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New researches predict the use of black metals in PV industry

There is a possibility that black metals will be a part of PV

Black metal is said to be a part of PV industry

The development of more efficient solar cells helped researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) from U.S.A make an important discovery: black metals in PV production.

The work with nanostructurated metals which are made to have low reflectivity and high absorption of visible and infrared light paid off for The LLNL Materials Engineering Division research team.

Working with nanostructurated metals involved the work with non-classic black metals which are considered to be a kind of extension of the black silicon concept. This means that when silicon is treated in a special way, fro example when it is being roughened at the nanoscale level, it gathers light by multiple reflections and helps to increase the absorption. This is a result of the silicon’s black surface that is capable of better trapping full sun’s wavelength spectrum.

The experiment team led by LLNL engineer Tiziana Bond helped with the discovery of the way that an absorption can trap a bigger quantity of solar wavelengths by improving and controlling the efficiency of the absorption and transform the metals in black metals. This kind of technology may be used in PV development. Moreover, similar black metals are developed by all kinds of nanostructuring between silver and gold but without the certainty of a full solar absorption.

“Our article was picked for the cover story of Applied Physics Letters because it represents cutting-edge work in the area of plasmonics, the broadband operation obtained with a clear design and its implication for the photovoltaic yield,” as Bond announced.

Roxana Moraru

Another 100 MW of solar is reqested by Long Island Power Authority

The projects to be built in Long Island must be 100 kW to 2 MW. This comes after the first initiaive of 100 kW to 2 MW, wich encountered a lot of succes.

The purpose of Long Island Power Authority is to reach another 100 MW in distributed solar generation with the help of its Clean Solar Initiative II. There are a couple of main areas in the Long Island grid.

After the successful energy sell for bidders through Lipa through a 20-year PPA, the Clean Solar Initiative II (CSI-II) decided to help out the interested parts in 100 kW to 2 MW sized schemes to bid against each other over the price they can offer green energy.

A premuim of US$0.07/kWh (€0.05/kWh) will be on the market in a bid focus generation on specially selected areas east of LIPA’s Canal substation in Southampton. If this turns out to be a succes, distributed generation will turn down the need for electrcity generation, infrastructure and distribution investment in the overcrowded area of the Long Island grid.

LIPA also announced the plans for another two renewable energy projects till the end of the year.

Roxana Moraru

Climate change policy announced by Obama puts solar in a better place

The climate change policy in U.S.A offers a new role for solar. Other positions were also settled, as natural gas, nuclear and CCS were defined, among solar, as “clean energy technologies.” As a follow up, agreements show a 13 GW increase of renewables by 2025.

What was meant to be an announcement for tougher carbon standards for power stations and a warning for climate changes, turned out to be a feature on solar and other renewables.

In his speech, the president also announced a new goal for the Department of the interior to allow a further 10 GW of renewables on public lands until 2020, since in 2012 10 GW were already permitted.

America’s biggest energy consumer, The Defense Department, promised to use 3 GW if unconventional energy for military use by 2025. Federal agencies also committed to distribute 10 MW of installed renewables capacity by 2020.

The speech added a presidential memorandum towards green energy into America’s grid network.

On the other hand, solar watchers are not as excited as Obama’s energy policy still looks up to fracking and shale gas, as well as nuclear. Obama also announced that the U.S public money will no longer be used to support the coal-fired power plants, and the fossil fuel will no longer be tax free.

“The U.S. will work with trading partners to launch negotiations at the World Trade Organization towards global free trade in environmental goods, including clean energy technologies such as solar”, as the president said.

Roxana Moraru

New inverters designed by Sungow, present at Intersolar 2013

A new set of inverters were presented by Sungrow in this year’s Intersolar.

Sungrow brings three brand new inverters at the exposition after enjoying a great success with the launching of 5-30kW string inverters and the releasing of SG500MX at SNEC 2013 in Shanghai. The new products are: SG800MX, the veiled central PV inverter; SG8/10/12KTL-EC-series string inverter, intelligent residential PV system, and SH10KTL, residential energy storage systems.

The outdoor inverter unit with an 800kW capacity, SG800MX, is one of world’s greatest single-machine power PV inverters. Throughout the stunning surprise elements are the SVG function during night, operation temperature ranges -25℃~+55℃. Moreover, it met German BDEW directives and obtained the certificates for grid-connection in America and Canada. The series to which it belongs have a great deal of amazing features such as: natural cooling function, higher conversion efficiency and lower cost and built-in monitoring system. To sum up, SG800MX is an intelligent residential PV system solution designed for Europe and America.

As for SH10KTL, Sungrow’s newest product for energy storage system of residential PV plant, it has an energy storage function integrated and it can switch seamlessly between grid-connected mode and off-grid mode

And last but not least, SG30KTL, is a wall-mounted string inverter with the largest single-machine power that can be found. This solution was the choice of many Europeans since its launch in 2012. The inverter remarks itself through the granted double “A” results from Photon’s test and VDE-ASIG reliability certificate.

Roxana Moraru

Polysilicon prices are to go up a little

The price rising is happening because of the anti-dumping tariffs China is set to establish on the polysilicon from the EU, U.S.A. and South Korea. According to IHS the new prices will not affect the industry.

The last IHS Polysilicon Price Tracker report also shows that the weight of the increase will be limited by market factors.

The stratagem could bring the global solar polysilicon pricing up to $19.50 per kilogram in June and July, while in May the price was $16.50.

The flood was unexpected in the market as the prices were going down in the last 10 months.

Despite all this, the report shows only an 18% increase, “falling short of the 30% indicator that would represent a major market correction. Prices also would remain below the key $20-per-kilogram mark.”

China was “likely to impose anti-dumping tariffs with rates ranging from 30 to 50% on polysilicon imported from the European Union, the United States and South Korea. However, the impact of the duties will be mitigated by factors including long-term agreements that stabilize pricing as well as efforts by buyers and sellers to bypass the tariffs”, announced Glenn Gu, senior analyst, photovoltaics, at IHS.

The report also predicts that global manufacturing overcapacity of solar-grade polysilicon will not allow sustainable local price spikes, although the local production us protected.

Roxana Moraru

A new line of PV related products will be unveiled by Solar Edge Technologies

The North American market would be provided with end-to-end solar power optimization systems and monitoring solutions as announced by SolarEdge Technologies, a global supplier.

The new line of Pv related products will be available for starters for commercial applications in North America.

The global provider offers: a line of 3-phase solar inverters from 9kW to 20kW in size; a 600W capable power optimizer enabling a two-to-one connection for 60 cell modules; and a new gateway for site communication and PV monitoring.

Among with the implementations of the new line, comes the possibility to alter a simpler photovoltaic system design. Above all this is the lowering of the installation cost.

“Lower LCOE [levelized cost of energy] with a differentiated and optimized solution is the key to winning in the commercial market, Improved energy harvest, superior operation and maintenance capabilities, and a simplified system design have already led to the successful installation of 150MW of 3 phase systems in Europe and we expect to encounter similar high demand in North America” announced Peter Mathews, Vice President of Sales for SolarEdge North America. “

The new Pv related products line allows the installation of a much longer module strings. The new inverters reach a high weighted CEC efficiency of up to 98%, with the help of string voltage design that can guarantee an optimal dc/ac conversion.

The new power optimizer reaches a maximum efficiency of 99.5%. SolarEdge can also optimize the PV system by developing the magnitude of energy harvest and allowing module level monitoring and enhancing system safety.

Roxana Moraru

New PV software solutions presented by Diaspark Inc

The entire PV energy business will have personalized and adjustable software solutions. This also aims at commercial and utility-scale solar markets.

The full line of PV software solutions will be named Diaspark Energy. This new PV solutions includes photovoltaic systems connected to a utility source or electrical service provider among software development features.

The most promising articles are Performance Monitoring and Analysis, Project Management, Alert Management, Comparison of Prediction vs. Actual Power Generation, Management of Compliance and State Incentive Programs.

“Diaspark has always been focused on high performance, reliable and customizable software solutions and will continue to develop robust software solutions under this new brand, which will help us distinguish our services in the renewable energy market” announced Parvindar S Gujral, VP Enterprise Services, Diaspark Inc.

The O & M unit will increase the competence, full proofness and safety by preventing the equipment’s problem. It also identifies routine and unplanned equipment maintenance and sends automatic notifications through email.

Roxana Moraru

ABB is being sued by Power-One stockholders

A lawsuit has been filed by U.S. inverter manufacturer Power-One stockholders against ABB, claiming that the $1 billion acquisition price is too low.

Power-One stockholders believe that their value has been underestimated by ABB who offered $1billion for purchasing the company. The former believe that the energy market is “set to explode over the next decade.”

Mario Furtado was the one who filed the class action and announced the main reasons to do so. He implied that figures from the U.S Department of Energy are in the opinion of the fact that global energy requests will raise by 100% in the next 12 years. Moreover the International Energy agency says that photovoltaic systems market will increase with 10% every year for the next 8 years.

One day before the announcement of the deal, the stocks were rated at the price of $4.04 by NASDAQ. ABB offered a bonus of 57% on top of that, bringing a stock to $6.34 and announced after the offer of a 59% bonus. However, Furtado said that the price could go higher, in the past year the stock range being around $7.

Thus the deal is said to be closed in the upcoming half of this year.

Roxana Moraru

US photovoltaic market is growing up

In the second quarter of 2012, the PV market in the USA grew by 116% in comparison to the same period of the previous year.

In total, a photovoltaic output of 741.7 MW was newly connected to the grid – this is the second best value overall after 791.3 MW in Q4 2011 and 45% more than in the first quarter of this year (512 MW).

Solar power plants accounted for 477 MW of the new installations in the second quarter. Until the end of the year, 1.1 GW of new PV capacity could be installed, in total 3,400 MW are under development according to the study.

Also a strong growth is predicted in this market for 2013.

In the home photovoltaic sector, the prices were 5.84 $/W for privately financed facilities, while facilities installed by third parties on rented roofs were available for 5.64 $/W.

New York’s largest on-farm biogas generates renewable energy for nearly 1,000 homes

In New York, USA, was opened one of the largest on-farm, co-digestion biogas power plants.

The project under the name Synergy Biogas LLC is built by the US company CH4 Biogas LLC.Also is one of the state’s first biogas projects specifically designed for the co-digestion or processing of animal and food wastes.

The biogas created in the 120,000-gallon co-digester is fueling a 1.4 MW CHP plant to generate renewable electricity.

The project is expected to reduce the dairy farm’s baselood greenhouse gas emissions by about 8,500 tons of CO2 annually, which is equivalent to the CO2 emissions of 1,700 automobiles.

The facility also will produce an estimated 17,500 cubic yards of bedding material for livestock while reducing manure odors and helping the farm manage nutrients applied to cropland.

National Grid is supporting the project as part of its broader strategy to help upgrade New York state’s energy infrastructure, promote further economic growth in the region and encourage the development of renewable energy resources

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is providing US$ 1 million.