or volatile areas, and missions couild be lnger.

Until now, NRL tried a couple of prototypes for the “sandwich” module, a design innovation that combines the electrical components in the two square panels. The top is made of a photovoltaic panel that takes in the light. In the middle there is an electronics system that transforms the energy to a radio frequency, and at the bottom there is an antenna that takes the power to a target on the ground.

The final project is to group the modules in space by robots and form a one kilometer satellite.

Another design, a “step” module, opens the sandwich design so it can receive more energy without the risk of overheating.

“Launching mass into space is very expensive,” said Paul Jaffe, a spacecraft engineer leading the Navy’s project.

It is said that space solar could produce a bigger quantity of energy than ground-based collectors because of the fact that the weather wouldn’t be an impediment.

“People might not associate radio waves with carrying energy, because they think of them for communications, like radio, TV, or cell phones. They don’t think about them as carrying usable amounts of power.” added Jaffe.

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