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However, falling costs meant renewables accounted for 8.5% of the global electricity mix, up from 7.8% in 2012. Renewables accounted for 43.6% of newly installed generation capacity in 2013.
BBC News - Global dip in renewable energy investment
The new thin-film efficiency record is 20.9 percent, edging out First Solar for the world title.
Solar Frontier Grabs Thin-Film Efficiency Conversion Record From First Solar : Greentech Media
Investment banking giant Citigroup has hailed the start of the “age of renewables” in the United States, the world’s biggest electricity market, saying that solar and wind energy are becoming competitive with natural gas peaking and baseload plants. In a major new analysis released last week, Citi says the big decision-makers within the U.S. power industry are focused on securing low-cost power, fuel diversity and stable cash flows, and this is drawing them to the increasingly attractive economics of solar and wind.
Citigroup Says the ‘Age of Renewables’ Has Begun : Greentech Media
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New solar photovoltaic (PV) demand added during Q1’14 exceeded 9 GW, which was 35% more than the previous first-quarter record, set last year. In fact, every quarter in 2014 is forecast to reach new highs, with trailing 12-month demand at the end of Q1’15 forecast to exceed 50 GW for the first time, according to findings in the latest NPD Solarbuzz Quarterly report.
Record-Breaking Demand for Global Solar PV Industry in Q1’14, According to NPD Solarbuzz | Solarbuzz
The global PV supply chain has rebounded strongly from the overcapacity-induced lows of 2011 to 2013, with robust demand growth from markets such as China, Japan and the U.S. coming into contact with a fitter, leaner supply chain. With 2014 expected to be the PV market's tightest supply year in nearly half a decade, supply constraints and rising input costs are expected to result in meaningful increases in pricing across the PV value chain.
Global PV Pricing Outlook: Q2 2014 - GTM Research
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As shown in the chart, the cost of solar PV has come from -- quite literally -- off the charts less than a decade ago to a point where Bernstein says solar PV is now cheaper than oil and Asian LNG (liquefied natural gas). It does its calculations on an mmbtu basis (mmbtu is the standard unit of measure for liquid fuels, often referred to as 1 million British thermal units).
Solar’s Dramatic Price Plunge Could Trigger Energy Price Deflation : Greentech Media
When the wind blows and the sun shines in Germany, electricity prices around the country plummet. Natural gas peaker plants are not needed, as the peaks are erased and they cannot compete with renewables. But the grid still needs a whole lot of balancing resources during times that renewables dominate. That makes demand response, still a very nascent resource in Germany, even more important.
German Demand Response: Almost Ready for Prime Time : Greentech Media
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Deutsche Bank met with over 20 solar companies and policy makers in China last week and said that “the 14GW solar target would be difficult to achieve without a major near term policy change”, in a research note published today.
China Solar: China May Not Meet 14GW Target, Says Deutsche - Emerging Markets Daily - Barrons.com
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Savings can come from unexpected places, according to racking and electronics leaders at the GTM Solar Summit.
Trimming Solar Balance-of-System Costs With Electronics and Racking : Greentech Media
Technology shares, regional production trends, top suppliers, and the outlook for 2014
Global 2013 PV Module Production Hits 39.8GW; Yingli is the Shipment Leader : Greentech Media
Nomura Securities analyst Nitin Kumar says, while the solar industry is a solid long-term bet, demand this year faces key challenges. Specifically: Europe demand outlook remains weak, with Germany making unsubsidized solar expensive US ITC investigation to derail demand growth – is a negotiated settlement possible? China remains strong for now, however, distribute demand growth could keep growth slow Japan – METI getting stricter; FIT’s to be cut 10-14% y-y from 1 April 2014
China Solar: 2014 Demand Challenged And Policy Driven, Says Nomura - Emerging Markets Daily - Barrons.com
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Some utilities are beginning to accept that the future will bring big changes in the ways energy is produced and delivered, and that many communities will likely use local renewable energy sources and storage to serve their own needs. But what if that shift comes more quickly than even these forward-thinking utilities expect, extending into big towns and the suburbs of major cities, resulting in a reduction in electricity prices for nearly all consumers?
Consumers Are the Big Winners in Solar-Plus-Storage Revolution : Greentech Media
"We expect demand to increase from Q2 through Q4 after a weak Q1. The slow start to the year can be attributed to seasonal factors and markets recalibrating to the new incentive regime," said James. "We anticipate an upwards revision to the 6-gigawatt feed-in tariff allocation for utility projects, driven by strong demand and the direct involvement of the Chinese Development Bank in downstream financing." James adds, "Trina has completed and announced new projects and expects strong demand from China through 2014. Jinko has secured significant financing from the CDB and is connecting projects."
Global Solar Demand Grows in Russia, Surges in Chile, Stumbles in India and Marches On in China : Greentech Media
The global blended average selling price for top Chinese suppliers increased by 9 percent, from 64 cents per watt in Q1 2013 to 70 cents per watt in Q1 2014. This was primarily due to significant improvement in supply-demand balance, with robust demand growth in China, Japan and the U.S. coming into contact with a fitter, leaner supply chain.
Huge Regional Price Variations in Chinese-Produced Solar Modules : Greentech Media
The cost of renewables is steadily catching up to the cost of natural gas and will soon beat it. According to a panel of researchers at the Windpower 2014 conference, continued improvements in wind and solar technologies are making them a threat to natural gas.
Experts: The Cost Gap Between Renewables and Natural Gas ‘Is Closing’ : Greentech Media
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Vertically integrated thin-film solar supplier First Solar almost doubled Wall Street estimates with earnings of $112 million on a posted first quarter revenue of $950 million, an increase of $182 million from the fourth quarter of 2013. Jim Hughes, First Solar's CEO, noted a positive book-to-bill ratio and "strong utility-scale growth" in the U.S., as well as sustainable demand in Latin America and Africa.
First Solar Q1: Beats Street and Raises Guidance on Strong US Utility and Global Growth : Greentech Media
Owners of installations bigger than 5 megawatts (MW) will have to compete with other renewables for financing. The Department of Energy & Climate Change (Decc) says it wants to encourage the development of smaller scale and community energy production.
BBC News - Government to slash subsidies for large scale solar farms
"There are two models,” Peterson said. “You find a customer who's interested in going solar. You close the solar sale through CPF. We pay you. You retain the brand and the customer relationship. Case closed. The other option is you own the system.” By putting up the big upfront capital to own the system, the REP can extend the lifetime value of the customer relationship to twenty years and generate a payoff of many times more than that $300, Peterson said. Woodlawn Associates estimated that the “net present value of a new solar customer to be $4,000 to $8,000, depending on the value of key variables.”
How Utilities Can Stop Losing Revenue and Start Making Money on Solar : Greentech Media
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Once all its costs are accounted for, the price of commercial solar power has pulled even with retail electricity rates in Italy and Germany, according to a new report. The analysis is the third installment in a regular report by the consulting firm Eclareon, done on behalf of an international group of sustainable energy interests. This installment was also the first to look at solar power in the commercial sector rather than the residential sector. It looked at a standard 30 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system for your average commercial building, and the built a methodology to assess its “leveled cost of energy” (LCOE) in seven different countries: Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Spain.
Solar Power Is Now Just As Cheap As Conventional Electricity In Italy And Germany | ThinkProgress
We haven’t checked in on the metamaterials scene in a few months but here’s something that caught our eye. A bigger-than-usual research team spearheaded by Purdue University has developed a new hyperbolic metamaterial that has numerous applications in the optical field, including high efficiency solar cells. While not the only factor in the overall cost of solar power, efficiency gains still play a major role in the steady trend toward solar power as cheap as – and cheaper than – fossil fuels.
Hyperbolic Metamaterials Could Drive Solar Costs Down, Down, Down | CleanTechnica
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The firm unveiled plans to build one of the world's largest high-efficiency solar panel plants, using technology from Fremont-based Silevo, which they also said they'd acquired. "We expect to have to install 10 gigawatts [of high-efficiency panels] a year," Chairman Elon Musk said on a conference call announcing the move. "If you look at the current capacity in the world, we're not able to do that right now."
Elon Musk Just Made The Same Huge Bet On SolarCity That He's Making With Tesla - Business Insider
The concept is beautiful in its simplicity: Take long stretches of open canals in dry, sunny terrain, and cover them with solar panels. Which is precisely what India's coastal state of Gujurat is planning to do on a huge scale. In 2012, it launched a project that aims to turn its vast network of canals—which currently spans 11,000 miles—into a massive, serpentine solar power plant.
India's Bold Plan to Cover 1,000 Miles of Canals With Solar Power Plants | Motherboard
Scott, an electrical engineer (MSEE) with over 20 years of experience under his belt, thought that we as humans could make our roads, parking lots, and even bike paths more efficient by building them out of solar panels. He’s built a modular paving system of solar panels that can withstand the heaviest of trucks up to 250,000 pounds.
Solar Roadways Is Exactly What It Sounds Like, And It's Awesome
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06-21-2014, 09:51 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-21-2014, 10:05 AM by admin.)
Silevo isn’t the only company to produce high-efficiency solar cells. A version made by Panasonic is just as efficient, and SunPower makes ones that are significantly more so (see “Record-Breaking Solar Cell Points the Way the Cheaper Solar Power”]. But Silevo claims it could make its panels as cheaply as conventional ones if it can scale up from its current production capacity of 32 megawatts to the factory Musk has planned, which is expected to produce 1,000 megawatts or more.
Why Elon Musk’s Solar City Is Buying Silevo and Plans a Giant Factory for High-Efficiency Solar Panels | MIT Technology Review
At first, we will examine the efficiency of solar panels produced by different manufacturers, then we will discuss the meaning of solar panel efficiency, and finally we'll do some thinking about the future of R&D in the Chinese solar industry.
Busting The Myth About Chinese Solar Panels - SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) | Seeking Alpha
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