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| SOLAR ENERGY AND WORLD PEACE | |||
| To Go Direct To Current Solar Energy News Reports - Click Here | |||
| Solar News Reports
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Those who believe that future wars will be fought over global energy supplies and other natural resources include John Reid (former UK Defence Minister), Paddy Ashdown (former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina), Bill Clinton (former US President), Joe Lieberman (Senator and former Vice Presidential running mate to Al Gore), and Mike McConnell (US Director of National Intelligence to George W Bush). Improved global energy conservation will need to play a vital role in trying to pre-empt the occurrence of these harrowing scenarios. But large amounts of energy will still be required as the world population expands and develops. Finding new sources of energy in this context is an essential part of establishing and maintaining world peace and stability. Reserves of traditional fossil fuels are depleting, and their are even doubts about the adequacy of global uranium supplies to fuel nuclear reactors. By contrast there are other sources of energy which cannot be depleted as long as the sun continues to shine. Most forms of renewable energy are driven partly or wholly by the sun - wind, wave, hydroelectric, near surface ground source heat, biomass, and even tidal (through gravitational effects, although the influence of the moon is much greater), are all part of the framework of solar energy in one form or another. All of these have a potentially important role to play in moving humanity towards the onset of a new solar based society. This web page, however, focuses on news items related to the development and use of direct solar thermal and solar photovoltaic energy systems. MORE ENERGY INFORMATION |
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| Contact | 'We Need A New Way Of Thinking' - Consciousness-Based Education |
| SOLAR ENERGY NEWS |
| 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 & Earlier |
| 2013 |
"The excitement over solar power, which once attracted billions in
private investment and public subsidies, has waned recently, underscoring the limitations
of renewable energies and the unchallenged dominance of fossil fuels. Some of the $75
billion sector's high profile names have fallen on hard times recently – most notably
Suntech Power. The China-based solar
panel company rattled the industry when it filed for bankruptcy last week. In its heyday,
the stock traded just shy of $90 and had a market capitalization of $16 billion: on
Thursday, the last day U.S. markets were open, the shares traded around for 42 cents each.
Alternative energy advocates point out that Suntech's difficulties were specific to its
business model, exacerbated by a trend of compressed industry prices that have squeezed
profit margins for solar companies. The company's
failure belies a U.S. market where solar panel installations grew by 76 percent last year,
according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). 'The overall story is about
growth and declining costs,' said Arno Harris, chairman of the SEIA Board, in an
interview. Much like the way low-cost natural gas is transforming the U.S. energy market,
'[solar] costs have come down so dramatically, it's created a Darwinian environment,'
Harris added. He
pointed to the collapse in silicon – a linchpin of solar panel manufacturing –
which has led to a steep drop in prices per watt of solar panels. That amount is now less
than a dollar, down sharply from $4 per watt a few years ago, making it difficult for companies to make money. ... SEIA's Harris said
that prospects for solar remain bright as renewable energy becomes more mainstream. 'Solar this year will be the number two technology right behind
natural gas,' he said. 'It's no longer this fringe
thing that's a fun science experiment.'" |
"Solar power will be the
second-biggest source of generating capacity added to the U.S. electric grid this year,
according to Sharp
Corp. (6753)’s Recurrent Energy unit. 'Solar is going to move into the No.
2 position in terms of new build, second only to gas,' Recurrent Chief Executive Officer Arno Harris said in an interview
yesterday at the company’s main office in San Francisco. Rooftop solar systems can be
installed for about $4 a watt and utility-scale systems for $2 a watt, Harris said. 'We
can see our way to $1.50,' he said. 'At those kinds of costs, we’re competitive in
the Southwest with conventional electricity.'” |
"President Barack Obama called on Congress to approve $2 billion in
funding for advanced vehicle technology over the next decade, the latest in a series of
proposals to boost research for cars and trucks. Obama made the proposal Friday at an
appearance at the Argonne National Laboratory in suburban Chicago, where federally funded
research helped develop lithium-ion batteries for
electric cars.... Obama said funding research for an
Energy Security Trust would help move the nation off oil and 'helps us free our families
and our businesses from painful spikes in gas once and for all.'... Obama said the project
could create more auto jobs. He pointed to progress by two U.S. automakers: 'Last year,
General Motors sold more hybrid vehicles than ever before. Ford is selling some of the
most fuel-efficient cars so quickly that dealers are having a tough time keeping up with
the demand,' Obama said. 'We're making progress, but
the only way to really break this cycle of spiking gas prices, the only way to break that
cycle for good is to shift our cars entirely — our cars and trucks — off oil.'" |
"The oil-rich sheikhdom of Abu
Dhabi this week dedicated what it says is the largest concentrating solar power plant in
the world, a sign that Middle Eastern countries are serious about developing their solar
resources. The 100-megawatt Shams 1 power plant covers two and half kilometers and
generates electricity from over 700 rows of large reflective troughs. Mirrors on the parabolic troughs reflect light onto a tube carrying a
synthetic oil, which is converting into steam to turn a conventional
electricity-generating turbine. The plant is part of Abu Dhabi’s effort to diversify
its energy supply and develop renewable energy technologies for export, says Sultan Ahmed
Al Jaber, the CEO of Masdar, the state-owned renewable energy company. 'From precious
hydrocarbon exports to sophisticated renewable energy systems, we are balancing the energy
mix and diversifying our economy–moving toward a more sustainable future,' Al Jaber
says in a statement. The project was developed as a joint venture of Masdar,
French energy company Total, and Abengoa Solar of Spain, which has a number of
concentrating solar plants around the world. The $600 million project took three years to
build and will power thousands of homes. It will use an air-cooling method to condense
steam, a water-conserving measure. The Middle East, with its ample sunlight, is emerging
as a promising area for growth in the solar industry. Neighboring
Saudi Arabia plans to generate one third of its electricity from solar in 20 years..." |
"The $77 billion solar-energy
industry is forecast to expand the most since 2011, as China becomes the biggest
market for the first time and drives annual global installations to a record. New generation capacity will rise about 14 percent this year to 34.1
gigawatts, equal to about eight atomic reactors, according to the average estimate of
seven analysts surveyed by
Bloomberg. That would beat the 4.4 percent growth in 2012, when demand shrank in Italy and
France after subsidies
were cut." |
"Hanergy Holding Group Ltd., a
Chinese thin-film solar panel maker, expects the technology it has backed to take a
greater share of the market that’s dominated by silicon-based cells as the biggest
manufacturers stumble...'A new age represented by thin-film technology will come,' as
silicon-based panel producers led by Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. and LDK Solar Co.
Ltd. suffered losses, Hanergy’s Chairman Li Hejun said in an interview. 'The market demands cheaper equipment that features flexibility and with
more applications.'... Our costs are around 50 cents a watt, and we aim to cut it by 10
percent this year,' Li said. 'The international market is very good for thin-film panels
as they don’t face anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes in Europe and import duties
in the U.S.'” |
"A new technique developed by
University of Toronto Engineering Professor Ted Sargent and his research group could lead
to significantly more efficient solar cells. In a
paper published in the journal Nano Letters, the group describes a new technique to
improve efficiency in what are called colloidal quantum dot photovoltaics. It's a
technology that already promises inexpensive and more efficient solar cell technology. But
researchers say such devices could be even more effective if they could better harness the
infrared portion of the sun’s spectrum, which is responsible for half of the
sun’s power that reaches the Earth. The solution has an unwieldy name: spectrally
tuned, solution-processed plasmonic nanoparticles. These particles, researchers say,
provide unprecedented control over light’s propagation and absorption. The new technique developed by Sargent’s group shows a
possible 35% increase in the technology’s efficiency in the near-infrared spectral
region, says co-author Susanna Thon (pictured left). Overall, this could translate to an
11% solar power conversion efficiency increase, she
says, making quantum dot photovoltaics even more attractive as an alternative to current
solar cell technologies." |
"If the electric car batteries
were much cheaper, the range longer, and recharging faster and more readily available,
such vehicles just might catch on as an attractive option in the face of ever increasing
gasoline costs. This is where the good news comes in, for in the last year what may prove
to be highly significant advances in battery technology have been announced and partially
verified. These new battery technologies offer the
prospects of greatly lowering the cost of batteries, increasing the range of electric
cars, and even offering an affordable way of storing intermittent power generated by wind
and the sun. The first announcement came in February 2012 from a start-up in California,
called Envia, which announced that they had developed a battery cathode made of manganese
for lithium ion batteries that would allow electrical energy to be stored at a density of
400 watt-hours per kilogram as compared to 100-180 watt-hours in current batteries. This
announcement was followed shortly by one made in March of last year from another
California startup, CalBattery, who said they were developing a new lithium ion battery
anode material that would allow electric cars to go three times further at a battery
life-cycle cost 70 percent less than that of current batteries. Last October CalBattery
announced that independent tests had verified that their new silicon-graphene anode
material was showing an energy density of 525 watt-hours per kilogram which should clearly
allow three times longer ranges for electric cars – provided of course that this new
anode material can be introduced into batteries that will last long enough to
useful." |
"The solar manufacturing industry is now a highly competitive
industry. Solar module companies that can’t compete are dropping like icicles on a
warm spring day. Shell dropped out of the solar module race in 2006, giving its solar
business to SolarWorld. Nonetheless, Shell is still
quite bullish on solar energy in the long term. In one of the two future energy scenarios
it just released (the New Lens Scenarios), it projected that solar would become the largest
source of energy by 2070." |
"Buoyed by bullish demand
forecasts, and increasing utilization rates and pricing, Deutsche Bank forecasts a solar
market transition from subsidized to sustainable in 2014. The German bank has raised its 2013 global solar demand forecast to 30 GW
– representing a 20% year-on-year increase – on the back of suggestions of
strong demand in markets including India, the U.S., China (around 7 to 10 GW), the U.K.
(around 1 to 2 GW), Germany and Italy (around 2 GW). Rooftop installations are, in
particular, expected to be a main focus, says Deutsche Bank. A trend for projects being
planned with either 'minimal/no incentives' has also been observed, despite the belief
that solar policy outlooks are improving, particularly in the U.S., China and India, and
'other emerging markets'. Looking at India, Deutsche Bank predicts that due to state and
RPO programs, demand is likely to be strong, at between 1 to 2 GW. Meanwhile, it says,
'grid parity has been reached in India even despite the high cost of capital of ~10-12%.'
With system prices between €1,500 to €2,000/kW, net metering for systems below
200 kW and 'advanced' plans for unsubsidized projects in the south of the country, Italy
also 'appears to be at grid parity'. 'Assuming small commercial enterprises are able to
achieve 50% or more self consumption, solar is competitive with grid electricity in most
parts of Italy,' says Deutsche Bank." |
"Solar cells made using a
process like spray painting have been developed by a research collaboration between
scientists at the University of Sheffield. The method could potentially reduce the cost of
solar cells significantly meaning the technology could be provided to people in developing
countries and perhaps one day be used on glass in buildings or car roofs. Experts from the
University of Sheffield’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and the University of
Cambridge have created a method of spray-coating a photovoltaic active layer by an air
based process – similar to spraying regular paint from a can – to develop a
cheaper technique which can be mass produced.
Professor David Lidzey from the University of Sheffield said 'Spray coating is currently
used to apply paint to cars and in graphic printing. We have shown that it can also be
used to make solar cells using specially designed plastic semiconductors. Maybe in the
future surfaces on buildings and even car roofs will routinely generate electricity with
these materials. We found that the performance of our spray coated solar cells is the same
as cells made with more traditional research methods, but which are impossible to scale in
manufacturing. We now do most of our research using spray coating. The goal is to reduce
the amount of energy and money required to make a solar cell. This means that we need
solar cell materials that have low embodied energy, but we also need manufacturing
processes that are efficient, reliable and consume less energy.' Most solar cells are
manufactured using special energy intensive tools and using materials like silicon that
themselves contain large amounts of embodied energy. Plastic, by comparison, requires much
less energy to make. By spray-coating a plastic layer in air the team hope the overall
energy used to make a solar cell can be significantly reduced." |
"Light-trapping, silver
nano-antennas could dramatically improve the performance of solar panels by catching more
light, according to a new study. A team of
physicists, including Professor Constantin Simovski from Finland's Aalto University, has developed
theoretical designs that could increase photovoltaic cell efficiency in a commercially
viable way. It proposes incorporating chessboard-patterned arrays of tiny silver
nano-antennas into solar panels. This would trap more incoming light, allowing it to be
preferentially re-radiated through the photovoltaic slab, improving efficiency. New fabrication techniques for printing a nano-antenna array on
thin film means it could be done at low cost." |
"The U.S. will add more solar
power in 2013 than wind
energy for the first time as wind projects slump and cheap panels spur demand for
photovoltaic systems, according to the head of Duke
Energy Corp. (DUK)’s renewable-energy development unit. The U.S. may install 3
gigawatts to 4 gigawatts of wind turbines this year, and solar projects will probably exceed that,
said Gregory Wolf, president of Duke Energy Renewables. The U.S. added 13.1 gigawatts of
wind power last year, beating natural gas for the first time." |
"Using an exotic form of silicon
could substantially improve the efficiency of solar cells, according to computer
simulations by researchers at the University of California, Davis, and in Hungary. The
work was published Jan. 25 in the journal Physical Review Letters. Solar cells are based on the photoelectric effect: a photon, or particle
of light, hits a silicon crystal and generates a negatively charged electron and a
positively charged hole. Collecting those electron-hole pairs generates electric current. Conventional solar cells generate one electron-hole pair per
incoming photon, and have a theoretical maximum efficiency of 33 percent. One exciting new
route to improved efficiency is to generate more than one electron-hole pair per photon,
said Giulia Galli, professor of chemistry at UC Davis and co-author of the paper. 'This
approach is capable of increasing the maximum efficiency to 42 percent, beyond any solar
cell available today, which would be a pretty big deal,' said lead author Stefan
Wippermann, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis. 'In fact, there is reason to believe
that if parabolic mirrors are used to focus the sunlight on such a new-paradigm solar
cell, its efficiency could reach as high as 70 percent,' Wippermann said. Galli said that nanoparticles have a size of nanometers,
typically just a few atoms across. Because of their small size, many of their properties
are different from bulk materials. In particular, the probability of generating more than
one electron-hole pair is much enhanced, driven by an effect called 'quantum
confinement.'" |
"U.K. solar electricity may more
than double this year as a boom in solar farms and domestic installations adds 2 gigawatts
of new capacity, according toTrina (TSL) Solar Ltd., the
third-biggest solar cell maker. The U.K. industry benefits from a stability that 'every
other country in the world pretty much envies right now,' Ben Hill, president of Trina
Solar Europe, said in a
Jan. 25 phone interview from the World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Government incentives for rooftop panels and ground-mounted farms are
spurring both types of development, he said....Hill’s prediction for 2 gigawatts of
U.K. installations this year compares with the current installed base that Energy Minister
Greg Barker put at
1.8 gigawatts in a Jan. 16 speech. London-based Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts
installations this year will total 1.1 gigawatts, up from 830 megawatts in 2012. The
government is chasing 20 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2020, and on Dec. 27 added the
technology to a list of nine deemed crucial for the nation to meet renewable-energy and
carbon-reduction targets. That followed the second wettest year on record, with U.K.
rainfall averaging 1,330.7 millimeters (52.4 inches), just 6.6 millimeters short of the
record set in 2000, according to the Met Office, the government forecaster. Guaranteed prices for
electricity, known as feed-in tariffs, or FITs, are the main spur for rooftop
installations, and changes to them were the subject of the legal challenges in 2011. Since
then, the government has introduced a system of rolling cuts to ensure predictable
reductions as solar costs come down and installations mount." |
".... researchers announced that
they’ve set a new record for flexible copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar
cells, a type of solar cell that has the potential for low costs because it can be made
quickly with relatively small amounts of material. CIGS cells, if made on a flexible
plastic or metal foil, can also be flexible, unlike conventional silicon solar panels,
which are heavy and rigid. But CIGS cells
aren’t as efficient as conventional silicon ones, making it hard for the technology
to compete. Efficiency is the most powerful lever for reducing solar power costs. Improved
efficiency reduces the number of solar panels needed for a given installation, saving on
the cost of panels and labor. The researchers
demonstrated solar cells with an efficiency of 20.4 percent, which is far better than the
roughly 13 percent efficiency of flexible CIGS cells used in commercial applications such
as solar rooftop shingles. It’s also better
than typical silicon solar cells, which are roughly 16 percent efficient (higher cost,
premium silicon solar cells can have efficiencies as high as 24 percent)." |
| "Here's how to make a powerful solar
cell from indium and phosphorus: First, arrange microscopic flecks of gold on a
silicon background. Using the gold as seeds, grow precisely arranged wires roughly 1.5
micrometers tall out of chemically tweaked compounds of indium and phosphorus. Keep the
nanowires in line by etching them clean with hydrochloric acid and confining their
diameter to 180 nanometers. (A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.) Exposed to the sun,
a solar cell employing such nanowires can turn nearly 14 percent of the incoming light
into electricity—a new record that opens up more possibilities for cheap and
effective solar power.
According to research
published online in Science—and validated at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for
Solar Energy Systems—this novel nanowire
configuration delivered nearly as much electricity as more traditional indium phosphide thin-film
solar cells even though the nanowires themselves covered only 12 percent of the
device's surface. That suggests such nanowire solar cells could prove cheaper—and
more powerful—if the process could be industrialized, argues physicist Magnus Borgström of Lund University in Sweden, who led
the effort." Novel Solar Photovoltaic Cells Achieve Record Efficiency Using Nanoscale Structures Scientific American, 17 January 2013 |
"The global solar market will
rise 22 percent to 33.4 gigawatts in 2013, with gains in China, the U.S. and India more than offsetting
declines in Germany and Italy,
Deutsche Bank predicted today in a note to investors.
The Chinese market, the second biggest in 2012, will more than double to 10 gigawatts this
year from 4 gigawatts last year, Deutsche said. The Indian market will more than triple to
4 gigawatts and the U.S. will rise 29 percent to 4.5 gigawatts, the bank’s analysts,
led by Vishal Shah,
predicted in the note. Those gains will help offset declines in European markets, led by
Germany and Italy, where demand will be cut in half, according to the bank. Those two
countries were the biggest and third-largest markets in 2012, it said." |
| "Renowned innovator and futurist
Ray Kurzweil predicts that within 20 years we will have our energy
problem licked. It’s solved. We just don’t know it yet. As he told Lauren Fenny
of PBS: 'One of my primary theses is that information technologies grow exponentially in
capability and power and bandwidth and so on. If you buy an iPhone today, it’s twice
as good as two years ago for half that cost. That is happening with solar energy — it
is doubling every two years…Every two years we have twice as much solar energy in the
world. Today, solar is still more expensive than
fossil fuels, and in most situations it still needs subsidies or special circumstances,
but the costs are coming down rapidly — we are only a few years away from parity. And
then it’s going to keep coming down, and people
will be gravitating towards solar, even if they don’t care at all about the
environment, because of the economics. So right now it’s at half a percent of the world’s
energy. People tend to dismiss technologies when they are half a percent of the solution.
But doubling every two years means it’s only eight more doublings before it meets a
hundred percent of the world’s energy needs. So that’s 16 years. We will increase our use of
electricity during that period, so add another couple of doublings: In 20
years we’ll be meeting all of our energy needs with solar, based on this trend
which has already been under way for 20 years.' Of
course, there are huge integration and storage issues that will need to be addressed. But
his point about solar echoes what has occurred with 'green' technologies such as the
Prius. Consumer Reports recently found the Prius to have the lowest cost of ownership of
any car. People buy it 'because of the economics.' Similar things are happening with
electric vehicles. Motor Trend just named the Tesla Model S it’s car of the year, and
competitive in price with other luxury car peers. 'At its core, the Tesla Model S is simply a damned good car you happen to plug in to refuel.' For Motor
Trend, the environmental benefits are beside the point.... The
next area where solar may make huge gains is integration into the skin of buildings, what
is know as Building Integrated Photovoltaics, or BIPV. A recent report from Pike research
see BIPV growing from just over 400 MW in 2012 to 2,250 by 2017, with annual value
increasing from just over $600 mn to $2.4 bn. 'In the future, BIPV will no longer be confined
to spandrel or overhead applications. Rather, the entire building envelope will be able to
put it to use, allowing the structure to produce its own power and feed additional power
into the grid system.' ...But what about the enormous fleet of existing buildings? How to
attack that? Stanford scientists may have just found the answer. In tackling the vexing
problem that most solar panels are rigid and thereby limited in their applications,
Stanford researchers came up with a technology to create decal-type panels that can be
stuck to virtually any surface. Including window panes..." More Solar Innovation: Stanford's Peel and Stick Flexible Application Forbes, 10 January 2013 |
| 2012 |
"It takes outside-the-box thinking to outsmart the solar spectrum and
set a world record for solar cell efficiency. The solar spectrum has boundaries and
immutable rules. No matter how much solar cell manufacturers want to bend those rules,
they can’t. So how can we make a solar cell that has a higher efficiency than the
rules allow? That’s the question scientists in the III-V Multijunction Photovoltaics
Group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) faced 15 years ago as they searched for materials they could grow easily that also
have the ideal combinations of band gaps for converting photons from the sun into
electricity with unprecedented efficiency. A band gap is an energy that characterizes how
a semiconductor material absorbs photons, and how efficiently a solar cell made from that
material can extract the useful energy from those photons. 'The ideal band gaps for a
solar cell are determined by the solar spectrum,' said Daniel Friedman, manager of the
NREL III-V Multijunction Photovoltaics Group. 'There’s no way around that.' But this year, Friedman’s team succeeded so spectacularly in
bending the rules of the solar spectrum that NREL and its industry partner, Solar
Junction, won a coveted R&D 100 award from R&D Magazine for a world-record
multijunction solar cell. The three-layered cell, SJ3, converted 43.5% of the energy in
sunlight into electrical energy — a rate that has stimulated demand for the cell to
be used in concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) arrays for utility-scale energy production.
Last month, that record of 43.5% efficiency at 415 suns was eclipsed with a 44% efficiency
at 947 suns. Both records were verified by NREL. This is NREL’s third R&D 100
award for advances in ultra-high-efficiency multijunction cells. CPV technology gains
efficiency by using low-cost lenses to multiply the sun’s intensity, which scientists
refer to as numbers of suns." |
"Solar panels that can be
integrated right into rooftops and the walls of buildings is a new market that is set to
grow dramatically over the next five years, according
to a new report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant. The report says that the
energy capacity of solar panels that are built into the structures of buildings will grow
from 400 MW in 2012 to 2.25 GW in 2017, or a five-fold increase worldwide. The solar industry calls this technology “building-integrated
photovoltaics” or BIPV. Some of this new capacity will come from thin film solar
panels that will be able to be printed right onto building materials, like shingles, steel
roof casing, and windows. A lot of companies have been gunning for this market, and many
have been held back by the difficult solar production market in 2012. There are at least
53 companies working on this tech, says Pike." |
"Bloomberg reported last week that a
number of solar developers in Spain have
applied for permits to connect to the country’s electric grid and sell solar power at
market prices. Taken together the permit requests
total 37,5
gigawatts (GW = 1,000 megawatts). Clearly, not all of these proposed facilities will
get built. To put it into context, Spain has about 4.2 GW of installed solar capacity at
present (representing almost 10% of the country’s peak power generating capability).
If even a fraction of these plants were to be built, it would crush the market and
bankrupt the developers. However, if the amount is limited, the first few actors are
likely to see a profit. The proposed installations are enormous – the largest eyed
for Europe to date, ranging from 150 to 500 MW – with costs coming in as low as $.073
to .079 (.055 to .060 Euros) per kilowatt-hour. These plants compare in size to the 290 MW
NRG/First Solar Agua Caliente
facility in Arizona, and Exelon‘s
230 MW Antelope Valley project in Southern California, but they are considerably less
expensive. This is a far cry from a snapshot of solar in Europe just a half decade ago. At
that time, Spain was looking at subsidized prices for solar coming in at 9X traditional
fossil plants. These prices surely stimulated the market, resulting in Spain installing more
solar than the entire rest of world in the boom days in 2007-2008. However, the
Spanish economy and ratepayer paid a significant price – transfers from ratepayers to
solar developers totaled $3.3 bn before the program was axed this year. It is that kind of
program which fuels conservatives’ anger. But it is also this type of program which
sometimes sparks a technological revolution. The rest of the world has Spain to thank for
inching so far out into traffic that they lost the hood ornament on the car: the stimulus
effect from that program (and that of Germany
– which has spent a couple billion Euros for 30,000 MW of solar – and other
European countries) helped create a global industry with rapidly falling costs and
increasing efficiencies. As a consequence, we are now
able to talk seriously about grid parity of solar resources, and sun-drenched Spain has
gotten to the point that utility-scale programs can be envisioned without subsidies." |
"Fabrication of thin-film solar
cells (TFSCs) on substrates other than Si and glass has been challenging because these
nonconventional substrates are not suitable for the current TFSC fabrication processes due
to poor surface flatness and low tolerance to high temperature and chemical processing.
Here, we report a new peel-and-stick process that circumvents these fabrication challenges
by peeling off the fully fabricated TFSCs from the original Si wafer and attaching TFSCs
to virtually any substrates regardless of materials, flatness and rigidness. With the peel-and-stick process, we integrated hydrogenated amorphous
silicon (a-Si:H) TFSCs on paper, plastics, cell phone and building windows while
maintaining the original 7.5% efficiency. The new peel-and-stick process enables further
reduction of the cost and weight for TFSCs and endows TFSCs with flexibility and
attachability for broader application areas. We believe that the peel-and-stick process
can be applied to thin film electronics as well." |
"There is huge potential in solar power. The sun is a giant ball of
burning hydrogen in the sky, and it’s going to be sticking around for at least a few
more billion years. For all intents and purposes, it’s a free source of energy.
Sadly, humanity hasn’t been very good at harnessing its power directly. Our current
methods of capturing the sun’s energy are very inefficient. For example, modern
silicon and indium-tin-oxide-based solar cells are approaching the theoretical limit of
33.7% efficiency. Well, a research team at Princeton
has used nanotechnology to create a mesh that increases efficiency over organic solar
cells nearly three fold. Led by Stephen Chou, the team has made
two dramatic improvements: reducing reflectivity, and more effectively capturing the
light that isn’t reflected. As you can see by
the illustration below by Dimitri Karetnikov, Princeton’s new solar cell is much
thinner and less reflective. By utilizing sandwiched plastic and metal with the nanomesh, this so-called 'Plasmonic Cavity with Subwavelength Hole array' or
'PlaCSH' substantially reduces the potential for losing the light itself. In fact, it only
reflects about 4% of direct sunlight, leading to a 52% higher efficiency than
conventional, organic solar cells. PlaCSH is also
capable of capturing a large amount of sunlight even when the sunlight is dispersed on
cloudy days, which results in an amazing 81% increase in efficiency under indirect
lighting conditions when compared to conventional organic solar cell technology. All told,
PlaCSH is up to 175% more efficient than conventional solar cells. As you can see in the
image to the right, the difference in reflectivity between conventional and PlaCSH solar
cells is really quite dramatic." |
"There wasn’t much coverage
earlier this month of the Saudi
Arabia‘s decision to invest $100 billion in solar power. Instead there was a lot
of frothy coverage of an International Energy Agency report suggesting the USA could
overtake Saudi Arabia as an oil producer by 2020 if a lot of dubious assumptions panned
out. Likewise there wasn’t a lot of interest earlier this year when Warren Buffett, through MidAmerican
Holdings, put over $2 billion into one solar project in California. Instead there was a lot of noise and grandstanding when the US government
picked the wrong bet and lost a quarter as much in Solyndra. The reality is that solar
power has come of age and is now a bankable technology attracting the likes of Buffett and
Google and KKR and Blackstone and
Walmart and MetLife because it garners double-digit returns on investment. Smart money and
the Saudi’s know solar works; why don’t we? Take only the news from King
Abdullah City for a moment, where spokespeople say they’re targeting around 41,000
megawatts of solar capacity within two decades. Can you imagine the hype if 41 nuclear
power plants were seriously canvassed to be built anywhere in the next 20 years? Did you
realize more solar panels were installed in Europe last year than all the gas, coal and
wind power installations combined? That’s from the Global Market Outlook to 2016 of
the European Photovoltaic Industry Association – a great read full of charts “up
and to the right” for a region otherwise beset by doldrums. Germany has had days this
year where 50% of the electrons consumed were solar power from its 27,000 megawatts of
capacity... One analyst, who wants to remain anonymous expects solar power to be
competitive with gas-fired power on the eastern seaboard of China by this time next year.
The economics will reach that point when it costs $1 to install a watt of solar power
capacity – the current market rate is $1.25/w in China down from over $2/w this time
last year... There’s not a lot of coverage of the phenomenon of the technology cost
curve that is driving down the price of solar power, even though it’s as American as
Apple. Instead there’s still a lot of buzz about the latest oil or gas boom, even
though we know busts follow those and are already stalking the shale plays." |
"A nanostructured 'sandwich' of
metal and plastic may be a way to nearly triple the efficiency of organic solar cells,
those cheap and flexible plastic energy devices that could be the future of solar power.
The researchers were able to increase the efficiency 175 percent and the technology should
increase the efficiency of conventional inorganic solar collectors, such as standard
silicon solar panels, but that is another research
issue. Any solar solution needs to to overcome two primary challenges that cause solar
cells to lose energy; light reflecting from the cell, and the inability to fully capture
light that enters the cell. With their new metallic sandwich, the researchers were able to
address both problems. The subwavelength plasmonic cavity can dampen reflection and trap
light. The new technique allowed the team to create a solar cell that only reflects about
4 percent of light and absorbs as much as 96 percent. It demonstrated 52 percent higher
efficiency in converting light to electrical energy than a conventional solar cell.
That is for direct sunlight, but the structure achieves even more efficiency for light
that strikes the solar cell at large angles, which occurs on cloudy days or when the cell
is not directly facing the sun. By capturing these angled rays, the new structure boosts
efficiency by an additional 81 percent, leading to the 175 percent total increase." |
"Computer simulations by
researchers in the US and China could lead to solar cells that work efficiently across a
broad range of the solar spectrum. Dubbed a 'solar
energy funnel', the new concept offers a way of using strain to modify the band gap of a
semiconductor so that it responds to light within a range of different wavelengths.
However, the funnels have yet to be made and tested in the lab – some researchers
suggest using them in practical devices could prove problematic." |
"The reality of solar panels is
that those on the market today aren’t very efficient – most of the solar cells,
which make up an entire panel, convert less than a fifth of the sunlight into electricity.
But researchers at MIT said on Monday they have come up with a funnel-like design that
will manipulate the incoming electrons to engineer more efficient solar cells. The research,
just published in the journal, Nature Photonics, used computer modeling to look at how to
stretch the semiconductor molybdenum disulfide to change its physical properties to make
use of a broader spectrum of sunlight than what silicon, the most common solar cell
material, can manage today. Whether the design will work as well in real life will require
further research." |
"Qatar’s effort to expand its solar industry is being held up by
issues including the scale of the projects planned and dust that blows in from desert
areas, one of the nation’s most senior leaders said. 'We are one of the biggest
believers in solar,' said Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, a former energy minister who is
chairman of Qatar
Electricity & Water Co. (QEWS), said at a press conference in Doha today. 'We have
some technology problems. I am a big believer that technology will solve it.' He said
Qatar’s projects will cover huge areas and require careful planning and that 'we are
receiving a lot of dust from the frontier areas, and the dust is one of the challenges. It
reduces sharply the efficiency of solar.' Qatar,
which is hosting this year’s United Nations climate talks, plans to install 1,800 megawatts of solar
power capacity by 2014, government-backed venture said on Oct. 17." |
"What if we could use solar
energy when the sun has set, or wind energy when the air is calm? Donald Sadoway is
working on a way to make that happen. The professor of materials chemistry at MIT is
leading an effort to develop a new kind of battery -- a 'liquid metal battery' -- that
would enable the economical storage of energy from solar, wind and other sources so that
it could be used when homes and businesses need it....
Inspired by the technique developed in the 19th century to produce aluminum at very low
cost, Sadoway came up with the idea of using such commonly available materials as
magnesium and antimony to create the battery. He said a battery of this type housed in a
40-foot shipping container could store enough power to meet the daily needs of 200
American households. Sadoway got enthusiastic applause when he told the audience at TED:
'If we're going to get this country out of its current energy situation, we can't just
conserve our way out; we can't just drill our way out; we can't bomb our way out. We're
going to do it the old-fashioned American way, we're going to invent our way out, working
together." |
"The average combined savings
and income households made from installing solar PV panels has increased by nearly £100 a
year, according to the Energy Saving Trust. Figures
collated by the EST showed that the annual net benefit from solar PV panels has risen to
£635 from around £540 per year. The average size of solar PV installed has increased,
said the EST, meaning households generated more electricity and consequently more savings
and feed-in tariff income. However, of the third of Brits approached with solar
panels last year only 4 per cent chose to purchase them." |
"Construction has started in
Puerto Rico on what will soon be the Caribbean's largest solar energy park. The $265 million project is being built in southern Puerto Rico and is
expected to generate enough electricity to power more than 13,000 homes in the U.S.
territory. The park features 270,000 solar panels and is being financed by CIRO Energy
Group and One Planet Caribbean of San Juan and San Francisco-based GCL Solar Energy Inc.
CIRO Group executive Ruben Perez said Friday that the project will help save 236 million
barrels of petroleum a year and reduce greenhouse emissions by 217 billion pounds. Puerto
Rico's government also expects construction to start soon on what will be the region's
largest wind farm. It will be near the island's southern coast." |
"Scientists at California's
Stanford University have managed to construct the first solar cell made entirely of
carbon. If ultimately brought to market, a carbon-based solar cell could offer a potential
alternative to the expensive materials currently used in photovoltaic devices. 'Unlike rigid silicon solar panels that adorn many rooftops, [our] thin
film prototype is made of carbon materials that can be coated from solution,' she
explained. 'Perhaps in the future we can look at alternative markets where flexible carbon
solar cells are coated on the surface of buildings, on windows or on cars to generate
electricity.' As expected, the coating technique also has the potential to reduce
manufacturing costs. 'Processing silicon-based solar cells requires a lot of steps,'
Stanford graduate student Michael Vosgueritchian confirmed. 'But our entire device can be
built using simple coating methods that don't require expensive tools and machines.'" |
"The Saudis are raising $100
billion for solar-power development, which could
ease its rapidly growing demand for electric power. Though natural gas would be cheaper,
the Saudis may prefer solar. Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, an important member of the
Saudi royal family, announced last week that his hope was that Saudi Arabia
would replace 100 percent of its power generation with renewables within his lifetime.
This follows public announcements earlier in the year that the kingdom was in the process
of raising $109 billion in investments for solar power and was already in the process of
constructing 100 megawatts of solar generation in Mecca as part of a
larger renewable energy plan for the city. It's important to note that the energy
proclamation by Prince Turki (a classmate of Bill Clinton's
at Georgetown) needs to be taken in context. He has never held an energy related position
in the Saudi government, but has held very high-profile government roles, including
director of intelligence and ambassador to the United States.
The 100 percent claim is clearly aspirational, but the $100 billion investment,
representing enough solar to meet roughly one-third of current Saudi power demand, appears
to be entirely serious. Saudi Arabia's interest in renewables, and solar in particular,
highlights a handful of important points: * Power demand growth in the Middle East * Saudi
Arabia is bullish on future oil prices * Saudi's limited access to natural gas *
Oversupplied solar market may have a new demand base." |
"China is creating supportive
measures to shore up its ailing photovoltaic (PV) industry, which has been rocked by
recent U.S. duties on Chinese exports over alleged dumping. In the latest attempt, State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), the
country's largest state-owned utility company, announced a plan to allow small-scale
distributed solar power generators to connect to its power lines. Under the plan, SGCC
will allow solar power generators with less than 6 megawatts of installed capacity to be
connected to the grid." |
"Clean energy has become a dirty word in presidential politics. In
their second debate, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama each tried to outdo the other’s
love of fossil fuels: Obama extolling his record on oil and natural gas production, Romney
vowing to take 'advantage of the oil and coal we have here.' The Republican candidate has
ridiculed the administration’s $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, the bankrupt
California-based solar panel maker, and accused Obama of living 'in an imaginary world
where government-subsidized windmills and solar panels could power the economy.' The candidates’ coolness to renewable energy comes at a time
when the domestic supply of traditional energy sources, such as oil and natural gas, is at
an all-time high. And yet this failure to make the promise of renewables a keynote in the
debate is a huge missed opportunity. In particular, it ignores the dramatic reduction in
the cost of photovoltaic solar power worldwide and the considerable benefits to U.S.
consumers and the environment. The untold story of this campaign is that what killed
Solyndra may turn out to be a boon for the nation. 'Economically and technologically, the
game is over,' says Bill Powers, a San Diego engineer and board member of Solar Done
Right, a group that proselytizes for rooftop solar power. 'The hangups in the U.S. are
strictly political.' Over the past five years the price of photovoltaic panels has
plummeted 75 percent, due largely to a glut of Chinese-made panels. The fall in prices
rendered technically advanced photovoltaic panels, like those produced by Solyndra and
other U.S. companies, too expensive to compete. But cheap panels have been a godsend for
consumers... Nationally, the average cost of
residential installations—including hardware, permits, and labor—has plummeted
from $9 a watt in 2006 to $5.46. Averaging in commercial industrial installations, the
national installed price plummets to $3.45 a watt, says the Solar Energy Industries
Association, a Washington-based trade group. The result is a burgeoning rooftop
revolution. The SEIA says almost 52,000 residential rooftop systems were installed in the
U.S. last year, up 30 percent from a year earlier. Total rooftop installations, including
on commercial buildings, grew 109 percent from 2010 to 2011, according to SEIA data. Total
photovoltaic installations are projected to grow an additional 71 percent this year from
2011 levels. Worldwide, the picture is even more positive. Australia projects that 10
percent of its 8 million houses will have rooftop systems within the next 12
months—most of that growth coming in the past three years. European rooftop
installations continue to outpace those in the U.S., even as some countries begin to pare
subsidies that have helped spur a continental rooftop boom. Including residential,
commercial, and industrial-scale projects, the world had installed about 67 gigawatts of
photovoltaic power at the end of last year—up from just 1.5 gigawatts in 2000.
Despite such breakthroughs, the U.S. economy is harnessing only a fraction of solar’s
potential benefits. Based on U.S. Census Bureau data, about 100 million U.S. residential
units could physically hold rooftop systems one day, generating by one estimate 3.75
trillion kilowatt hours of electricity a year. In 2011, total U.S. electrical generation
from all sources was about 4 trillion kilowatt hours—42 percent of that from coal,
according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The trouble is, many of the
big,investor-owned utilities that provide about 85 percent of America’s electricity
see solar as both a technical challenge and a long-term threat to their 100-year-old
profit models. And the lack of a national energy policy means regulation of solar is up to
states, public service commissions, and a wealth of local governments and
bureaucracies—many of whom have a vested interest in maintaining the status
quo." |
"Iraq plans to spend up to $1.6
billion on solar and wind power stations over the next three years to add 400 megawatts to
the national grid to help curb daily blackouts, an
official from the ministry of electricity said on Monday. Nine years after the U.S.-led
invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, investment is needed in most of Iraq's industries,
not least power generation, which produces just 8,800 MW of the 14,000 MW needed." |
"The United States
finally has a road map for developing solar energy on federal land in the West. The big
idea: Seventeen solar-energy zones – about 285,000 acres of public lands in six
western states – have been set aside as priority areas for commercial-scale solar
development. That way, instead of approving such
large renewable energy projects on a case-by-case basis where developers want to build
them, the energy zones will guide development to areas that are high in solar energy,
close to transmission lines, and have, in the Interior
Department's words, 'relatively low conflict with biological, cultural, and historic
resources.' The road map also excludes 79 million acres of federal land as being
inappropriate for development and another 19 million acres as "variance" areas
where the government would continue to decide solar projects case by case. Secretary
of the Interior Ken Salazar finalized the roadmap at a signing Friday. The six states
are Arizona, California, Colorado,
Nevada,
New Mexico, and Utah." |
"Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) Managing Director Arif
Alauddin has said prices of solar panels have dropped
80% over the last five years, making alternative
energy attractive for the consumers. 'We should avail of the opportunity and switch to
solar energy to overcome the energy crisis,' he stressed while speaking at the
International Exhibition and Conference on Alternative Energy and Energy Efficiency,
organised by the Renewable and Alternative Energy Association of Pakistan here on
Saturday. As the country was generating power at an average rate of Rs20 per unit,
Alauddin said the consumers could have cheaper electricity with the help of solar
applications. Despite the decrease in the cost of battery, the solar panels were still
expensive, but the consumers could take benefit of them in day time, he suggested." |
"Silicon nanowire and nanopore arrays promise to reduce manufacturing
costs and increase the power conversion efficiency of photovoltaic devices. So far,
however, photovoltaic cells based on nanostructured silicon exhibit lower power conversion
efficiencies than conventional cells due to the enhanced photocarrier recombination
associated with the nanostructures. Here, we identify and separately measure surface
recombination and Auger recombination in wafer-based nanostructured silicon solar cells.
By identifying the regimes of junction doping concentration in which each mechanism
dominates, we were able to design and fabricate an
independently confirmed 18.2%-efficient
nanostructured ‘black-silicon’ cell that does not need the antireflection
coating layer(s) normally required to reach a comparable performance level." |
"Australia's 800,000 solar-powered homes should be slugged more to
plug into the main electricity grid, so as to reduce costs for other families, energy
distributors say. As households try to offset
skyrocketing bills, an explosion of solar photovoltaic panel installations has seen an
extra 400,000 homes go green in the past year." |
"V3Solar has developed a new way
to convert the sun's energy into electricity using traditional technology in a new way,
and in so doing have discovered a way to get twenty times more electricity out of the same
amount of solar cells. Their new device, called the
Spin Cell, does away with the traditional flat panel and instead places the solar cells on
a cone shaped frame which are then covered with energy concentrators. Once in operation,
the whole works spins, making unnecessary the need for tracking hardware and software....
Because of the great potential of solar energy, researchers have looked into increasing
the efficiency of solar cells by using lenses or mirrors to direct more of the sun's
energy onto them hoping to get more electricity out of the same number of cells.
Unfortunately, doing so tends to create so much heat that the cells become useless. The
engineers at V3Solar took this idea and modified it to prevent such overheating by
mounting the cells on a rotating platform; doing so means that each cell only receives
extra heat for a very short amount of time and is then allowed to cool as the cone spins.
The concentrators form an outer skin creating a hermetically sealed inner environment for
the triangular shaped blue colored solar cells. The cone is situated on a base of
electromagnets powered by some of the energy that has been converted from the sun's energy
by the solar cells, creating a nearly frictionless spin. The result is a marvel of
engineering and an artistic triumph – a means to produce much more electricity than
traditional flat panels in a pleasing, and as the company says, beautiful way." |
"While the contract hasn’t been finalized, analysts are
predicting that First Solar will win the rights to supply NextEra Energy Inc. with solar
arrays for what will be the world’s largest
solar farm. The two companies are currently working
together on the 550-megawatt Desert Sunlight solar farm in Riverwide County, California." |
"Reports of the demise of the
European solar industry have been greatly exaggerated. That is the central conclusion of a
new status report from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre,
which reveals that despite subsidy cuts in a host of key markets two-thirds of the world's
new solar PV panels were installed in Europe last year. It also confirms that solar power delivered two per cent of the EU's
electricity needs in 2011, equivalent to the national electricity demand of Austria.
Writing in the foreword of the report, Arnulf Jager-Waldau, senior scientist for renewable
energy at the Joint Research Centre, said that demand for solar power was being driven by
a drastic reduction in the cost of solar panels. 'From 2008 to second quarter of 2012,
residential PV electricity system prices have decreased by almost 60 per cent in the most
competitive markets, and in some markets, the cost of PV-generated electricity is already
cheaper than residential electricity retail prices,' he wrote. 'Due to falling PV system
prices and increasing electricity prices, the number of such markets is steadily
increasing.' He added that as a result solar energy had attracted almost half of all new
renewable energy investment globally last year, approaching $130bn, with around two-thirds
invested in Europe. 'In 2011, the photovoltaic industry production increased by almost 40
per cent and reached a world-wide production volume of about 35 GWp of photovoltaic
modules,' he wrote. 'Yearly growth rates over the last decade were on average between 40
per cent and 90 per cent, which makes photovoltaics one of the fastest growing industries
at present.' The report acknowledged that European solar firms are facing growing
competition from Chinese manufacturers – a scenario that has prompted threats of
legal action against China by European and US firms." |
"First Solar Inc.
(FSLR) Chief Executive Officer Jim Hughes is stepping up efforts to manage power plants that
generate electricity from the sun, helping utilities use the technology in a way his
rivals in China
can’t. The biggest U.S. solar panel maker plans to build new projects from the Middle East to Australia and use
proprietary systems that help power-purchasers manage the amount they buy from solar
farms, Hughes said in his first interview since taking the CEO position in May. The company’s pitch to utilities is that it will help them predict
uneven power flows from solar panels, giving grid operators the ability to integrate the
facilities into their networks alongside those that burn fossil fuels. That’s making
First Solar less dependent on manufacturing, an industry dominated by Chinese companies
led by Suntech Power
Holdings Co. (STP)." |
"The solar-power business is
expanding quickly in the U.S., helping lift the cloud that has surrounded the industry
since the demise of Solyndra LLC a year ago. But the
growth isn't coming from U.S. solar-panel manufacturing, despite the money and rhetoric
devoted to the industry by the Obama administration. Instead, it is in installations of
largely foreign-made panels, whose falling price has made solar more competitive with
other forms of power. 'There should be little emphasis put on where the panels are made,'
said Lyndon Rive, chief executive of SolarCity Corp., which finances and installs rooftop
solar systems." |
"China's push into solar energy was supposed to be a proud example of
how the country was advancing into hi-tech manufacturing. But now the whole sector is on
the brink of bankruptcy. Two years ago, LDK Solar, one of China's largest solar panel
makers, built a new, state-of-the-art factory in the central city of Hefei. It sits in one
of the city's industrial parks, a big LDK Solar logo on its wall, with the New York-listed
company's slogan underneath: 'Lighting the Future'. 'It cost 2.5 billion yuan (£250m) to
build, the majority of the equipment was imported from Germany, and it hired 5,000 staff,'
said Jie Xiaoming, a 30-year-old who works at the plant's quality control and packaging
department. Last month, however, 4,500 of the staff were put on gardening leave.
They receive 700 yuan a month to stay at home. The factory has shut down 24 of its 32
production lines. 'There do not seem to be any orders. People are still turning up for
work, but mostly just sleeping. The management has not said much, just that the United
States has a new policy that is stopping our exports,' said Mr Jie. .... in Europe and the US, governments provided subsidies to buy
Chinese-made panels as part of commitments to boost renewable energy. But the incentives
created a glut of suppliers, and since 2010, the price of polysilicon wafers has fallen by
nearly three-quarters. The price is now below the production cost - in the latest quarter,
LDK Solar's gross margin was -65.5pc. Meanwhile, the debt crisis in Europe has cut
government subsidies to the sector and the US imposed a 31pc tariff in May on Chinese
wafers, complaining that manufacturers were being underwritten by the government. In July a group of 25 European solar companies followed suit, filing an
anti-dumping complaint with the European Union. At the same time, the quality of the solar
equipment being made by Chinese companies, even by the biggest companies, is often not
export-grade. While the Chinese government has promised to hugely increase its purchases
of solar panels, there is a significant excess capacity in the domestic market that has
kept prices low. China's big five firms are all reporting disastrous trading and heavily
indebted balance sheets." |
"Princeton Satellite Systems
announced on Friday an electric car charging station integrated with a stationary solar
power system. The company claims the SunStation is
the first 100% green charging station for electric vehicles, because all power comes from
the Sun. The SunStation has a built-in battery pack that enables recharging electric cars
24 hours a day, even when the Sun has set. It provides a 240 volt charging voltage for
charging an electric car at it's normal rate, namely the Nissan Leaf in 8 hours, a Chevy
Volt in 4 and a Toyota Prius Plugin Hybrid in 1.5. The system is installed simply by
pouring a concrete base and bolting the station to the base. The SunStation does not
require a wired connection to the electricity grid, because of the battery pack. Other
electric vehicle charging stations require an electricity grid connection to provide the
power. It does wirelessly connect via the cell phone network for a payment system, and
allowing Princeton Satellite Systems to remotely manage the station." |
"New research out of Berkeley
Lab and the University of California suggests that it is possible to make solar cells from
any semiconductor, opening the door to solar panels made from cheaper, more abundant
materials. Until now, phosphides and sulfides of
metals have been judged ill-suited for solar cells because of the near-impossibility of
chemically doping them with the quality of p-n junctions required. The new approach,
dubbed 'screening-engineered field-effect photovoltaics' (SFPV), sidesteps the problem by
inducing p-n junctions in semiconductors by applying an electric field." |
"Abu Dhabi has installed the
first rapid charging station in the Middle East, reducing the time taken to recharge
electric cars by over 90 percent, it was announced this week. The CHAdeMO-certified Rapid Charger, the first of its kind in the region,
has been installed at Masdar City, the low-carbon development backed by the Abu Dhabi
government, and was in collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries." |
"Researchers from UCLA have
developed a new transparent solar cell that is a significant step towards giving the
windows in homes and other buildings the ability to generate electricity while still being
transparent. The research team 'describes a new kind of polymer solar cell (PSC) that
produces energy by absorbing mainly infrared light, not visible light, making the cells
nearly 70% transparent to the human eye.' They
created the device from a photoactive plastic that generates an electrical current from
infrared light. 'These results open the potential for visibly transparent polymer solar
cells as add-on components of portable electronics, smart windows and building-integrated
photovoltaics and in other applications,' said study leader Yang Yang, a UCLA professor of
materials science and engineering, who also is director of the Nano Renewable Energy
Center at California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI). Yang also said that there has been a
definite world-wide interest in polymer solar cells. 'Our new PSCs are made from
plastic-like materials and are lightweight and flexible,' he said. 'More importantly, they
can be produced in high volume at low cost.'... The new study appears in the journal ACS
Nano.” |
"Researchers from the Karlsruhe
Institute of Technology (KIT) have launched a four-year research program that aims to
improve the efficiency of organic solar cells to more than 10 percent. Organic solar cells
are cheaper to produce, lighter and more flexible than traditional silicon-based solar
cells, opening new perspectives in particular for the architectural design of buildings.
Solar modules can be integrated in facades and even windows. The downside is that the efficiency rate of OPV cells remains much lower
than inorganic solar cells, demonstrating 15-20 percent efficient. Led by Dr. Alexander
Colsmann, at KIT's Light Technology Institute, the newly-launched project uses tandem
architectures. Two solar cells with complementary absorption characteristics are stacked
directly on top of each other to achieve better sunlight harvesting and more efficient
energy conversion. The KIT scientists said they use novel materials, develop innovative
device architectures, optimize their stability, and test the solar cells in a real-life
environment. They also intend to transfer manufacturing processes from the laboratory to
an industry-compatible production environment so as to promote future commercial use of
their results. ... Recently, Heliatek GmbH (Dresden, Germany) claimed it had pushed the
record efficiency for organic solar cells higher, achieving an efficiency of 10.7 percent
in a 1.1 square centimeter tandem cell. Measurements, led by independent test house SGS SA
(Geneva Switzerland), showed that the cell improved efficiency under low light conditions
and that the efficiency remains constant with temperature." |
"Riding on the crash in photo
voltaic (PV) panel prices, the solar power sector in
India had a dream run last year with capacity ballooning to 940MW in 2011-12 from a paltry
20MW in 2010-11. That's just statistics. What's significant and not borne out by these
statistics is the fact that the cost of power from solar is now on a par with the cost of
power from new coal-based plants. In industry
parlance, it's referred to as grid parity, considered the holy grail of solar power.
Grid-parity is the point where the cost of electricity generated from sunshine becomes
competitive with that of power produced from coal, gas, wind and hydro-based plants. ....
'If we compare the cost of power from new coal-based plants, it will be at par with that
of solar. If one takes into account the total duration of the power purchasing agreement,
which is 25 years, grid-parity is already there. Solar power needs only a one-time
investment in the form of land and PV panels. Its fuel, which is sunshine, is free unlike
coal where price will head only northwards,' said Gaurav Sood, managing director,
Solairedirect, a solar power producer. ... Three years ago, the cost of generating a unit
of solar energy was around Rs 18. In fact, solar has already taken over diesel as a
cheaper form of energy and a lot of telecom towers are now being run on solar power. In
recent years, there has been a sharp decline in capital costs for solar PV plants. PV
module prices have fallen a sharp 80% in the last five years and 30% during last year
alone." |
"Invisible solar cells have been a popular subject in the realms of
science and technology lately. The prospect of a solar energy system that is imperceptible
to the eye is alluring because of its many possible applications. Invisible solar cells
could be used on nearly any surface, such as windows, enabling them to harvest solar
energy. New Energy Technologies, a company specializing in the research and development of
transparent
solar panels, has been a pioneer in this sector and has announced its latest
breakthrough. The company has made a breakthrough in
the manufacturing technique it uses to create its invisible solar cells. With the aid of
researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, New Energy Technologies was
able to lower the materials costs of its production method as well as adopt a new
technique that is expected to increase the efficiency of the solar cells the company
produces. More efficient solar energy technology is
expected to bring more attention and support to the alternative energy." |
"Developers installed 85 percent
more solar panels in the U.S. in the first quarter than a year earlier, led by strong growth in commercial projects and demand in New Jersey, according
to the Solar
Energy Industries Association. Total U.S. installations were 506 megawatts in the
quarter and may reach 3,300 megawatts this year, about 11 percent of the 2012 global
market, the Washington-based trade group said today in its quarterly market report. That
will make the U.S. the fourth-largest solar market this year, and one of the few countries
where growth is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, according to GTM
Research, a Boston consulting company that prepared the report with SEIA. Falling prices
are making solar energy an economical energy choice for U.S. homeowners and businesses.
'The economics have improved dramatically, with companies realizing it’s a good hedge
against rising energy prices,' Rhone Resch, chief executive officer of SEIA, said in an
interview." |
"Global investment in renewable
energy reached a record $257 billion last year, with solar attracting more than half the
total, according to a U.N. report released Monday. Investment in solar energy surged to $147 billion in 2011, a year-on-year
increase of 52% thanks to strong demand for rooftop photovoltaic installations in Germany,
Italy, China and Britain. China was responsible for almost a fifth of the total investment
volume, spending $52 billion on renewable energy last year. The United
States was close behind with investments of $51 billion, as developers sought to
benefit from government incentive programs before they expired. Germany, Italy and India
rounded out the top five. Large-scale solar thermal installations in Spain and the United
States also contributed to growth during a fiercely competitive year for the solar
industry. Several large American and German manufacturers fell victim to price pressure
from Chinese rivals that helped to halve the cost of photovoltaic modules in 2011.
The report's authors said the demise of companies such as Solyndra, Evergreen Solar,
SpectraWatt, Solar Millenium and Solon was a sign that the solar industry is maturing. 'In
1903, the United States had over 500 car companies, most of which quickly fell by the
wayside even as the automobile sector grew into an industrial juggernaut,' the report
said. 'Today, the renewable energy sector is experiencing similar growing pains as the
sector consolidates.' Wind power investment slipped 12% to $84 billion due to uncertainty
about energy policy in Europe and fewer new installations in China, according to the
report. Overall investment in renewable energy grew 17%, a slowdown from the 37% increase
in 2010. Still, the head of the U.N. Environment Program claimed the latest figures are an
indication that renewable energy is drawing level with fossil fuels in some markets.
'These trends are real, they are substantive and they are transformative,' Achim
Steiner told reporters in a conference call." |
"Australia will go ahead with a
A$450 million ($446 million) large-scale solar energy project to be built at two sites in
New South Wales state, Resources Minister Martin
Ferguson said on Saturday. The 159 megawatt project will be undertaken by solar
photovoltaic manufacturer First Solar and gas retailer AGL Energy and should be completed
by the end of 2015, Ferguson said in a statement. The project will benefit from a
government grant of nearly A$130 million, announced on Saturday, and will be built at the
inland towns of Broken Hill and Nyngan. It should produce enough electricity to power
about 30,000 homes, the minister said." |
"One of the biggest challenges facing the silicon photovoltaic
industry is making solar cells that are economically viable. To meet this goal, the module
cost, which is currently about $1/watt, needs to be decreased to just half that. Much of
this cost comes from the silicon material and the expensive fabrication processes often
used. In a new study, a team of scientists and engineers has demonstrated that a hybrid
solar cell covered in silicon nanocones and a conductive organic polymer can address both
cost-cutting areas while providing excellent performance. The researchers, led by
Professor Yi Cui and Professor Michael D. McGehee from Stanford University, have published
their study in a recent issue of Nano Letters..... After testing the solar cell and making some improvements, the
researchers produced a device with an efficiency of 11.1%, which is the highest among
hybrid silicon/organic solar cells to date. In
addition, the short-circuit current density, which indicates the largest current that the
solar cell can generate, is only slightly lower than the world record for a
monocrystalline silicon solar cell, and very close to the theoretical limit. Due to the
hybrid silicon nanocone-polymer solar cells’ good performance and inexpensive
processing, the researchers predict that they could one day be used as economically viable
photovoltaic devices." |
"German solar power plants
produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power
stations at full capacity - through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a
renewable energy think tank said. The German government decided to abandon nuclear power
after the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, closing eight plants immediately and
shutting down the remaining nine by 2022. They will be replaced by renewable energy
sources such as wind, solar and bio-mass. Norbert
Allnoch, director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster,
said the 22 gigawatts of solar power per hour fed into the national grid on Saturday met
nearly 50 percent of the nation's midday electricity needs. 'Never
before anywhere has a country produced as much photovoltaic electricity,' Allnoch told Reuters. '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.'...The record-breaking
amount of solar power shows one of the world's leading industrial nations was able to meet
a third of its electricity needs on a work day, Friday, and nearly half on Saturday when
factories and offices were closed....Government-mandated
support for renewables has helped Germany became a world leader in renewable energy and
the country gets about 20 percent of its overall annual electricity from those sources.
Germany has nearly as much installed solar power generation capacity as the rest of the
world combined and gets about four percent of its overall annual electricity needs from
the sun alone." |
"An experimental solar-powered
airplane took off from Switzerland on its first transcontinental flight Thursday, aiming
to reach North Africa next week. Pilot Andre
Borschberg planned to take the jumbo jet-size Solar Impulse plane on its first leg to
Madrid, Spain, by Friday. His colleague Bertrand Piccard will take the helm of the
aircraft for the second stretch of its 2,500-kilometer (1,554-mile) journey to the
Moroccan capital Rabat. Fog on the runaway at its home base in Payerne, Switzerland,
delayed the take off by two hours, demonstrating how susceptible the prototype
single-seater aircraft is to adverse weather. 'We can't fly into clouds because it was not
designed for that,' Borschberg said as he piloted the lumbering plane with its 63-meter
(207-foot) wingspan toward the eastern French city of Lyon at a cruising speed of just 70
kilometers an hour (43.5 mph). Before landing in Madrid in the early hours of Friday,
Borschberg will face other challenges, including having to overfly the Pyrenees mountains
that separate France and Spain. Just in case things go disastrously wrong, Borschberg has
a parachute inside his tiny cabin that he hopes never to use. 'When you take an umbrella
it never rains,' he joked in a satellite call with The Associated Press." |
"California is poised to more
than double its targeted electricity output from rooftop solar panels. The state Public
Utilities Commission on Thursday tweaked its rules to authorize an increase in the number
of residential, commercial and government buildings that can participate in a program that
allows solar users to lower their electricity bills by getting credit for excess power
sent back to the grid. The move raises the maximum
total capacity of all the state's rooftop solar systems to about 5,200 megawatts from a
current 2,400 megawatts. That's enough new electricity to power about 2.1 million
homes." |
"Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil
exporter, may finally be getting serious about overcoming the technical and financial
hurdles for tapping its other main resource: sunshine. Thousands of solar power panels
have sprung up across Europe over the past few years, thanks to generous subsidies that
make the technology an attractive alternative to conventional energy. Saudi Arabia too,
wants to generate much more solar power as it lacks coal or enough natural gas output to
meet rapidly rising power demand. Doing so would allow it to slash the volume of oil it
burns in power plants bankrolled by billions of dollars worth of saved oil earnings. 'At world market prices,
solar is competitive if you use crude oil to generate electricity,' said Maher al-Odan, a
senior consultant at King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Research (KA-CARE) which
was set up to plan Saudi Arabia's energy mix. Saudi
Arabia has said it wants to become a major solar producer before, but its investments
amount to much less than 50 megawatts versus several countries which have added thousands
of megawatts a year. This month, KA-CARE set forth a much more ambitious plan,
recommending that the kingdom aim to get more than a third of its peak-load power supply,
or about 41 gigawatts (GW), from the sun within two decades at an estimated cost well over
$100 billion. Making the plan work economically
rests on three assumptions: that technology improvements will cut costs, that a domestic
solar industry will emerge and create jobs for a booming population, and that many
billions of dollars worth of exportable oil will be saved. An average of 700,000 barrels a
day of crude were used in Saudi power stations during the peak air-conditioning demand
period from May to September last year, according to official data supplied to the Joint
Organisations Data Initiative (JODI)." |
"An Israeli solar company says
it has raised more than $200 million to build eight solar energy fields in the country's
southern desert. Arava Power Co. says the deal is by
far the biggest ever in Israel's solar power industry. Arava Power's chief executive, Jon
Cohen, said Tuesday the installations, to be built in southern Israel's Negev desert, are
'another step toward energy independence for Israel and a greener future for generations
to come.' The company says the fields will generate 58.5 megawatts of power. Investors
include the Noy investment fund, French energy company EDF, Bank Hapoalim, Israeli insurer
Migdal and pension fund manager Amitim. Israel hopes to generate 10 percent of its power
from renewable sources by 2020." |
"Electric cars are far more expensive to buy than their petrol
equivalents, largely because the cost of the lithium-ion battery that powers the vehicle
is so high – currently about $12,000. But the
fuel costs of electric vehicles are already far lower than for petrol-powered ones. In the
US, for example, the petrol for an average car costs about 8 cents per kilometre, compared
with less than 2 cents for the electricity to power an electric car. In Europe, where fuel tax is higher, the numbers are 12.5 cents and 2.5
cents, respectively. Either way, that is a huge gap. So for electric vehicles to compete
on price, battery costs need only fall far enough to be swallowed by that gap, and Galves
believes that it is likely to happen sooner than most people think. First, he expects the costs of batteries to plummet as mass
production ramps up – just as they did for laptops – to less than $7000 by 2015.
Second, the gap is likely to widen with most analysts expecting oil prices to keep rising.
'On a 10-to-15-year view, it’s almost impossible for electrification not to carve out
a decent portion of the market,' says Galves, who expects electric vehicles to be economic
within a decade even without the subsidies that many governments currently give. The
effect of falling electric vehicle costs will be reinforced by strengthening fuel
efficiency and emissions policies in the world’s most important car markets. The policies of the world’s biggest gas guzzler will soon be among
the toughest. In 1975, US president Jimmy Carter passed a law forcing vehicle
manufacturers in the US to meet average fuel efficiency standards. For cars, that number
has languished at around 27 miles per gallon (11.5 kilometres per litre) since the early
1990s, but recent legislation means average fuel economy must double to 54.5 mpg by 2025.
The standard has been rising since 1978, and by 2020 the targets become so demanding, says
Galves, that car manufacturers will not be able to meet them without selling a significant
number of electric vehicles. Galves expects them to make up a fifth of US car sales in
2020. The impact will be dramatic. Every day, US
vehicles guzzle about 9 million barrels of oil – the biggest single element in our
daily global consumption of almost 90 million barrels (see chart, top left). Deutsche Bank
oil analysts expect US petrol consumption to plummet, almost halving by 2030. The story is the same in the European Union, which regulates carbon
dioxide emissions per kilometre rather than miles per gallon. Cars manufactured there in
2020 must reduce their average emissions by more than a quarter compared with models made
in 2015. Such standards will especially encourage electrification because they govern
'tailpipe' emissions pumped out in the day-to-day running of car engines and not those
emitted while they are being built. By this measure, electric vehicles are zero emission. Deutsche Bank expects them to make up 25 per cent of
Europe’s car sales in 2020, accelerating the decline in demand for petrol. So much for the world’s richer nations. In China, where the
developing car market is booming, the demand for petrol will continue to rise for at least
a decade. Yet the global impact will be limited because the size of China’s car fleet
is currently just a fifth of that of the US. The Chinese government too is strongly
committed to electric vehicles as one way of tackling appalling air quality in the cities
and the country’s dependence on imported oil. Deutsche
Bank forecasts that Chinese petrol demand will start to fall from 2025, as electric
vehicles become more common. The net effect is that global petrol demand will peak as
early as 2015. 'From that point forward,' writes Deutsche Bank’s lead oil analyst
Paul Sankey in a research note. 'We believe gasoline demand will be on an inexorable and
accelerating decline.' And as a result, he argues, global demand for crude oil will go the
same way in about 2020. Others disagree with Deutsche Bank’s analysis. The
International Energy Agency has long been dismissive about predictions of an early peak in
the global oil supply. It is just as dismissive that demand will decline within the next
couple of decades. It forecasts that daily oil demand will rise to 107 million barrels by
2035 on the basis of current government policies. Fatih Birol, the agency’s chief
economist, believes that there are simply too many cars in the world – about a
billion and rising – for electric vehicles to have a meaningful impact in the short
term. Although most governments have policies to encourage electrification, they are very
unlikely to achieve their targets. Even if they do, says Birol, the number of electric
vehicles on the road in 2020 will be just 20 million – about 2 per cent of the total
fleet. Stefanie Lang, a London-based automobile
analyst at investment-research firm Sanford C. Bernstein, agrees that electric vehicles
will make only limited progress over the next 10 to 15 years. She argues that they will
struggle because they will remain far too expensive and will face fierce competition from
the incumbent technology – the internal combustion engine. Even after a century of development, the internal combustion
engine has the capacity to make major improvements in fuel economy, says Lang, rattling
off three examples. .... So what does the motor
industry itself think lies ahead? That the internal combustion engine’s days are
numbered, for one thing. In a recent survey, consultants KPMG asked 200 top executives of
car companies how long they thought the traditional engine would continue to prevail over
electric vehicles. Some 70 per cent answered 1 to 10 years, but only 18 per cent thought
10 to 20 years. One reason for the result could be that electrification is now widely seen
as the best way to make major reductions in transport emissions, even taking into account
the emissions from generating the electricity in the first place. That is because electric vehicles are far more efficient than petrol cars. Take
the Nissan Leaf. It is responsible for just 99 grams of CO2 per kilometre, even when
charged on electricity generated by the average mix of coal, natural gas, nuclear and
renewables. That makes it 40 per cent cleaner than a typical petrol car in Europe. And as
electricity generation becomes cleaner, the emissions of electric vehicles will fall
further still – unlike those of cars powered by biofuel or natural gas (see New
Scientist, 25 February, p 48)." |
"The world's solar power
generating capacity will grow by between 200 and 400 percent over the next five years,
with Asia and other emerging markets overtaking leadership from Europe, a European
industry association said on Monday. 'Europe has
dominated the global PV (photovoltaic) market for years but the rest of the world clearly
has the biggest potential for growth,' the European Photovoltaic Industry Association
(EPIA) said in its market outlook until 2016. The fastest PV capacity growth is expected
in China and India, followed by the southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and
North Africa in the next five years, said the report distributed at a PV conference in
northern Italy. Global installed PV capacity, which
turns sunlight into power, is expected to have risen to between 207.9 gigawatts and 342.8
GW in 2016, depending on the level of political support, from 69.7 GW in 2011, the report said. This year, the world's total PV capacity is expected to
rise to between 90 and 110 GW, EPIA's Secretary General Reinhold Buttgereit told the
conference." |
"German solar installations may
have more than tripled in the first quarter from a year ago, the country’s deputy environment minister said. 'The first quarter
had big installations,” Katherina Reiche said today in an interview during an
informal meeting of ministers in Denmark. 'It is assumed that nearly 1,800 megawatts were installed.' Germany added 513 megawatts
in the same period last year, according to the Bundesnetzagentur grid regulator." |
"China, the world’s biggest
emitter of greenhouse
gases, said it will provide financial support and individual subsidies to promote the
use and development of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The government will broaden pilot programs, build recharging facilities
and develop a plan to recycle batteries, as part of a drive to have 500,000 such vehicles
by 2015, rising to 5 million by 2020, the State Council, or cabinet, said in astatement posted on its website yesterday." |
"Thin-film solar panels may
perform better in hot climates than rival crystalline products, based on half a year of
data from the first Indian projects, an executive at the nation’s largest contractor
on the developments said. 'The last six months for which we have data show that the
performance of crystalline in hot climates is not as efficient as thin film,' said S.N.
Subrahmanyan, senior executive vice president of construction at Larsen
& Toubro Ltd. (LT) 'Of course, it’s
still early days. But that’s what we’re seeing.' Concerns over use of thin-film
panels were raised as First Solar Inc. (FSLR), the
largest supplier, in February boosted provisions for warranties by $37.8 million due to
potential for 'increased failure rates in hot climates.' Developers and their lenders are
seeking data on how technologies fare in warmer conditions as Europe, the biggest solar
market, cuts renewables subsidies. Traditional crystalline modules are silicon-based,
while thin-film technology coats panels with materials such as cadmium telluride, copper
indium gallium selenide and amorphous silicon. Crystalline’s competitiveness matches
thin-film when placed on trackers to rotate panels with the sun’s movement, boosting
output as much as 20 percent, Subrahmanyan said in an interview." |
"The average price of an
electric vehicle-grade battery fell 14 percent year-on-year to $689 per kilowatt hour in
the first quarter as manufacturing capacity outstripped demand, a report by Bloomberg New
Energy Finance said on Tuesday.Lower battery costs for electric vehicles could improve
their commercial uptake, which has been slow. The
United States wants to see up to 1 million electric and plug-in hybrids on its roads by
the middle of next decade. To help achieve this goal, the U.S. government has spent over
$2 billion under President Obama to underwrite domestic battery production and billions
more to finance electric car development to cut U.S. oil
imports and reduce pollution. But electric vehicles such as Mitsubishi Motor Corp.'s
iMiEV, Nissan Leaf or Tesla Model S to travel longer distances need to store 16 to 85 kWh
at a cost of $11,200 to $34,000, which is around 25 percent of the total cost of the
vehicle. A Tesla car with an 85 kWh battery, for example, has a range of about 300 miles
before it needs to recharge. Battery prices for plug-in hybrid vehicles such as GM's Volt
are on average 67 percent higher than those for electric-only vehicles, mainly due to the
greater power-to-energy performance required for plug-in hybrid vehicles." |
"Solar energy is gaining
momentum around the world, especially in Japan, where the solar market is experiencing a
period of rapid growth. Japan has long been
interested in alternative energy because of its economic and environmental implications.
The country is home to one of the most ambitious and powerful hydrogen energy systems, the
ENE-FARM, and has been using geothermal energy for decades. Solar power is not new to the
Land of the Rising Sun, but it has been growing in popularity over the past year. The
Kyocera Solar Corporation, a leading manufacturer of solar panels, has released
information concerning the growth of the solar industry." |
"California may be the solar
Promised Land but Delaware is where those big green dreams go to die. On Monday, Solar
Trust of America became the latest solar developer to file for bankruptcy in Delaware
federal court, putting into jeopardy photovoltaic power plant projects utilities were
counting on to generate 2,000 megawatts of electricity – enough to light hundreds of
thousands of homes at peak output. Among the
projects was what would have been the world’s largest solar station, the Blythe
Solar Power Project, a 1,000-megawatt power plant to be built in the Mojave Desert
that had received a $2.1 billion federal loan guarantee offer. Solar Trust’s parent
company, German developer Solar Millennium, filed
for bankruptcy in Germany in December and moved to sell its U.S pipeline of projects
to a German photovoltaic power plant developer called Solarhybrid. Then late last month
Solarhybrid itself sought bankruptcy protection, citing a cutback in German subsidies for
solar energy. According Solar Trust’s bankruptcy filings, the company has liabilities
of $20 million and missed a $1 million rent payment on April 1 to the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management for the 7,025-acre Blythe site. Solar Trust this week faces deadlines to pay
$30.9 million in security deposits to related to its right to connect its projects to the
power grid." |
"President Obama
visited a dusty, desert town 30 miles outside Las Vegas Wednesday to declare he's doubling
down on federal efforts to boost the solar industry.
Republicans believe Obama is gambling with taxpayer dollars as he continues to
aggressively push alternative forms of energy after the failure of Solyndra, which
resulted in the loss of half a billion dollars in taxpayer dollars." |
"In a move with potential to
spark a trade war, the Commerce
Department ruled Tuesday that US solar panel manufacturers are being victimized by
Chinese manufacturers dumping cheap panels in North America
that were unfairly subsidized by the Chinese government. Amid an ongoing investigation, Commerce determined that Chinese producers
and exporters have received subsidies ranging from 2.90 percent to 4.73 percent, a smaller
advantage over US manufacturers than many analysts had expected. Commerce will now direct
tariffs to be collected on Chinese imports. The Obama
administration argues that dumping of under-priced solar panels is a violation of World Trade Organization rules that has come at a high cost to US panel
manufacturers. Several have already been forced to close domestic manufacturing facilities
even though 2011 was one of the best years ever for US solar panel sales. While the US
remains a leader in the production of thin film – an advanced type of solar-electric
panel technology – at least 12 US manufacturers that made more conventional
photovoltaic panels have laid off employees, shut down plants or filed for bankruptcy
during the past two years, according to the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing.
The group of seven US manufacturers filed trade petitions last year against two Chinese
silicon solar PV manufacturers, leading to the Commerce investigation." |
"The national solar industry
installed a record number of panels in 2011, more than double 2010, and is likely to see
strong growth again this year, according to a new report.Solar installers built 1,855
megawatts of photovoltaic projects in 2011 for a total of $8.4 billion, up from 887 MW in
2010, according to a report released by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries
Association (SEIA). The growth in U.S. demand comes
as the makers of the panels that turn light into electricity have struggled to earn
profits amid a glut of supplies on the global market that eroded margins." |
"China is aiming to reduce the
cost of domestic solar power and expand the domestic market to better develop the
photovoltaic (PV) industry during the 12th Five-Year-Plan period (2011-15), said the
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Friday. According to the industry plan announced by the ministry, the country will
reduce the cost of solar power to 0.8 yuan (12 US cents) per kilowatt-hour by 2015 and 0.6
yuan per kWh by 2020 and increase production of solar panels." |
"Solar-power capacity in Ukraine is forecast to
double this year, spurred by the completion of Europe’s biggest photovoltaic plant in
December and incentives a third higher than anywhere else in the region. Developers in the former Soviet republic may add panels with 300
megawatts of capacity after last year installing about 200 megawatts, according to the
Association of Alternative Fuels and Energy Market Participants, the main lobby group
tracking PV installations in the nation. It had just 2.5 megawatts in 2010. .... President
Viktor Yanukovych’s efforts to develop Ukraine’s renewable energy industry
contrast with steps to rein in solar subsidies in Germany, Italy and Spain after incentives for
the industry pushed installations past government targets." |
"..... analyst firm Bloomberg
New Energy Finance (BNEF) is now predicting that substantial penetration of energy storage
technologies into national grids is likely to be led by an expected drop in battery prices
over the next few years. According to a new report from the firm, grid-scale lithium-ion
battery projects today cost more than $1,000/kWh, but with battery manufacturing capacity
likely to outstrip supply in the short term, BNEF forecast prices will drop over the next
36 months and reach $600/kWh by 2015. The report
argues that falling prices mean using storage systems to manage energy prices, buying
energy at periods of low demand and then storing it for use during peak periods could make
economic sense for large power consumers within the next year and for smaller consumers by
2016. Significant growth is also expected for pumped hydro and flywheel energy storage
systems, meaning that by 2020 energy storage could be in widespread use in the UK across
the transmission and distribution systems, and even co-located with
wind farms and solar parks. However, BNEF warns that changes in government policy, such as
allowing transmission and distribution utilities to sell stored electricity to National
Grid, will be needed to realise the benefits of bringing more renewable energy online and
allowing commercial users to avoid having to purchase power at the most expensive times of
day." |
"SolarFocus's SolarKindle case
is a charger for Amazon's Kindle e-reader which 'tops up' the gadget with the sun. One
hour's direct sun can provide three days' reading -
so lucky users in warm countries may never have to visit a power socket again. Once the
gadget's topped up, the SolarKindle diverts power to a backup battery - eight hours will
fully charge the backup , which offers roughly three weeks' use. The battery also powers
an LED light." |
"Germany saw solar output rise a
record 60 per cent last year to more than 18 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, according to new figures from the German Solar
Industry Association (BSW-Solar). The trade body said the output was equivalent to the
entire electricity consumption of the state of Thuringia and could theoretically provide
clean power to 5.1 million households for an entire year." |
EARLIER SOLAR NEWS - CLICK HERE |
 |
"This is Europe's
first commercially operating power station using the Sun's energy this way and at the
moment its operator, Solucar, proudly claims that it generates 11 Megawatts (MW) of
electricity without emitting a single puff of greenhouse gas. This current figure is
enough to power up to 6,000 homes. But ultimately, the entire plant should generate as much power as is used by the 600,000 people of Seville. It works by focusing the reflected rays on one location, turning water
into steam and then blasting it into turbines to generate power..... The vision is of the
sun-blessed lands of the Mediterranean - even the Sahara desert - being carpeted with
systems like this with the power cabled to the drizzlier lands of northern Europe. A
dazzling idea in a dazzling location." To View More Images - Click Here |
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NLPWESSEX,
natural law publishing |
