Free solar power - too good to be true?
You can generate energy at home for FREE and have solar panels at no extra cost.
YOU know the old adage – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So when Consumerwatch heard that solar panels were being fitted for free, we immediately asked: "What is the catch?"
For those who simply want to realise a dream by becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, then there is no catch.
You get to help the planet by harnessing sunlight that in turn cuts your bills – an average three or four bedroom house would save £150 on electricity, according to the Energy Saving Trust.
The company benefits as it gets to cash in on any extra electricity that you generate and fail to use by selling it back to the national grid.
Feed-In Tariffs (FIT) work out how much green energy has been pumped back into the national pot.
And it seems that this is where the real money-making potential lies for anyone investing in sun energy.
Continue
readingLabels: solar cells, Solar News, Solar power
Solar plane set for night flight
A solar-powered plane is getting ready to hit the skies once again - this time, at night.
It will be the first ever manned night flight on a plane propelled exclusively by solar energy.
Solar Impulse will lift off from an airfield in Switzerland, on a sunny day sometime at the end of June.
It will then fly around, charging the solar cells on the plane's wings, in a bid to store enough energy for the electric motors to last until dawn.
The aim of the project's founders, Andre Borschberg and round-the-world balloonist Bertrand Piccard, is to show that a solar-powered craft is able to fly day and night - and eventually long-distance flights - without any fuel.
SourceLabels: solar cells, Solar News, solar plane, Solar power, Solar Technology
Panasonic Entry into Solar Power
The Panasonic Group will launch on July 1, 2010 its HIT(R) 215 Series* household solar power generation systems, the first series of collaborative products to be developed since SANYO became a part of the Group. The launch signifies how the newly extended group has combined its collective strengths for a full-scale entry into the solar cell business.
Since the announcement of the capital and business partnership with SANYO in December 2008, Panasonic has established a Collaboration Committee and promoted discussions, under all applicable laws and regulations, to maximize the potential synergy effects within the new Panasonic Group. Following the subsequent formalization of this takeover on December 21, 2009, 27 different sub-working groups have engaged in more advanced discussions, and the HIT 215 Series household solar power generation systems, featuring HIT 215 solar power generation modules with the world's highest-level energy conversion efficiency, represent the first tangible fruit of these collaborative efforts.
The new products combine SANYO's solar power generation modules with Panasonic's energy management technology, construction materials, and electrical technology, and will be broadly promoted across the companies' various sales routes, including home appliances, electrical and construction products. In doing so, the Panasonic Group is seeking to maximize its combined strengths to achieve significant business expansion within the rapidly growing solar power generation market, and aims to establish a position as the top manufacturer in the market with a target share in Japan of at least 35% by 2012.
SourceLabels: Panasonic, solar cells, Solar Energy, Solar power
Solar Energy Could Provide 25% Of World Electricity
The International Energy Agency (IEA) presented two new analyses in Valencia, Spain this week, a Solar Photovoltaic Energy Technology Roadmap and a Concentrating Solar Power Technology Roadmap. 1bog reports.
A key long-term finding from these analyses is that 20-25% of global electricity production could be from solar electricity by 2050.
Some interesting charts:
SourceLabels: solar charts, Solar Energy prices, Solar power, Solar Technology
Dazzling future for Solar Power
"Concentrating solar power plants like the PS10 near Seville, Spain may provide around 10 percent of world electricity by 2050"
Solar power is expected to provide almost a quarter of the world's electricity supplies by 2050, according to a new report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Eleven percent of total supplies are predicted to come from solar panels on homes and offices while a further 11 percent will be provided by central solar power stations feeding clean electricity to populous areas.
Solar power currently accounts for 0.5 percent of total electricity supplies, but this will need to rise if cuts in carbon emissions are to be achieved, according to the IEA.
Executive director of the IEA, Nobuo Tanaka said in a statement: "The combination of solar photovoltaics and concentrating solar power offers considerable prospects for enhancing energy security while reducing energy-related CO2 emissions by almost six billion tonnes per year by 2050."
The future success of solar power stations (known as Concentrating Solar Power or CSP) will depend on the development of "dedicated transport lines," but the IEA predict that it could become competitive with coal and nuclear power plants by 2030.
The IEA expects North America to be the largest producer of CSP electricity, followed by India and North Africa -- which will likely export half of its output to Europe.
Source:
CNNLabels: Global Solar Energy, Solar Energy, Solar power, Solar Technology
Ningguo City could be first solar-powered city in China
A Chinese tellurium mining company, Apollo Solar Energy, has signed a non-binding letter of intent with the Ningguo Municipal Government to begin a joint venture to design, build and run a 30x50 square kilometre solar city in Anhui Province, China.
The letter presents Apollo with the chance to become a 51% shareholder with the Ningguo City Investment Company, which could lead to proving how cost-efficient the use of solar energy for an entire community could be. Other investors would own 49 percent of the ventures shares between them.
As it stands, if the plans go ahead, Ningguo will be the first city in China to use solar power as its number one source of energy. Apollo's eventual aim, it says, is to make a completely zero-emission city in China. It won't be easy, though: it's believed that the entire project including a 10 GW grid-connected solar power station, will take up to 8 years and costs up to $14 billion.
SourceLabels: China, Solar power, Solar Powered, Solar Technology
Evergreen Solar says 1Q revenue was $78.5 million
Evergreen Solar Inc. said Monday that its first-quarter revenue was about $78.5 million, higher than analysts expected and 44 percent above its revenue a year earlier.
The company, which makes solar-power products using silicon wafers, did not forecast its profit.
In the same period a year earlier, the company lost $64.3 million, and analysts were expecting it to report an adjusted loss of 9 cents per share, or nearly $19 million, for the quarter that ended April 3.
Evergreen is scheduled to report first-quarter results May 4.
The company said it shipped enough products to generate about 35.4 megawatts of power, or about enough to power 35,000 homes.
The average selling price in the first quarter was about $2.20 per watt, about 4 percent less the previous quarter. Evergreen said its manufacturing costs were $2.05 per watt, flat with the fourth quarter.
Evergreen expects to produce 37 megawatts to 38 megawatts in the second quarter.
Its shares rose 6 cents to $1.18 in regular trading Monday and another 9 cents in extended trading after release of the revenue estimate.
Source: businessweek.com
Labels: Earnings, ESLR, Evergreen Solar, Solar power, Solar Stocks
JA Solar Raises Shipment Guidance
With the positive news from JASO, not only is the best solar stock performance in these last weeks, but managed to uplift the whole sector with gains above 5% in many of the leading solar stocks.
JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: JASO), a leading manufacturer of high-performance solar products, today announced revised guidance for its first quarter ended March 31, 2010. Based on current customer orders and product deliveries, JA Solar now projects first quarter shipments to exceed 265MW, above the high-end of its previous guidance of 215MW to 225MW given on Feb. 11, 2010.
"During the first quarter, we saw robust demand from existing and new customers," said Dr. Peng Fang, CEO of JA Solar. "By streamlining the company's existing solar cell manufacturing facility, JA Solar is able to achieve higher than expected production to meet strong customer orders. We also won several new European customers during the quarter, which further diversified our customer base and provides better visibility for the full year."
...
The company expects to report its first quarter results in mid-May, and plans to provide guidance for the second quarter of 2010 and updated full-year 2010 guidance at that time.
Source: PR Newswire
Labels: JA Solar Holdings Co., JASO, solar charts, Solar power, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology
Solar Pebble could light the way for rural Africans
A solar-charged light might seem like just another green gadget to the average American, but for families in rural Africa, it could prove revolutionary.
Product design consultancy Plus Minus Design is vying to replace unsustainable and potentially dangerous lanterns in the homes of off-grid Africans with the Solar Pebble. Engineered with the economic constraints of developing-world citizens in mind, the Solar Pebble will provide one hour of LED light for every two hours of charge, and will cost only $2.70 to manufacture.
Source:
CNETLabels: solar panels, Solar power, Solar Technology
Egypt eyes solar power exports, costs too high now
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt, which plans to start its first solar power unit in 2010, said on Tuesday it wanted to expand solar power production for export but that costs of the technology would need to fall first to make it feasible.
The North African country, a gas and oil producer, aims to generate 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. It already has installed wind capacity of 430 megawatts and is adding 120 megawatts by mid 2010.
Wind farms are expected to meet 12 percent of Egypt's power needs by 2020 but solar power projects have lagged.
"Solar energy is four times as expensive as energy generated from combined cycles so when this figure starts going down to three or two times as much, this is when we will see developing countries go heavily into the business," Electricity and Energy Minister Hassan Younes told Reuters.
Source: Reuters
Labels: Solar News, Solar power, Solar Projects
India unveils plans for massive solar power boost
India has approved plans for a huge increase in the amount of electricity it generates from solar power.
It aims to boost solar output 1,000-fold over 12 years from its current negligible level. Its 20 gigawatt target would power several big cities.
The government wants to reduce India's dependence on coal and boost the export industry for solar power equipment.
Critics say solar power will supplement - and not replace - fossil fuels even under India's most ambitious plans.
Concerns over land
"The cabinet gave its approval for launching of the Jawaharlal Nehru national solar mission, Solar India," Information Minister Ambika Soni said in Delhi.
The $19bn (£12bn) three-phased plan aims to boost solar power output across the country from close to zero to 20 gigawatts by 2022.
It is hugely ambitious and has been welcomed by the country's renewable energy suppliers, although some say it is unclear where the money will come from, says the BBC's technology correspondent Mark Gregory.
Source:
BBC.co.ukLabels: Solar Energy, Solar News, Solar power, Solar Projects
Suntech Power to Develop 20% of China's Solar Rooftop Program
Suntech Power (STP) continues to gain more solar contracts in their home country, China:
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP), the world's leading manufacturer of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules, today announced that it expects to develop approximately 20% of the 91MW of solar projects that were approved under China's Solar Rooftop Program.
China's Solar Rooftop Program, which was launched in March this year by the Ministry of Finance, is designed to increase the energy efficiency of buildings through the installation of building-attached and building- integrated PV solar systems. The first set of applications was submitted in April, and recently 111 solar projects totaling 91MW across China were approved to receive funds through the program. The system owners are expected to receive a 13-17RMB per watt rebate for all projects approved through the program. Suntech targets to develop approximately 20% of the successful applications and will also participate as the system owner or partial investor in some projects. Suntech has completed 4MW of its approved projects and plans to develop the remainder by mid-2010. Specific project agreements will be signed prior to implementation.
"Building energy use accounts for roughly 28% of total energy consumption in China and is a critical front in the drive to achieve higher energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions," said Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech's Chairman and CEO.
Labels: China, Solar power, Solar Projects, Solar Stocks, STP, Suntech Power
Sahara Desert Solar Power
FRANKFURT -- An international consortium devoted to creating an ambitious solar-power project in the Sahara Desert took the first formal steps of its plan Friday by forming a closely held company and appointing a chief executive.
The creation of the company, dubbed DII GmbH, by an industrial consortium called Desertec Industrial Initiative, is a first step in its plans to cover 16,900 square kilometers of desert with solar thermal power stations - which use the sun to generate heat which is then used to generate electricity. The aim is to provide as much as 15% of Europe's electricity by 2050, as well supplying the growing energy needs in North Africa and the Middle East.
The company also appointed Paul van Son, an executive with around 30 years of experience in management of the European energy industry, as its CEO. He has been managing director of Deutsche Essent GmbH, a German unit of Dutch Essent NV, which has recently been bought by RWE AG, and Dutch Econcern NV. Both companies are developers of renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. Van Son is also chairman of the European Federation of Energy Traders and chairman of the Energy4All Foundation, which is active in Africa.
The Club of Rome, a global think tank connected with the project, in a recent study estimated that roughly €400 billion would be needed for the project; €350 billion for the solar power plants and another €50 billion for the high-voltage direct current transmission lines to transport the electricity from northern Africa to Europe.
The initiative was started in July and backed by 12 companies - including financial and power majors such as Germany's Deutsche Bank AG, Siemens AG, RWE AG, ABB Ltd. and E.On AG, Spain's Abengoa Solar and Algeria's Cevital.
Labels: Solar Energy, Solar power, Solar Projects
Solar cell powers LG e-reader
LG Display has developed a solar-powered e-reader, which it says gives a day's power after four or five hours in the sun.
The Solar Cell e-Book is based around a 100m solar cell just 0.7mm thick and weighing 20g. It fits the six-inch TFT LCD display panel which the company already produces.
Produced by placing electrodes onto a glass or plastic substrate, the cell is lighter than the standard type of crystalline solar cell based on silicon wafers, says LG, and means process efficiency can be raised through increasing the substrate size. Because the technology is similar to TFT-LCD, the entry barrier is relatively low for LCD manufacturers such as LG.
“E-books are attracting a lot of attention because they offer the advantage of storing thousands of books’ worth of contents in an easy-to-carry device. The idea of e-book combined with solar cell will offer users the added benefit of longer usage," said Ki Yong Kim, head of the Solar Cell Office at LG Display.
sourceLabels: LG, solar cells, Solar power, Solar Powered
Solar energy facts
Seen in www.bbc.co.uk:
Hydro & wind power facts
*On a sunny day at noon, each square metre of the earth's surface receives around 1 kilowatt of solar power.
*It is said that enough solar energy falls on the earth every second to provide all the world's energy needs for a year - the problem has been how to harness it.
*Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels convert sunlight directly into electricity that can be used in the home, but the panels are expensive to install.
*The initial outlay for a 1kilowatt system, which would give you enough electricity for 20 light bulbs, a fridge, a computer, 20" tv, cd player, mobile phone charger and fan, would be about $8,000.
*For generating large amounts of energy, that can feed into a grid, scientists are now looking at the potential of what's called Concentrating Solar Power.
Labels: Solar Energy, Solar News, Solar power
New World PV Efficiency Record
Making solar cells and modules as efficient at converting light to electricity as possible has been a long-standing goal in the solar photovoltaic space. Much progress has been made in the past few years, but this week world-record breaking efficiencies were reached...
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. announced that it has beaten all previous records, including its own, for multi-crystalline silicon module conversion efficiency. The new world-record conversion efficiency (aperture area only) was measured at 16.53% by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.
Suntech's world-record breaking multi-crystalline silicon module is powered by Pluto PV cells utilizing solar grade silicon with each PV cell having a conversion efficiency well over 17%.
...
Sunovia Energy Technologies Inc and EPIR Technologies, said that they have fabricated single-junction and two-junction cadmium telluride (CdTe) based solar cells that have far surpassed the long-standing world record open circuit voltage (Voc) for thin-film CdTe solar cells.
The companies' single-junction and two-junction devices exceeded the highest Voc values ever reported publicly by research institutions on thin film CdTe solar cells, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and others, by over 45%.
Full article
sourceLabels: solar cells, solar efficiency, Solar power, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology, Suntech Power
Solar Powered Catamaran
Solar panel manufacturer SunPower Corp. has announced its solar cells will be used by PlanetSolar's new solar catamaran.
Currently under construction, the motorised vessel is expected to be the largest of its kind and will be powered exclusively by SunPower's high-efficiency solar cells.
PlanetSolar is being built by Knierim Yacht Club, in Kiel, Germany. Construction of the solar powered catamaran is expected to be completed in February 2010 and PlanetSolar will then initially be sailing on the Baltic to conduct a series of tests in real-life conditions. Departure for the world tour from a Mediterranean port will occur in April 2011 and the journey is expected to comprise of around 140 days of navigation.
The catamaran will be home to two sailors during the round-the-world attempt, and can accommodate up to fifty people during the promotional trips planned at each port of call.
Approximately 38,000 of SunPower's solar cells will be included in the skin of the catamaran, with each cell offering a sunlight conversion efficiency of approximately 22 percent.
Labels: Solar power, Solar Projects, Solar Stocks, SPWRA
Solar Power News
In the news:
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. Gets Four Solar Projects In China-ReutersReuters reported that Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. reached agreements to develop four solar power plants in China. Suntech struck the 1.8 gigawatts of solar power deals with the governments of Shaanxi and Qinghai provinces as well as the Shizuishan and Panzhihua city governments. The Shaanxi development will be 300 megawatts, while the remaining three projects will be 500 MW each.
Source: Reuters
Energy Department to pay $52.5 million for 24/7 solar powerThe U.S. Department of Energy will pay $52.5 million for research, development and demonstration of concentrating solar power systems that can deliver power 24/7. Concentrating solar power systems concentrate the sun’s rays onto a fixed point and use the heat produced to create steam that turns turbines to produce energy.
SourceLabels: Solar News, Solar Plant, Solar power, solar power plants, Solar Projects, Solar Stocks
Shift in Solar Demand to Asian Heavy Weights
"Weakened demand for solar power projects in major markets like Europe and the United States as a result of the global credit crunch has resulted in production overcapacity of solar panels, says a new report by analysis firm.
As a consequence of this, says Frost & Sullivan’s Asia Pacific program manager of Energy & Power Systems Practice, Irina Sidneva, “The current financial crisis has lowered the amount of funds available for high-cost solar power projects, forcing many companies to re-evaluate their position in the key solar power markets of Europe and the United States, as well as to re-focus their strategic moves.”
SourceLabels: Solar News, Solar power, Solar Projects, Solar Stocks
The Solar Holy Grail: Grid Parity
Latest developments on Solar Panel efficiency, and the ever shrinking costs of silicon and thin film solar panels will bring someday what is known as Grid Parity, a price barrier where Solar becomes as cheap as conventional fossil fuel sources of energy(mainly the coal and gas power plants)
Moore’s law does apply to solar panel technology and grid parity might be coming sooner than later.
Some recent articles commenting on these matters:
The Shining: Solar Power, Grid Parity, and the Cost of PowerClean energy has a holy grail—the day when the electricity produced by solar panels and the like can compete dollar-for-dollar with electricity churned out by traditional power plants.
That day is getting closer all the time. But as Lux Research notes today in a new report, so-called “grid parity” isn’t a done deal yet, and still depends on such fickle factors as the amount of sunlight hitting rooftops and political will to underwrite hefty subsidies for solar power.
The Lux report, “The Slow Dawn of Grid Parity,” stresses a few main points. Solar power is now measured by the cost of the electricity it produces, rather the cost of installing the stuff in the first place.
That makes a big difference for consumers, utilities, and investors, Lux says, since it makes it a lot easier to compare apples with apples. That’s because solar power (like wind) costs a lot upfront, but has free fuel—so it looks more attractive when measured by the electricity it actually produces.
WSJ BlogsThreat to Solar Market: Government Budget WoesGrid parity represents something of a Holy Grail for solar companies — a point where they can compete on cost with conventional fossil fuel sources of energy. The race for grid parity shifted into overdrive earlier this year as a heap of new funding and the extension of tax credits were approved as part of the stimulus package. According to a new report released today from Lux Research, certain types of solar installations are now on the verge of grid parity — especially in California — but accelerating progress toward that Holy Grail has in some ways never been more at risk.
ReutersLabels: Solar Energy, Solar Market, Solar News, solar panels, Solar power, Solar Stocks
