52 results found for: spain czech solar feed
The long-awaited grid parity had arrived in the last couple of years in multiple places such as India where both solar and wind prices are now […]
China to cut its FIT China has been the biggest growth driver of solar demand in the world over the last couple of years and it […]
GUVNL at a loss! The Indian government utility Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. (GUVNL) has lost out on a case to reduce the solar feed in […]
Solar Subsidy pain in Spain Spain saw a massive boom in solar installations after the government announced a very generous subsidy on solar energy installations. Beside […]
Investing in solar energy plants is not easy, given the multiple risks that this new form of energy entails. Despite solar energy capacity growing by more […]
Gujarat wants a Retroactive Cut in Tariffs The Gujarat government has been touting the success of the solar power scheme enacted by the state government, which led […]
Czech Solar Developers Accused The Czech Republic has witnessed the biggest solar boom in the world relative to its economy. The country saw a huge increase […]
SBI opposes Gujarat’s cut in Solar Feed-in-Tariffs The State Bank of India (SBI) which is India’s largest bank is worried about the effects of a retroactive […]
India’s western state of Gujarat has been the poster boy of solar energy success in India installing almost 1 GW of solar capacity in a couple […]
Solar News 1) Is Global Solar Trade Peace in the works 2) After Czech and Spain, Greece introduces retroactive taxes on solar plants 3) Sunpower to pair solar energy […]
Solar Growth Solar demand is expected to surge by 20% in 2013, after a flat 2012 as lower solar panel prices boosts solar adoption in under […]
The Solar Energy Industry saw only a 5% year on year demand growth in 2012, despite falling solar panel prices. The main reasons were that Germany […]
As usual France has followed Italy in boosting solar manufacturing industry by giving a 10% FIT bonus for solar products manufactured in Europe. Note Italy had […]
Japan increases Solar Panel Efficiency Criteria to curtail foreign imports Asian countries like Japan and China routinely erect non explicit barriers to imports to protect their […]
Solar Boom in Romania Solar booms inspired by large solar subsidies are a regular feature in the solar industry. The story line is the same where […]
1. European solar wafer maker PY Crystalox thinks about shutting operation and returning cash to investors 2. Jinko Solar manages a 9.9% Gross Margin even as […]
Japanese Solar Bubble Solar Energy in Japan is seeing a huge boom in solar installations as the generous subsidy announced by the Government sees the entry […]
We have been predicting a massive solar energy boom in Japan due to the generous solar feed in tariffs set by the Japanese Government in the […]
The Bulgarian Government is set to face numerous lawsuits from investors in solar power plants as it imposes electricity grid fees on existing solar power plants […]
Solar subsidies in general have always been a boom and a bust story with very few countries managing to get it right. In Europe, in particular […]
Solar Energy – Japan The Japanese Government announced a very lucrative subsidy scheme for solar energy in Japan following the Fukushima disaster. Note Japan gets only […]
Japanese Solar Inverters While Japanese solar panel companies are sweating due to cheap Asian solar panel imports, the solar inverter companies in Japan are facing the […]
Japan after the Fukushima disaster had set out on a plan to increase the share of renewable energy in the electricity mix which is abysmally low. […]
China which is home to the biggest solar industry in the world and most of the top solar panel manufacturers has decided to lower subsidy in 2012. Note China did not pass a Feed in Tariff Law for a long time as prices of solar energy remained high. But after a massive crash in solar prices and energy in 2011 it passed a FIT law in late 2011 to take advantage. This resulted in a big jump resulting in China becoming one of the top 5 markets in 2011 . Now China is set to become one of the top 3 markets in 2012 if not the biggest . This is due to the fact that other European solar panel markets are rapidly reducing subsidies and China needs to support its solar companies many of which are effectively insolvent like LDK.
There is urgent need to reduce the solar capacity addition in Germany because
a) It is requiring almost half of the $21 billion renewable energy subsidies in 2011 while generating 3% of the total power
b) Too much solar power while put pressure on the power grid as at the peak afternoon hours solar can generate almost 10% of Germany’s power requirement which means shutting down other sources
c) German Solar Panel producers have stopped benefiting from German domestic growth. Most solar companies in Germany have been decimated by Chinese competition and around 20000 solar jobs and 5000 companies have shut down.
The German Solar Energy Market is biggest in the world and has installed the largest number of solar panels for the last few years.2012 promises to be no different with Germany again set to the biggest solar market for solar panel manufacturers though Italy would give good competition.The German Solar Subsidy program has been the best in the world unlike the start and stop feed in tariff programs of Spain,Czech,UK,Australia and other places.A stable step in cut of feed in tariffs has helped solar energy prices coming down by more than 50% in the last few years though demand has only increased.
Spain has started cracking down on Solar Power Plants which are making huge profits through illegal Feed in Tariffs which they should not get.Note Spain had seen a massive boom in solar installations in 2008 due to unusually large ROI driven by high Feed in Tariffs.FIT are electricity rates which are higher than wholesale electricity rates paid to renewable energy power plants in order to make them competitive with cheaper fossil fuel power plants.Seeing a huge increase in the subsidy burden Spain has pretty much killed the solar market in 2009,however the problems of Fiscal Deficit has made Spain reconsider the tariffs being given to even older solar power plants.After a lot of controversy,Spain changed the FIT rules in the middle of the game through a retroactive FIT Law drawing howls of protest from solar investors like pension funds which have sued the government
Rooftop Solar Energy in Australia sees a Boom leading to Subsidy Cut Pressure in Spain,Czech Deja Vu
Other states are looking to do so as well.Like other Solar Subsidy Programs elsewhere in Czech,Germany,Spain,Australia too has seen solar energy costs fall much faster than subsidies.This has led to a boom in solar installations as the returns become very high.These costs are ultimately passed on the customer electricity bills drawing howls from the states.Large Wind Energy Producers like Origin Energy have also seen the prices of RECs decrease so that is not feasible to build new wind farm projects.On top of all this confusion,the Australian government can’t make up its mind on a Carbon Tax which will help it to meet the 2020 20% Green Energy Target.
Italian Electricity Regulator really shook the global solar market saying that approximately 6 GW of Solar Installations were done in the country in 2010 up almost 500% from 2010.While 2 GW were installed and connected in 2010,4 GW worth of application were submitted by 50,000 installations which were installed but not connected.This means that that Italy’s target of 8 GW in 2020 was almost fully met in 2010 itself.I had written that Italian Solar Feed in Tariff Subsidy Cuts for 2011 will fail to stop the Boom in Solar Demand and the 2020 target would be met much earlier.But 2010 was not in my wildest projection.The combination of high sunlight,high electricity rates,falling solar module prices and attractive feed in tariff by the government has made investing in solar in Italy a hugely profitable venture.So 6 GW is not totally impossible given the massive supply growth seen in solar panels.Every solar company in the world had been shipping to capacity making it a mystery as to what was the source of such demand.Italy might prove to be the answer.
France recently halted its solar subsidy program for 3 months for solar installations under 3 kw as it was deluged with a large number of applications.Solar Feed in Tariffs are quite generous for certain type of solar panel installations like BIPV and greenhouses.This combined with rapidly falling solar panel prices primarly due to low cost Chinese manufacturing has made the business extremely lucrative.Note France is not the first country to see a massive flood of solar applications.Spain,Czech,Germany,Australia have faced problems with solar feed in tariff programs mainly because of poor design by slow moving bureaucrats.However most of these countries have never blamed cheap Chinese panel imports for their badly designed programs.Germany which is the undisputed solar market leader did for a while raise the Chinese bogey but it was for a short while.Anyone with a little understanding of the solar industry would know that almost 50% of the value is created in installation which is all done locally.Also most of the polysilicon raw material is made in the West as also most of the equipment used in producing panels in China.