Solar

Aug 11-09 Solar PV Charles Morand A couple of weeks ago, I noted the importance of examining parameters other than module costs when gauging the economic competitiveness of solar PV energy. I noted how multiple factors influence the levelized cost of energy produced by solar PV systems, and thus its relative cost position on the grid. Nothing new here.   However, besides standard test conditions (STC) conversion efficiency, or nameplate conversion efficiency, public data on parameters other than cost per watt-peak is not always easy to come by. That's...

Charles Morand One of the - if not THE - most popular debates in solar PV circles is about when exactly the electricity produced by solar PV systems will reach "grid-parity", or become competitive with like-generation fuels (i.e. non-baseload) on a stand-alone basis (i.e. no feed-in tariffs, mandates or rebates). A lot of the time, these discussions slip into arcane sub-debates about module costs, as expressed on a dollar per watt basis, and how far they need to fall for solar PV to be competitive. But module costs are only one part...

XSUNX Inc. (XSNX) will present the benefits of the company's thin-film solar technology systems for use in the development and delivery of an array of new power sources this week in Washington, D.C. at the 2006 National Energy Restructuring Conference sponsored by the National Energy Marketers Associat AUTHOR: manderson TITLE: US to halt nuclear fusion project BASENAME: us_to_halt_nuclear_fusion_proj STATUS: Publish ALLOW COMMENTS: 1 CONVERT BREAKS: __default__ ALLOW PINGS: 0 PRIMARY CATEGORY: Misc CATEGORY: Misc DATE: 07/16/2004 10:16:22 AM BODY: The US is halting its own national nuclear fusion energy project and is joining the International Thermonuclear...

Evergreen Solar Inc (ESLR) announced that it has entered into a multi-year supply contract with Donauer Solartechnik, a German-based solar power distributor. The agreement calls for Evergreen Solar to ship approximately $125 million of photovoltaic modules to Donauer over the next four years, based on current exchange rates. The German solar market is currently the largest market in the world and these types of partnerships are critical to getting a foothold into that marketplace. The shares of ESLR are currently trading up over 3% today on the news.

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR) announced that it has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent ("LOI") with Motech Industries, one of the top producers of solar cells in the world today, for the supply of solar wafers to Motech. Under the terms outlined in the LOI, MEMC will supply solar wafers to Motech over an 8-year period, with pre-determined pricing, on a take or pay basis. Sales of the wafers over the 8-year period would generate at least $1.6 billion in revenue to MEMC. Shares of WFR are trading up over 4% in pre-market activity. I...

Worldwater Corp (WWAT) announced that it has signed a $1,145,800 contract to build and install a solar electric power generation system for Quality Embroidery in Los Angeles, California. The photovoltaic (PV) system will provide electricity for the company, and is expected to substantially reduce electrical usage costs for the facility. With the signing of this contract, on top of its earlier announced 2005 contract backlog of $23 million, the Company issued Revenue Guidance for 2006, projecting Revenue of $25 million to $35 million. I have tracked World Water for a while and I recently received a...

SatCon Technology Corporation (SATC) photovoltaic inverters have proven to have efficiencies that are on average 1% higher and as much as 2% higher than comparable products. These results allow PV installers and users to make predictable photovoltaic system performance evaluations, leading to more accurate calculation for payback of the system cost. The conversion efficiency values are used to determine the amount of rebate incentive available to the purchaser. Financial incentives for qualifying commercial photovoltaic power systems in California are calculated for 2005 at $3.50 per watt. For a 100 KW system, each point of higher efficiency would yield an...

Steve Sollheiser KWT Breaks Support There is very interesting price-action in the Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (KWT) in the last trading day. We can see that price has closed below the support level of $3.40 which is a bearish signal. We can also see that the breakout price was touching an ascending resistance line twice - which creates this a Descending Broadening chart pattern. We would expect price to continue downwards with target at approximately $2.00. If price opens above the level it will be a sign that the support...

Spire Corp (SPIR) announced that Bandwidth Semiconductor LLC, its wholly owned subsidiary, now offers custom gallium arsenide (GaAs) concentrator solar cells for terrestrial applications. These GaAs-based solar cells are based on Spire's space and terrestrial solar cell technology developed over 25 years, during which record high cell efficiencies for terrestrial applications were produced. Higher efficiency means lower cost of electricity.

Solar power equipment maker SunPower Corp., a unit of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (CY) raised the expected price of its planned initial public offering to between $16 and $18 per share from a previous range of $12 to $14. The company expects to list its stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol "SPWR" sometime this week. I have always found the IPOHome.com website helpful tracking this type of information down. You can also find a great deal of info at NASDAQ.com as well for new IPO's.

Ryan Hubbell Despite healthy expected returns, finance-related challenges remain the largest barriers to renewable energy development, according to NREL's Renewable Energy Finance Tracking Initiative (REFTI). Two recently released reports on solar and geothermal technologies show greater than 10% expected returns for both developers and tax equity investors. Yet roughly half of both geothermal and solar respondents (350 in total) reported financial issues (project economics, PPAs, creditworthiness, and raising capital) as the largest barriers to development. In light of this, only 11%-13% of respondents reported abandoning their projects. Figure 1. Expected returns...

Universal Communication Systems Inc (UCSY) announced that the company is set to make a major new investment and plans to open a new office in Los Angeles, California from which to market PV Solar Panels and PV Solar Energy Systems throughout the state. This follows the recent announcement by the State of California that it was to enact a Major Incentive Program which is the largest solar energy policy ever enacted in the United States: an 11-year, $3.2 billion incentive program aimed at spurring installation of PV Solar Panels / Systems.

James Montgomery Sun emerging behind saguaro by Tom Konrad Scanning the new crop of reports from IHS, NPD Solarbuzz, and Navigant, here are a few key themes that emerge: Demand Is Shifting to Asia. Global solar PV demand reached 9 GW in 3Q13, up 6 percent from the prior quarter and nearly 20 percent from a year ago, according to Solarbuzz. China's share of that 3Q demand exceeded 25 percent, compared to 10 percent just two years ago. Meanwhile, the National Energy Administration reportedly has increased its 2014 targets for...

SatCon Technology Corporation (SATC) nounced the launch of its new 500kW grid connected PowerGate(TM) Photovoltaics inverter with recent orders for the North American market. The 500kW unit rounds out SatCon's family of solar array inverters, including designs for 50kW, 100kW, 225kW and 500kW three-phase applications, and designs for 15 - 30kW single-phase applications. SatCon's products provide a more cost effective alternative for solar integrators by eliminating many of the independent components and field wiring required by other designs. SatCon's photovoltaic inverters include all of the necessary equipment to convert solar array DC power to useable AC power and also...

Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends has a good writeup on a new photovoltaic cell that doesn't need a battery for power storage. "Solar cells can convert solar energy to electricity, but that's about all they can do. You need batteries to store, and then release, this electricity. But this extra-step might soon no longer be necessary. Japanese scientists have developed a new type of solar cell which integrates an electricity storage device."

WorldWater Corp. (WWAT) announced financial results for its second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2004. The significant increase in revenue is due to the Company's realization of its objective of providing world-class, proprietary solar technology systems to the agricultural and institutional marketplaces. As proof of this fact, the Company recently completed supplying the massive one megawatt PV system installation at Cerro Coso Community College in Ridgecrest, CA.