Solar energy news

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Wholesale solar power prices have reached another record low in India, faster than analysts predicted and further undercutting the price of fossil fuel-generated power in the country. The tumbling price of solar energy also increases the likelihood that India will meet – and by its own predictions, exceed – the renewable energy targets it set at the Paris climate accords in December 2015. India is the world’s third-largest carbon polluter, with emissions forecast to at least double as it seeks to develop its economy and lift hundreds of millions of citizens out of poverty.

Indian solar power prices hit record low, undercutting fossil fuels | Environment | The Guardian

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With a 30-year-mortgage, if you stay in the house, you'll replace your roof at least once. At a cost of about $10,000, you maintain the value of the home, but you don't necessarily add much to it. The Solar Roof should last twice as long as a traditional roof (and maybe much longer) and it will both mitigate your electricity costs and, paired with a Tesla Powerpack battery, provide you with backup energy. The up-front costs are high, but the overall economics are compelling. And in sunny states where electricity is costly, such as California, a Solar Roof could net a homeowner tens of thousands of dollar over 30 years.

Tesla Solar Roof could be Elon Musk's best product - Business Insider

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China is seeking to boost demand for solar panels mounted to roofs of homes and businesses as the market for larger utility-scale plants dries up. Installations atop factories, malls and airports are likely to surge sixfold to almost 40 gigawatts by the end of 2020 and 125 gigawatts by 2040, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That would give China roofs installed capacity roughly equal to the entire solar market in the U.S. at the end of 2016. The move would help manufacturers led by JinkoSolar Holding Co. and Trina Solar Ltd. weather a slump in demand for bigger projects far from cities, where a lack of grid connections and a flood of new projects has depressed power prices and prompted regulators to seek slower growth from the industry. Rooftop projects currently account for 9 percent of China’s solar market, compared with about 35 percent for commercial and residential solar in the U.S.

China Pushes Solar to the Roof as Bigger Plants Stay Idle - Bloomberg

The solar market in the U.S. added 2,044 megawatts – just over two gigawatts (GW) – of new photovoltaic capacity in the first quarter of 2017, according to the latest U.S. Solar Market Insight Report. The report, from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), said that total installed capacity hit 44.7 GW, enough to power more than 8 million homes. In addition, utility-scale prices fell below $1 per watt for the first time. While this was the sixth straight quarter where over 2 GW of solar PV was installed, it nevertheless represented a two percent decline "year-over-year."

US solar market added more than two gigawatts in first quarter of 2017, new study shows

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New energy, meet new finance. That’s the thinking of Taiwan’s government, which is starting to map out funding plans for a power system that can no longer rely on nuclear reactors. Prime Minister Lin Chuan’s administration aims to increase the share of renewable energy such as water, wind and solar to 20 percent of total power output on the island by 2025, up from 5 percent currently. The Taiwan government hopes to attract NT$1.8 trillion ($59 billion) of private capital.

Taiwan Lays Plans for $59 Billion in Renewable-Energy Finance - Bloomberg

Wind and solar have reached a point where they’re impossible for the world’s largest oil and gas companies to ignore. But it’s not yet clear how the majors will choose to capitalize on this growing market, having wavered on clean energy in the past. A new report from Wood Mackenzie examines the threat that renewable energy poses to legacy oil and gas operations, as well as the opportunity for wind and solar to diversify and future-proof fossil-fuel-heavy portfolios.

Global Oil Majors Are Poised for a Resurgence in Solar and Wind | Greentech Media

Trina shares are down more than 5 percent, and earnings estimates suggest the best quarter in the year ahead will produce earnings per share less than half of the best quarters in the past year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Based largely in China, the solar manufacturing industry, has been opening new factories in Asia and elsewhere, boosting capacity by 18 percent this year. Now the market is bracing for a glut, pressuring companies to cut prices. “Everybody sees the slowdown coming,” Xu Ying, chief financial officer at Trina, said in an interview at a conference in Las Vegas on Sept. 15. “We are very well positioned” with half of the business coming from outside China.

China to Slow Green Growth for First Time After Record Boom - Bloomberg

Tesla is, first and foremost, an electric car company. But on Nov. 17 shareholders will vote on final approval of CEO Elon Musk’s $2.2 billion deal to buy SolarCity Corp. The acquisition would make Tesla the biggest U.S. rooftop solar installer and the first major manufacturer to integrate solar panels with battery backup to extend power into the night.  The swift spread of rooftop solar in the U.S. has been made possible by two government policies. First, most utilities are required to credit homeowners for the excess power they send back to the grid. Those requirements are state-level and shouldn’t be affected by Trump. Second is the 30 percent federal tax credit to offset the cost of installations. The credits were first signed into law under Republican President George W. Bush in 2005 and extended by a Republican Congress late last year. Given their broad support, the subsidies are unlikely to be repealed.

Tesla’s Future in Trump’s World - Bloomberg

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A new report published this week has shown that China’s wind and solar PV industries could grow to such a point that they are able to replace fossil fuel energy sources by up to 300 million tonnes of standard coal per year by 2030, clearly demonstrating and confirming China’s rapid transition to a clean energy economy.

China's Wind & Solar Industry Could Replace 300 Million Tonnes Of Coal Per Year By 2030 | CleanTechnica

“If you wanted to power the entire United States with solar panels, it would take a fairly small corner of Nevada or Texas or Utah; you only need about 100 miles by 100 miles of solar panels to power the entire United States,” Musk said during his keynote conversation on Saturday at the event in Rhode Island. “The batteries you need to store the energy, so you have 24/7 power, is 1 mile by 1 mile. One square-mile.”

Here's Elon Musk's Plan to Power the U.S. on Solar Energy | Inverse

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China, the world’s biggest investor in clean energy, is on pace to install record amounts of new solar this year after adding 24 gigawatts of capacity in the first half amid a push by policy makers to locate electricity production near the point where it’s used. Distributed solar-power projects -- the kind of solar found on industrial buildings, malls and schools -- accounted for almost a third of the new installations in the period, or 7 gigawatts, Xing Yiteng, deputy section chief in the new energy division at the National Energy Administration, said Wednesday at a conference in Beijing.

China Is Adding Solar Power at a Record Pace - Bloomberg

All that said, let's zoom in on the latest news that quotes a Chinese industry association official saying an anti-dumping probe by India is likely to be announced in the next few days (English article). The main impetus for such a probe appears to be a sudden spike in Chinese exports to the market, which could now account for nearly a third of all panels shipped from the country in the first five months of the year. The reports say Chinese solar panel exports to India jumped 82 percent in the first five months, presumably as manufacturers got increasingly shut out of the traditionally strong US and European markets due to trade restrictions. In the meantime, India has embarked on an ambitious plan to build up its own solar power generation in a bid to avoid the kind of air pollution that now frequently chokes China.

Solar Panel Makers Face New Storm From India | Seeking Alpha

The staggering drop in the cost of clean energy has already upended the global power market over the past two decades — and that trend will only continue for the next two decades, according to new analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). As a result, renewables will capture the lion’s share of the $10.2 trillion the world will invest in new power generation by 2040, BNEF projects in its annual New Energy Outlook 2017 report.

Forget coal, solar will soon be cheaper than natural gas power

Despite years of plummeting prices for renewables, BNEF projects that over the next two decades, the cost of solar power will still drop another two-thirds, onshore wind costs will be cut nearly in half, and offshore wind costs will drop a stunning 71 percent. Here’s how this will profoundly transform power markets in the years ahead:

• By 2023, solar and onshore wind will be competitive with new U.S. gas plants.
• By 2028, solar will beat existing gas generation.
• Solar and wind will make up nearly a half of installed capacity and over a third of global power generation by 2040. That’s a four-fold jump in wind capacity and a 14-fold jump in solar from today.

Forget coal, solar will soon be cheaper than natural gas power

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Suniva and SolarWorld are seeking tariffs of $0.40/watt on all imported solar cells and a minimum price of $0.78/watt on solar modules that use imported solar cells. On September 22, the ITC will determine if the crystalline-silicon PV industry was harmed by global trade practices. If harm is determined, a remedy recommendation will be sent to President Trump. I’m normally a very optimistic guy -- otherwise I wouldn’t be in the solar industry. But a tariff or minimum price of this magnitude would present severe difficulties. It would effectively double the price of the vast majority of modules installed in America. Current production of solar cells in the U.S. is currently negligible, and it takes two or more years to begin production of solar cells at a new or relocated factory. If a tariff or minimum price is imposed, we can expect that all solar module prices that use imported cells will increase (including those assembled in the U.S.), and this increase will persist for several years until domestic cell capacity ramps up.

The Threat of Tariffs Is Already Reshaping the US Solar Market | Greentech Media

Perhaps there's some irony in the fact that the Section 201 case was filed as a result of Chinese oversupply and now it's increasing Chinese demand. It's important to note that the CEO acknowledges this does not change underlying demand in the global market: "However, in the long term, and for as long as the global module supply/demand imbalance exist, we expect the global market demand to remain aggressive."

Examining First Solar's Amazing Quarter - First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) | Seeking Alpha

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Indian solar projects banking on a continuous supply of ever-cheaper panels are now under threat as China’s appetite props up prices. The global spot market price for solar panels in the second quarter fell at the slowest pace since the three months ended in December 2015, according to data compiled by PVinsights. While the decline has picked up slightly this month, they’re down 10 percent since the beginning of the year, compared with a 35 percent drop in 2016. The slowdown is complicating plans for solar developers in India, who were anticipating the cost of their panels would fall more quickly and are now facing an unexpected reduction in their returns. That’s making the industry more cautious about future developments, adding a hurdle to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambition for quick growth in clean-energy.

China's Solar Appetite Eats Into India's Effort on Clean Energy - Bloomberg

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China is leading the world in solar power installations by a long run. ASECEA is predicting that 50GW of solar power is well within reach of being installed this year. In June and July of 2017, China installed 25GW of solar power – and they’ll push the globe past 100GW total for the year. At China’s ‘State of the Union address’ equivalent, just yesterday, president Xi Jinping said, “Any harm we inflict on nature will eventually return to haunt us… this is a reality we have to face.” “Taking a driving seat in international cooperation to respond to climate change, China has become an important participant, contributor, and torchbearer in the global endeavor for ecological civilization,” said President Xi Jinping, and that China must “develop a new model of modernization with humans developing in harmony with nature.”

The report, by the Asia Europe Clean Energy (Solar) Advisory, said that by the end of September China had 42GW of solar power installed. Generally, October is a bit slower of a month followed by a strong November-December period. Large growth occurred in the non-utility distributed solar sector. China made a point, through a new program called ‘Top Runner,’ to install higher efficiency solar panels and to also distribute them to many smaller projects versus only the large, utility-scale work. China’s 2017 volume is huge compared to recent headlining totals. In September, upward revisions to China’s expected volume made the world celebrate as it pushed projections for global volume in 2017 over 100GW. Last year, China installed 34GW of solar power – by far, already, the largest volume of solar by any country ever in a year. The United States solar market grew by 100% – yet installed ‘only’ 14.6GW. Globally, about 58GW of solar power was installed in 2015, and 41GW in 2014.

China has really taken over the solar industry. For a long while, many said China was simply exporting solar panels so they could get more foreign currency. Now, after a decade of heavy investment in the industry China is actually making use of a large majority of the total solar panels they manufacture. Somewhere around 80GW of solar manufacturing capacity exists in China, of 130GW global – using 50 of those 80 gigawatts is clear evidence that China is no longer focusing on exports

China breaking all solar power records, aiming for 50GW in 2017 | Electrek

According to the latest report from Asia Europe Clean Energy Consultants (AECEA), China needs to add just under 3GW of new solar in each remaining month of 2017 to reach 50GW, and deliver a second consecutive record breaking year. This should not be a problem for the world’s leading market, particularly considering a massive 25GW was installed in June and July alone – although that figure was boosted by a rush to get in before cuts to the feed-in tariff. A similar pattern emerges in 2016 data, although this year, AECEA says momentum has remained strong, thanks to grid curtailment across West China, the lowering of FiTs and an increasing number of provinces and major cities offering additional solar incentives. And while much of China’s solar growth this year has been of the large-scale variety, the report notes that distributed solar generation in China has also been impressive. According to the figures, a total of 15GW was installed on rooftops of homes and businesses around China in the first three quarters of 2017, marking a 255 per cent year-on-year increase in uptake, and taking the nation towards a DG total of 25-28GW by the end of the year. AECEA says this sort of growth in small-scale solar installs puts China on target to meet the target of its 13th Five Year Plan, to have 60GW of distributed solar PV generation installed by 2020. The report also notes that, since 2010, the share of renewable energy in China’s electricity mix has increased by 8 per cent, while coal – which last year supplied 65 per cent of China’s power – decreased by 11 per cent. And it points the energy storage sector as China’s next “Bull” market. According to AECEA data, an estimated 200 energy storage manufacturers in China last year produced a combined capacity of 120GWh of energy storage that is scheduled to be operational by 2018. In the longer term, the report adds, battery production rates could increase by as much as 40 per cent this year and total around 270GWh by 2020. In 2016, China’s lithium-ion battery shipments increased by 80 per cent, year-on-year in 2016.

China set to add 50GW new solar PV in 2017 : RenewEconomy

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According to a newly published report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), solar is boosting the growth of renewables in global capacity, with China leading the way as the dominant global player.  More specifically, “Renewables 2017” revealed that photovoltaics grew faster than any other fuel in 2016 due to increasing cost reductions and policy support. Renewables accounted for an impressive 65 percent of new net electricity capacity additions, with approximately 165GW clean energy capacity coming online in 2016. In a projection for the period between 2017- 2022, IEA predicts that global renewable electricity capacity will expand by over 920GW, an increase of 43 percent from 2016. The prediction is more optimistic than last year's one, as IEA formed the bedrock of the forecast based on China’s impressive performance in 2016. China alone accounted for 40 percent of the global growth of renewables, mainly driven by policies to tackle the county’s air pollution problem and ambitious capacity targets outlined in the 13th five-year plan to 2020. Two important challenges that China will have to address are the growing cost of renewable subsidies and the issue of grid integration. China is already moving away from its Feed-in Tariff programme to a quota system and green certificates, and new transmission lines and the expansion of distributed generation are expected to facilitate the integration of renewables in the electricity regime.

China leads the way to the global renewable energy revolution - Climate Action Programme

In a new report, IRENA will forecast annual installations to reach between 80 and 90 GW next year, maintaining that rate of growth for five-to-six years, said IRENA director general Adnan Z. Amin. These figures exceed the more conservative outlook offered by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which forecasts a more measured annual tally of 73 GW next year. According to Amin, who spoke to Reuters following the report, a total of 90 GW is not so far-fetched, nor far away. “China alone can do 50 GW a year,” he said. “In the next decade, the cost of utility-scale solar could fall by 60% or more.” Prominent support acts to China’s stage-stealing solar show include India and the U.S., while the ASEAN region is likely to achieve its goal of generating 23% of its power from renewables by 2025, Amin said, despite solar’s current share in the energy mix of this region stalled at ‘negligible’.

Solar costs will fall 60% over next decade to fuel PV adoption, says IRENA head – pv magazine International

If the U.S. was to introduce tariffs against solar imports, the subsequent price rise could limit deployment and put the country at odds with the trend evident in the rest of the world; namely, a race towards even lower costs. Earlier this month the world’s lowest price was recorded in Saudi Arabia, where French firm EDF headed a consortium that won a tender to develop a large-scale solar project for just $0.0178/kWh.

Solar costs will fall 60% over next decade to fuel PV adoption, says IRENA head – pv magazine International