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Bernstein Research’s Michael Parker and colleagues today offer a mammoth (32-page) assessment of the state of the solar energy market, with implications for installers such as Elon Musk‘s SolarCity (SCTY), but also technology vendors such as SunPower (SPWR) and First Solar (FSLR). The authors conclude that by 2018, solar will be so much cheaper than fossil fuels that it will blow away current regulatory hurdles.
Solar Will Triumph by 2018, Breaking The Subsidy Dependence, Says Bernstein - Tech Trader Daily - Barrons.com
As Parker and team write, “we start the clock on solar “Independence Day“: the moment (~2018) when solar plus energy storage is cheaper than retail power supply in a number of large markets.” “At that point,” they continue, “regulatory changes sought by utilities to restrain solar adoption will be ineffective. And the last barrier to solar disrupting energy markets and the power sector will be gone.”
Solar Will Triumph by 2018, Breaking The Subsidy Dependence, Says Bernstein - Tech Trader Daily - Barrons.com
China continues to drive the growth in solar, with $40 billion in 2014, but Japan was not far behind at $35 billion. Another recent study from the International Energy Agency found that the total installed global capacity of solar PV is 10 times today compared to what it was in 2008.
Asian Solar, European Offshore Wind Drives 2014 Renewable Growth : Greentech Media
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A new study in Nature Climate Change, by Bjorn Nykvist and Mans Nilsson of the Stockholm Environment Institute, shows that electric vehicle batteries have been getting cheaper much faster than expected. From 2007 to 2011, average battery costs for battery-powered electric vehicles fell by about 14 percent a year. For the leading electric vehicle makers, Tesla and Nissan, costs fell by 8 percent a year. This astounding decline puts battery costs right around the level that the International Energy Agency predicted they would reach in 2020.
Clean Energy Revolution Is Ahead of Schedule - Bloomberg View
In particular, forecasts are for solar to become the cheapest source of energy -- at least when the sun is shining -- in many parts of the world in the 2020s.
Clean Energy Revolution Is Ahead of Schedule - Bloomberg View
Each of these trends -- cheaper batteries and cheaper solar electricity -- is good on its own, and on the margin will help to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, with all the geopolitical drawbacks and climate harm they entail. But together, the two cost trends will add up to nothing less than a revolution in the way humankind interacts with the planet and powers civilization.
Clean Energy Revolution Is Ahead of Schedule - Bloomberg View
the U.S. coal sector is facing – a double-whammy of abundant supplies of cheap shale gas coupled with the regulatory noose that the Environmental Protection Agency is continuously tightening around the industry. Together these two forces are undermining the economics of coal.
Peak coal is coming sooner than previously expected - Business Insider
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China, the fastest-growing solar market in the world, could now see an extra boost from the widespread use of power-purchase agreements. UGE International and Blue Sky Energy Efficiency, an Asia-focused financier, recently partnered up to deliver commercial-scale solar in China for zero money down, lowing customers’ energy bills from day one. Through the use of a PPA (buying energy, not solar equipment -- a mainstream practice in the United States), the two companies plan to fund $10 million of projects in China over the next 18 months.
Could the First Major Solar PPA Offering in China Drive Even Faster Market Growth? : Greentech Media
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China connected 5.04GW of solar capacity (nearly equal to France's) in Q1, the National Energy Administration reports. The figure brings China's cumulative installations to 33GW, and suggests the country is on its way to hitting a full-year target of 17.8GW.
China installs 5GW of solar capacity in Q1 - ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE:SOL) | Seeking Alpha
Building on this in-depth analysis of future investment costs, future ranges of the levelized cost of electricity produced by large-scale solar photovoltaics in different countries are calculated, based on local climatic conditions and cost of capital. The analysis shows that solar power will soon be the cheapest form of electricity in many regions of the world.
NewEnergyNews: TODAY’S STUDY: SOLAR IS NOW AFFORDABLE AND GETTING MORESO
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China connected 5.04GW of solar capacity (nearly equal to France's) in Q1, the National Energy Administration reports. The figure brings China's cumulative installations to 33GW, and suggests the country is on its way to hitting a full-year target of 17.8GW.
China installs 5GW of solar capacity in Q1 - ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE:SOL) | Seeking Alpha
Apple just agreed to back two large solar farms in China. It’s the biggest deal of its kind for a U.S. company operating in China. For China, the deal is only a beginning. China has been installing more renewable-power capacity than fossil fuels for several years, a gap that's growing. In 2015, China will install 15 gigawatts to 18 gw of solar power alone, double the solar deployment in the U.S., according to an analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
Here’s Why Apple Is Building Solar Farms in China - Bloomberg Business
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04-27-2015, 07:19 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-05-2015, 04:26 AM by admin.)
Hundreds of companies are developing exciting new technologies ranging from a lightweight, solar-powered pack for soldiers that recharges batteries and purifies water to microgrids—cart-size units that generate and deliver electricity independent of the main power grid. Such units hold immense promise for hospitals, first-responder stations and other critical operations. Many game-changing technologies were launched with federal funding through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), an agency within the Department of Energy, and many more are waiting in the wings.
Renewable energy, the best investment of the 21st century | TheHill
Solar power is set to become profitable in Japan as early as this quarter, according to the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF), freeing it from the need for government subsidies and making it the last of the G7 economies where the technology has become economically viable.
Solar power is really happening - Business Insider
In Japan, residential solar power production costs have more than halved since 2010 to under 30 yen ($0.25) per kilowatt-hour (kWh), making it comparable to average household electricity prices. Wood Mackenzie expects solar costs to fall more as "efficiencies are nowhere near their theoretical maximums."
Solar power is really happening - Business Insider
China's new anti-pollution policies are making the big difference. Because of these policies, Beijing is seeking alternatives for coal, which makes up almost two-thirds of its energy consumption. China's 2014 solar capacity was 26.52 gigawatt (GW), less than 2 percent of its total capacity of 1,360 GW. But the government wants to add 17.8 GW of solar power this year and added 5 GW in the first quarter alone, with plans to boost capacity to 100 GW by 2020. Coal-dominated India, with its plentiful sunlight, could also take to solar in a big way.
Solar power is really happening - Business Insider
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Canadian Solar Inc., the third-biggest panel maker, expects a potential shortage of supply in the second half of this year as demand increases worldwide. “Imbalance may appear,” Chief Executive Officer Shawn Qu said in an interview in Shanghai on Tuesday. “Customers’ real demand has been growing.”
Canadian Solar Sees Panel Shortage in Second Half on More Demand - Bloomberg Business
China connected 5.04 gigawatts of solar capacity to grids in the three months ended March 31, the National Energy Administration said in a statement on Monday. The Asian nation now has a total 33 gigawatts of solar-power supply. “Construction of most additions in the first quarter began last year after securing local approvals,” said Nick Duan, a Beijing-based analyst from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. In China, developers must start construction within a year after approvals are given and validated.
China Adds Solar Power the Size of France in First Quarter - Bloomberg Business
Yingli appears to be in financial distress but will avoid defaulting on debt obligations coming due next week, while China's broader solar panel sector is likely to face new anti-dumping tariffs in Europe later this year.
Solar Distress Signs At Yingli, In Europe - Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE:YGE) | Seeking Alpha
Perovskite materials, which have superefficient crystal structures, are proving attractive because they can be processed inexpensively and can be used in applications ranging from solar cells to light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Perovskites are the fastest-growing class of photovoltaic material over the past four years, said lead author Dane deQuilettes, a UW doctoral student working with David Ginger, professor of chemistry and associate director of the UWs Clean Energy Institute. In that short amount of time, the ability of these materials to convert sunlight directly into electricity is approaching that of todays silicon-based solar cells, rivaling technology that took 50 years to develop. But we also suspect there is room for improvement.
Focusing on Perovskite's 'dark' flaws to boost efficiency - Electronics Eetimes
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“In my view the greatest success of the German energy transition was giving a boost to the Chinese solar panel industry,” said Ralf Fücks, the president of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, the German Green Party’s political foundation. “We created the mass market, and that led to the increased productivity and dramatic decrease in cost.” And all this in a country whose northern tip is the same latitude as the southern tip of Alaska!
Germany, the Green Superpower - NYTimes.com
The study says that more than half of global investment in new electricity generation is in renewables. As per this report, around $150 billion was invested globally in solar energy generation in 2014 and solar energy is all set to be at grid parity in 80% of the countries in the next two years. These are big numbers.
Is Solar Energy Ready To Compete With Oil And Other Fossil Fuels?
Very few are aware that at the end of 2014, Dubai set a new benchmark by showing the world that photovoltaic technologies can be competitive with oil at $10/ barrel and gas at $5 MMBTU.
Is Solar Energy Ready To Compete With Oil And Other Fossil Fuels?
The winners of the $140,000 first prize were a group from MIT and Jain Irrigation Systems. The group came up with a method that uses solar panels to charge a bank of batteries. The batteries then power a system that removes salt from the water through electrodialysis. On the most basic level, that means that dissolved salt particles, which have a slight electric charge, are drawn out of the water when a small electrical current is applied. In addition to getting rid of salt (which makes water unusable for crops and for drinking), the team also applied UV light to disinfect some of the water as it passed through the system.
MIT invention solar powered desalination - Business Insider
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06-20-2015, 02:18 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-20-2015, 02:18 AM by admin.)
By the end of the decade, the solar industry will install 135 gigawatts of PV projects all over the world. It's a staggering number. It took the industry four decades to reach 100 gigawatts of cumulative capacity globally. In 2020, the world will see more than that installed in a single year.
10 Facts About the Explosive Growth Expected for the Global Solar Market : Greentech Media
That's an incredible pace for cost reductions considering the fact that solar energy is now competitive with the grid in all three segments. SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY ) and Vivint Solar (NYSE: VSLR ) can sell residential system leases or power purchase agreements for less than the cost of electricity to a home, even for small solar projects. Meanwhile on large solar projects, companies like First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR ) , SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR ) , and SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE ) are winning projects based on the cost of the electricity they're selling, not mandates that used to drive solar installations.
Watch Out Fossil Fuels: Costs Continue to Drop for Solar Energy
Japan, China, India, Europe and the U.S. have research programs to harvest solar energy from space. Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident, Japan conducted a review of all its available energy options. In 2014, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), considered the global leader of space-based solar systems, presented a 25-year development roadmap of ground and orbital demonstrations that culminates in the 2030s with a 1GW commercial system. This output is similar to typical nuclear power plant.
Solar Space Race Already Underway | OilPrice.com
U.S. researchers are reporting breakthroughs in artificial photosynthesis that could result in a new source of renewable liquid fuels for cars, ships and planes. Renewable liquid fuels would be a welcome alternative to electricity for powering vehicles, because batteries are heavier than fuel and take up more space, which can work for cars but makes them impractical for planes or ships. Artificial photosynthesis seeks to mimic the action of plants in capturing energy from the sun to produce biomass by breaking down water and combining it with carbon dioxide.
Could This Renewable Fuel Kill The EV Market In One Fell Swoop? | OilPrice.com
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"I don't remember the last time I saw pricing that had a 7- or 8-cent price in front of it...and [now] we're regularly bidding in at...5- and 6-cent power. We're beginning to see 4- to 5-cent power." The CEO said that the 4-cent level is reachable in certain cases. He added, "I fully believe that within 10 years we'll be talking about low-3-cent power on a peak basis."
First Solar CEO: ‘By 2017, We’ll Be Under $1.00 per Watt Fully Installed’ : Greentech Media
The cumulative global market for solar PV is expected to triple by 2020 to almost 700 gigawatts, with annual demand eclipsing 100 gigawatts in 2019. Solar demand will likely be almost entirely market-based in 2020; a dramatic shift from 2012 when almost all demand was premised on direct incentives. One implication of an increasingly unsubsidized market is that management and governance of the electric grid will change dramatically, creating both new opportunities and challenges for solar companies. This transformation is already underway with the implementation of market-based mechanisms for PV procurement and solar companies exploring innovations in business model design.
Global PV Demand Outlook 2015-2020: Exploring Risk in Downstream Solar Markets - GTM Research
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