Efficiency
January 7, 2012
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.
January 6, 2012
LDK Solar is one of the most insolvent companies in the world right now with billions of dollars in debt,a battered balance sheet,continuing losses and dodgy accounting.However LDK has acquired a German company Sunways and continues to build new solar power plants as the Chinese state owned banks continue to fund it with cheap money without any consideration about losing their investments.LDK has become the poster boy of the Solarworld complaint against Chinese solar panel producers as it continues to run and thrive despite being insolvent.The Chinese government is hurting itself and its other solar companies like Trina,Yingle which are more competitive by continuing to support and increase the global glut of cheap solar panels.These solar panels are being clearly sold at below cost as most of the companies would be bankrupt without these absurd loans which make no free market sense
January 5, 2012
China has announced a new solar subsidy for BIPV systems of 9 Yuan per Watt ($1.4/watt) and CNY 7/watt for PV systems for home.Note China has already become a top 5 market in the world in 2011 after announcing a $1.15/kwh Feed in Tariff for utility scale solar power instalations.This new subsidy by the Chinese ministry of finance should boost the home and commercial segment.Note China had recently raised the target of solar energy to 15 GW by 2015 from 10 GW as solar energy has grown amazingly fast in the recent past.
January 5, 2012
Pakistan is a energy deficit country like most other South Asian countries with inadequate investment in the electricity sector and the distribution infrastructure.The cause of the energy crisis in the country is due to massive corruption and misgovernance , a theme which will be familiar to citizens of India as well.Pakistan has been looking at investments from the Chinese power companies in the hydro and wind sectors to boost electricity generation.However these investments take time and some may never come to fruition.However Pakistanis are now turning towards cheap Chinese solar panels to beat the high electricity tariffs and dependence on expensive diesel generators and UPS systems.
January 4, 2012
JNNSM Phase 2 recieved almsot 8 times the bids with 2500 MW worth of bids out of which around 350 MW was selected for providing Feed in Tarifffs with the average tariff of Rs 8.77 or 17.5c/Kwh .Note India's execution record has not been great with only 400 MW solar capacity reached in 2011 against a target of more than 1000 MW.However weaker and unknown players have gone out of this business and the winners this time look more likely to construct these solar power plants.No doubt a massive glut of solar panels in the world with prices as low as 80-90c/watt helping .Compare that to prices of solar panels which were more than $2/watt last time.
January 4, 2012
Smaller Polysilicon producers with small sizes and higher costs are going bust almost everyday.With poly prices falling below $30/kg even bigger producers with inefficient plants like MEMC have been forced to curtain capacity.The smaller poly producers with 2000-3000 tons capacity have virtually no future.With poly expansion still taking place by big producers even in an oversupplied market the small fish are having the capitulate.
January 2, 2012
Note Chinese companies too would have shut down but the state owned Chinese banks are keeping them alive with loans at ridiculous interest rates.LDK which is buying Sunways is almost insolvent as well with its convertibles trading at less than 50c on the dollar in Singapore.It has more than n$3 billion in debt compared to its market cap of around $600 million.It faces massive losses in the coming qtrs and can't serve the interest payments much less expand.The strong support of the Chinese government for its green companies is keeping them alive.Chinese solar panels have become super cheap due to companies selling at below cost and massive scale.Note all the cheap solar panel brands in the world are Chinese with the exception of First Solar and some Asians.
LDK has managed to spend 22 million Euros despite burning hundred of millions of dollars in cash because it has got the Chinese government trillions backing it.So while Western companies burn and crash,the big crony Chinese companies can expand and acquire.
Most of the German solar manufacturing industry is finished and it is unlikely that except a couple of them like SM Solar or Wacker will live to see 2013.Q-Cells too should go bankrupt or get consolidated .Note despite European companies shifting factories to Asia ,they just can't compete.Some of the smaller module makers with 20 MW plants have seen huge losses with the equipment not selling for 10 cents on the dollar
January 2, 2012
Ladakh,one of the most beautiful hilly regions lying near the Chinese border has one of the highest potentials in generating solar power in India.Note under JNNSM,India is targeting more than 20 GW in the next 10 years and already large solar farms are coming in the desert areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat.However,Indian policy has mostly neglected the less inhabited region of Ladakh.Most of the policy initiatives have been low key in nature and mostly to provide the region with off grid solar power,solar cookers and solar lights.What has been missed is to build massive solar panel farms and connecting them with a transmission line to the power hungry states of the North.Just like Himachal Pradesh has become a masssive hydro power exporting state,Ladakh can do the same trick with solar power.
Solar Panel prices have fallen by 50% in 2011 and now solar energy can be profitably be generate at Rs 7/kwh.While this is more expensive than coal at Rs 4/kwh,the thing to be remembered is that this power value is constant for 25 years and it has no coal disadvantages which kills thousands each year.Also it increases Indias 'energy security and reduce imports of expensive coal.It also will provide more employment and generate economic value internally beside supporting the Indian construction and EPC companies.
August 14, 2011
Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is integrating of photovoltaic modules into the building envelope such as roofs or windows.These solid-state devices are used to replace conventional building materials to generate electricity out of sunlight with no maintenance and help in fighting global warming as the produce no pollution.BIPV products are most useful in construction of new buildings as an ancillary source of electrical power, although existing you can retrofit old buildings with BIPV proudcts as well. The advantage of BIPV over normal standard PV panels is that they integrate into the buildings instead of sticking out leading some people to call it ugly.ALso they help in saving the amount of money spent on building materials and labor that would normally be used to construct the part of the building . These advantages make BIPV one of the fastest growing segments of the photovoltaic industry with some people estimating that the use of BIPV will increase at more than 50% annually over the next few years with more than 1 GW of BIPV modules installed in the last year.
August 1, 2011
BIPV is the acronym for Building Integrated Photovoltaics which means the integration of photovoltaic materials into building structures such as roofs,windows and facades.It not only replaces the building supplies but also generate electricity creating a killer green product.This is one of the fastest growing segment in the solar industry and it has been estimated that almost 6-7% of the solar industry is made of BIPV products.A wide variety of technologies and products are being used in creating BIPV products.Though a large number of big solar panel manufactures like Suntech,Yingli,Canadian Solar have come out with BIPV Panels and Products,the segment has not become as big mainly because of higher costs vis a vis the standard crystalline solar systems.There are also specialized BIPV suppliers such as Ascent Solar and Konarka whose products are more suited to the BIPV Industry than the normal module industry.Some of these suppliers have no option as their technology is no longer competitive with the Chinese solar panel producers.Solyndra had a niche product which could be used in rooftops with ease of installation and low weight.However the high costs drove it to bankruptcy.The next leg up to the BIPV industry should come up with more BIPV products from the Major Solar Companies and as cost of solar silicon decline further with scale and innovation
July 22, 2011
CEEG or China Electric Equipment Group Corporation is based in Nanjing, China and is a China state owned company.Chinese Solar Panels have captured more than 50% of the global market for crystalline solar panels and the biggest solar panel producers are from China.CEEG is one of the top 15 Chinese solar module manfacturers and sells solar panels under the CEEG Brand.Like its name implies the CEEG Group has a major presnse in the electrical equipment market and 3 of its 4 divisions operate in this segment.The company is also listed on the NASDAQ under the CSUN symbol alongwith a host of other Chinese panel producers like Trina,Yingli,Suntech,Canadian Solar and others.CEEG’s power transformers and PV products have been qualified for CCC, UL and EU certifications.It recently lanuched the Quasar range of high efficiency solar panels.In 2004, CEEG got engaged in the PV industry and established China Sunergy (formerly CEEG Nanjing PV-Tech Co., Ltd).CEEG has 4 solar panel production factories and 600 MW of production capacity.CEEG was originally a solar cell producer and seller before getting into the manufacture of solar panels in 2009 though acquistions of 2 small solar module producers.
July 15, 2011
Phono Solar is a JV between Phono Technologies Switzerland and Sumec Group of China.Phono’s parent company SUMEC Group has been in the PV industry from early 2004. Sumec and Sinomach family of companies claim to have $15 billion in revenues each year.SUMEC Group Corporation (SUMEC), founded in 1978, is a key member of China National Machinery Industry Corporation (SINOMACH).SUMEC’s core business consists of shipbuilding and project contracting of complete equipment and engineering; the R&D, manufacturing and export of machinery and electric products including power tools, garden tools, power machinery
Phono Solar’s three production facilities will produce more than 500MW of PV Modules in 2011.The products are widely used in many fields such as power station, telecom, transportation, lightening, broadcasting, civil defense, marine etc.The company's products are made in China and marketed by the Swiss company under the Phono Solar Brand.The Company also sells micro wind turbines which are used in small residential installations.
July 8, 2011
Solar Panels are fast becoming one of the fastest growing products for homes in the western world driven by the 75-80% reduction in the costs of solar panels in the last 3 years.The sharp reduction in the costs of solar panels has been driven by the improvement in efficiency of solar panels,increase in scale by Chinese solar panel manufacturers,solar equipment sophistication and advancements in the learning curveAlso the importance of Solar Energy keeps growing with the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster,Coal Mine Deaths,BP Oil Spill constantly reminding us the dangers of Coal,Oil and Nuclear Energy.On the other hand Solar Panels lead to no deaths directly or indirectly and are incapable of causing large scale disasters..Solar Panels these days are being made by a wide variety of manufacturers in different shapes and sizes.Different types of solar panels are also being made from different materials like silicon,CIGs,CdTe etc.Solar Panels are also finding uses in outdoor camping,boats,swimming pools,solar carports etc.Besides solar panels are also being used to power off grid systems in far off areas plus mobile phones and laptops.The advantages and uses of solar panels are growing by the day.Solar Power's greatest advantage is the declining cost which had made solar electricity from panels on par with grid retail electricity prices in places like Italy and Germany.With costs continuing to go down,its easy to see that solar panel generated power will reach the electricity prices in most places in the world in 2-3 years.
July 8, 2011
GE is one of the biggest companies in the world and has one of the biggest Green businesses as well.GE is the most profitable wind turbine manufacturer and is one of the largest renewable energy developers in the globe as well.GE like other electrical and power conglomerates like Siemens has decided to invest billions of dollars into Green Energy.Till recently Solar Energy had gotten scant attention from GE just like Siemens too has not invested a lot.However the 50% CAGR rates of Solar Energy,the fast declining costs have made it imperative for GE to have a presence in this market.GE had bought a thin film solar company Prime Solar a few years ago to acquire the Cadmium Tellerium Technology which First Solar uses in its Solar Panels.
July 8, 2011
Sunlink Solar Panels are manufactured by a small company Jiangsu Sunlink PV Technology Co,.Ltd based out of China with module production capacity of 200MW.Note there are many Chinese companies of this size and a major shakeout is occuring in the industry with a number of smaller companies shutting down their production solar panel lines as prices have gone down by 40% amidst a solar module inventory glut.Some US based solar panel producers like Evergreen and Solyndra have gone out of business and many others are on the verge like Arisa Technologies.SunLink PVwas founded in 2004 and they sell 5W to 300W both monocrystalline and polycrystalline panels.They have IEC61215 Ed.2, IEC61730, UL1703 certificates.
July 8, 2011
Renewable Energy Corporation (REC ) is one of the biggest European solar companies and is completely vertically integrated.What that means is that REC makes all the components in the crystalline silicon supply chain from polysilicon to wafers to cells and modules.REC was earlier primarily a polysilicon and wafer producer but it is not becoming more active in the solar panels area.REC Silicon and REC Wafer are among the world's largest producers of polysilicon and wafers, respectively, for solar applications.This is the reason that REC solar panels are in general cheaper than other European and Japanese solar panels like Solarworld,Sharp,Kyocera and others.Due to the high cost of production,REC has shut down its factories in Norway and is mainly producing solar cells and solar modules at its new solar complex in Singapore.REC Solar has production facilities around the globe but it is concentrating its production in Asian factories.Despite stiff competition from Chinese solar panels which has led to bankruptcy of numerous solar companies in the West,REC is well capitalized and should be one of the survivors of the current solar price wars.As such the warranty on the solar panels from REC should hold good for the 25 years.
July 8, 2011
JA Solar is the biggest solar cell producer in the world with more than 2000 MW of silicon cell capacity.The company has one of the lowest costs in processing of solar cells from solar wafers.The company is primarily a supplier of solar cells to most solar panel producers in Europe and Asia.However the sharp fall in solar panel prices in 2011 has resulted in most of the European companies shutting shop which has meant that JA Solar has faced a large loss in customer orders for its solar cells.Unlike its peer Trina and Yingli Solar,JA Solar does not have a good brand name or distribution of solar panels.It is more of a upstream supplier of solar products to solar comapnies rather than a end distributor of solar panels.JA Solar has diversified into making solar panels of its own and in partnership with other companies.Having a strong presence in the end market has become essential to survive in the cutthroad solar market.
July 7, 2011
NB Solar Sun Earth or SunEarth Solar Panels is the Brand of Solar Panels sold by Chinese Ningbo based manufacturer of monocrystalline and polycrystalline solar modules Sun-Earth.It has 4 facilities for silicon (3000 tons polysilicon plant), wafers (40 MW ), solar components and solar system production.The company has been in the solar industry for 45 years which would make it one of the oldest solar companies in the world.However it seems to have been left far behind in terms of capacity with only 350 MW in 2009.Sun-Earth is a major supplier of solar systems to telecom towers in China and portable solar systems to Africa.It claims to have supplied to utility grade systems in Spain as well.However it does not have much of a brand name compared to listed Chinese solar companies like Trina Solar,Yingli or Suntech.It is a Tier 2 Supplier of Solar Panels like CEEG Solar and BYD Solar Panels.Therefore its solar panel prices would be much lower than that of the Tier 1 solar panel suppliers.In these times of oversupply of solar panels when even the bigger producers like Canadian Solar are operating at razon thin margins,companies like Sun-Earth would be facing survivability questions.So you have to do your due diligence before buying solar panels from small solar panel companies as they might not exist to serve the 25 year performance warranty on their solar panels.
July 7, 2011
Solar Panels have recently become a point of trade friction between USA and China as a massive oversupply of solar panels has resulted in the prices of solar panels dropping by almost 50% in one year.This has caused great distress amongst solar panel manufacturers in the USA particularly the high cost ones which have been forced to close.Falling prices of solar panels are great news for customers but bad news for the producers of these solar panels.Now US and European companies are selling their solar panels advertising their "made in USA" credentials.This is to help them sell the solar panels which cost more but according to them have better quality and appeal to the patriotism of the Americans.Note the 2009 Economic Stimulus which promoted renewable energy had in fact "Buy American" provisions as well as the defense law passed in 2011.This means that a small part of the solar market is reserved for US Solar Panel Manufacturers who are being besieged by the low cost Chinese solar panel producers around the world.In fact Photovoltaic Module player Solarworld (which is German) is spearheading an effort to pass anti-dumping duties against the import of Chinese based panels.So which companies have "Made in USA" label.The surprising thing is that many of the solar companies are in fact foreign mostly European and Japanese though there are a native US companies as well.Note the most successful US Solar Companies First Solar and Sunpower (now Total) have always had the majority of their production outside the US in Asia.
July 7, 2011
BYD is China’s biggest producer of Electric Vehicles and Lithium Ion batteries.The Company was made famous when Warren Buffet bought a 10% stake in the company,one of his biggest Foreign Investments.China has become the dominant leader in Solar Manufacturing from being an nobody in a short span of 5 years.Chinese producers are going to produce about 60% of the global supply this year led by companies like Solarfun,Trina Solar,Yingli Green and Suntech.BYD too has decided to throw its hat into the ring with a big bang investment.There remain little details about the $3.3 Billion Solar Investment over 5 years for which it has already gotten the financing.The company is planning to spend 22.5 Billion Yuan on Solar Energy over the next 5 years for which it has already secured financing.The company has started a 100 MW cell plant in the Shaanxi province and plans to expand to 5000 MW by 2015.BYD signed a $300 million polysilicon supply contract with LDK Solar (another Chinese solar producer).This is a huge supply contract considering the 2 year time frame.Though wafer and polysilicon prices have recently become slightly constrained recently,there is no scope for the massive shortages seen in 2008.
July 7, 2011
Solar Panel Stocks have fallen off a cliff in 2011 driven by a massive oversupply in solar modules.The 2010 boom in solar energy demand led to rapid expansion by hundreds of established as well as new solar panel suppliers.This has led to a big increase in solar cell capacity.The demand in 2011 has not been enough to compensate for the massive increase in supply.Many of the higher cost companies in Western markets have already closed down operations with the news of a solar company closing down becoming a daily affair.The last time the wave of solar bankruptcies occured was during the 2008 Lehman crisis.At that time a few of the thin film companies had gone belly up as polysilicon prices had crashed.The sharp drop in solar panel stock provides a good time to enter the solar space as the valuations are at a historical low.Many of the solar panel stocks currently are being priced at a fraction of their sales and book value as the market expects almost every company to shut down.However solar demand is growing as the declining costs of solar energy is its biggest advantage.Also solar power growth is being vastly underestimated by policymakers and analysts.This short term pain is great as it provides a once in a lifetime oppurtunity to buy the solar panel leaders.
July 7, 2011
Solara Solar Panels are manufactured by German Solar Company Centrosolar which sells PV Systems and Solar Panels under the Solara Brand Name.Centrosolar is one of the biggest solar installers and EPC companies in Europe.The company sells both polycrystalline and monocrystalline solar modules since 2006.Solara Solar Panels are sold in a number of countries with distributors like ARRID Power,12V shop selling it in Australia and Barden,Bright Green Energy selling the panels in UK.Solar Solar Panels are Semi Flexibile Marine Solar Modules which are specifically manufactured for use on boats, life rafts, caravans. electric cars and many other mobile applications.
CentroSolar is a listed photovoltaic company on the DAX which makes mounting systems and solar panels. The company makes PV-systems, modules made of crystalline cells and thin film technology, building-integrated PV-installations, inverters, roof-mounted and roof-integrated mounting systems as well as low-iron solar glass with an anti-reflective coating.CENTROSOLAR has its own PV-module production facility in Wismar (Germany) and a solar glass production site in Furth (Germany)
July 7, 2011
Solar Cells are the basic building blocks of Soar Panels and it is unlikely that most people will have to buy them or even know about […]
July 7, 2011
Photovoltaic Module demand has increased by more than 50% each year in the last decade as solar panel costs have gone down sharply by almost 80% in the last 4 years alone as scale and technology have improved.Photovoltaic Modules are a combination of solar cells which generate electricity when light strikes them.Photovoltaic is the name given to this process where electrons are released when photo or light transfer its energy to the solar cells.The following article covers a large amount of literature on Photovoltaic Modules from its costs to selling prices as well as the efficiency of the Photovoltaic Module which affects the Energy Output.There are hundreds of Photovoltaic Module Manufacturers but only a few major ones.There are reviews on the major Photovoltaic Module Suppliers and Market as well.
July 6, 2011
SunForce is a good marketer and distributor of solar and wind energy products,however it is not a manufacturer of these products.Buying Solar Panels from Sharp does not make too much sense as Sharp Solar Panels are expensive and on top of that you have to pay a margin to SunForce as well.SunForce Foldable and CIGs Thin Film 12V Solar Products also don't list a manufacturer nor do their solar inverters.SunForce does not look like the type of company who could make a technologically advanced products like a CIGs Solar Panels.You are better off buying charge controllers and solar panels directly from manufacturers rather than using SunForce.For some Solar Battery Kits SunForce might make sense as they have a good distribution.
July 6, 2011
Polycrystalline silicon or Polysilicon( poly-Si or "poly") is a material consisting of multiple small silicon crystals.The difference between Silicon Metal and Polysilicon is that Poly is highly pure form of silicon and is much costlier.Polycrystalline silicon can be as much as 99.9999% pure (also known as 4N pure,the 4 denotes the number of 9s after the decimal point).Polysilicon was primarily used by the semi industry till 5-6 years ago and the electronic industry used 9N pure polysilicon.The Solar Industry which has become the main user of polysilicon nowadays can do with 6N pure poly.
Polysilicon is refined to single crystal polysilicon before it can be used by the semiconductor industry.However solar cells can be made even from multicrystalline polysilicon.Monocrystalline solar cells on the other hand are made of single crystal polysilicon and have higher efficiency than those made from multicrystalline polysilicon.Polycrystalline cells can be recognized by a visible grain, a “metal flake effect”. Semiconductor grade (also solar grade) polycrystalline silicon is converted to "single crystal" silicon – meaning that the randomly associated crystallites of silicon in "polycrystalline silicon" are converted to a large "single" crystal.
July 6, 2011
New Solar Panels and New Scientific Breakthroughs in Solar Technology it seems are reported every month.But Solar Energy is still not competitive with Fossil Fuel Energy despite its obvious advantages.The costs of Solar Energy are declining quickly but they remain still some way from being on par with the dirty forms of energy like Coal.The reason for all these new exciting technologies which are reported in newspaper not being able to bring a fundamental change in the energy scenario is that the costs are too high.Bringing a new solar panel technology from the lab to the factory takes a lot of time and effort.During this time the incumbent technology like crystalline solar technology keeps advancing due to the massive global R&D dollars that are spend and the rising scale.This had made many new startups in solar technology like Solyndra ,Spectrawatt and others bite the dust.You can read about the large number of solar failures in the first wave of thin film solar bankruptcies .
July 6, 2011
A solar array can be defined as solar panels arranged in a group to capture maximum amount of sun light to convert it into usable electricity. The idea of Solar Array came into being when it was conceived that the power produced by a solar panels singly was not sufficient for domestic or commercial purpose. Many such solar modules are linked together to form a Solar Array. Solar panels can be arranged differently to form different patterns to suit ones purpose. Depending upon what the need is, different structures can be build. Generally there are two traditional styles of solar energy panels used in residential and industrial areas -photovoltaic and photothermal energy. Most solar arrays to date have been a mixture of these two. Because it is relatively low-tech, solar arrays are a very cost effective approach for people who believe in DIY technology.
July 6, 2011
Solar Shingles are niche solar products meant for use on roofs of houses.There are not a lot of manufacturers of solar shingles as they are a new product and more difficult to install than standard silicon solar panels.Solar Shingles are manufactured by mainly American companies like Dow,Energy Conversion Devices.Their high costs and lack of easy availability has meant that solar shingles have not really caught the imagination of the customers.Also Solar Shingles do not get any added subsidy from the government vis a vis Solar Panels.Thus the higher prices of electricity generated from solar shingles means that they have become a poorer cousin of the mainstream Solar Panels.Also Solar Integrators are more accustomed to buying and installing solar panels which makes it even more difficult to push the sale of solar shingles.
July 6, 2011
Solar Tracker is a Device which follows the movement of the sun as it rotates from the east to the west every day.Solar Trackers are used to keep solar collectors/solar panels oriented directly towards the sun as it moves through the sky every day.Using Solar Trackers increases the amount of solar energy which is recieved by the solar energy collector and improves the energy output of the heat/electricity which is generated.Solar Trackers can increase the output of Solar Panels by 20-30% which improves the economics of the solar panel project.
Solar Trackers are mostly used in ground mounted solar farms of capacity more than 1 MW.Note it is difficult to use solar trackers on residential rooftop installations.Horizontal single axis trackers are typically used for large distributed generation projects and utility scale projects. The combination of energy improvement and lower product cost and lower installation complexity results in compelling economics in large deployments.However for solar ground plants where area is not a problem,solar trackers can be easily be used.Also commercial and utility solar projects have dedicated maintainance teams which can easily repair and monitor solar trackers.The 20-30% increase in output easily compensates for the higher costs associated with solar trackers.Note Solar Trackers are especially useful in case of places where the solar insolation is high and the efficiency of the solar panels being used are high.Sunpower which makes the highest efficiency solar panels uses Solar Trackers in most of its ground mounted plants and sells solar trackers under its own brand.These days solar trackers are becoming increasingly important and major solar panel manufacturers like First Solar and Trina Solar are selling solar trackers as well.The selection of tracker type is dependent on many factors including installation size, electric rates, government incentives, land constraints, latitude, and local weather.