Manufacturing
April 14, 2011
First Solar Thin Film Leader and the largest solar company by value has decided to shift focus towards the commercial segment between 10-30 KW in size..The company was promoted by Wal-Mart promoters and has seen remarkable growth in the last few.This US based company uses Cadmium Tellurium (Cd-Te) Technology and is the lowest cost panel producer in the world today if you don’t include any penalty for low efficiency.Note First Solar derives most of its revenues from large utility solar power plants where the lower costs of its Cadmium Tellerium Solar Panels compensates for the Lower Efficiency of its Solar Panels.It does not get too many sales to the commercial and residential market where its lower efficiency panels lose out as they require much larger space to generate the same amount of power. First Solar Panels don't sell well in applications where space is a constraint.Note Sunpower which is the highest efficiency commercial c-Si solar module producer wins out in applications with space constraint.
April 7, 2011
Solar Carports are a relatively new Solar Energy Product compared to other Solar Products like Solar Heaters and Solar Cooking.Solar Carports are fast catching on as their dual use of protecting,shading a car as well as providing electricity to nearby offices and buildings.It makes use of real estate that would go waste so it provides a lot of value add besides helping in protecting the environment as well.
April 7, 2011
India launched its Solar Mission by the name of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) with a lofty target of 20 GW by 2022.The Solar Mission has been divided into 3 phases and promotes solar energy installation,solar industry,solar heaters and off grid solar.Note the Solar Mission provides subsidies and incentives to promote the use of Solar Energy from the Central Government.Different States such as Gujarat have enacted laws to support solar energy on their own which is seperate from the Federal Target for Solar Power.I think the 20 GW target for 2022 is very low and will be easily exceeded but that is a separate discussion.The Solar Mission is not a rigid document but is a work in motion as the second and third phases will be implemented taking in the feedback and success of the first phase of the Solar Mission which has already announced the Solar Project Winners.
April 7, 2011
Solar Industry is a fast growing exciting industry with its inevitable growth pangs as well.The first phase of India's Federal Policy has seen many hurdles and its success is in doubt,on the other hand Gujarat has managed to attract investment and power plants through a forward looking subsidy.States like Uttar Pradesh,Delhi,Maharashtra are also tentatively coming up with their own incentive policies.The Industry will see many ups and downs before it becomes a major billion dollar industry.Note Solar Power Industry has become the fastest growing in USA where it doubled last year and looks set to double this year again.The Nuclear Accident in Japan has given fresh energy to Solar Power with China set to double its target to 10 GW by 2015.
April 6, 2011
Solar Energy in India represents one of the best Energy opportunities in the 21st Century.However the growth at least in the initial stages will be geographically unequal.This is due to the fact that Solar Power requires strong government support and subsidies currently.The Indian Federal Government has already given it a strong push targeting 1000 MW by 2013 and 20 GW by 2022 under the JNSSM.While the Subsidy Program is facing some initial hurdles due to debt financing and aggressive project bidding,individual States are forging ahead to push Solar Energy on their own.Gujarat has been a trailblazer in this regard with The State has already recieved proposals for setting up around 365 MW of Solar Power.Gujarat through its own RPS and Feed in Tariff incentives is targeting 1000 MW by 2013.Rajasthan too is trying to exploit is massive solar insolation potential but its state policies have little clarity or direction yet.The state has signed around 1524 MW of Solar Project with 49 Developers.The Solar Policy Draft Proposal is mostly vague with a target of 10-12 GW in 10-12 years with around 500 MW in the next 2-3 years.Rajasthan is set to see massive solar installation despite its government's vagueness from the Federal JNNSM subsidy.Other states in India like UP,Delhiand Maharashtra have recently started making some moves but remains to be seen how good they are at implementing.While the UP solar subsidy is clearly quite ridiculous,Delhi seems to be on the way to implementing a smart policy of promoting small roof top solar residential installations.
April 6, 2011
Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells is the dominant Solar Cell Manufacturing Process in which a highly purified form of Polysilicon is converted through a series of process into a small Solar Cell capable of converting solar energy into electrical energy.Note Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells are closely related to Mutlicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells differentiated only in terms of efficiency and cost.Monocrystalline Solar Technology uses a single crystal of Silicon which means less defects and higher efficiency in solar cells built from Monocrystalline Solar Wafers.
April 5, 2011
PV Solar Cells or Photovoltaic Solar Cells are the building blocks of Solar Panels which are used to generate electricity from the Sun in residential or commercial establishments.Solar Cells are made of crystalline silicon the same substance that is used to make semiconductors which go into making of electronic products.Note Thin Film Solar Cells are not found for practical purposes as Thin FIlm Solar Production generally is a one step continuous process in which the whole solar panel is produced.On the other hand c-Si production is a 5 step process in which Solar Cells is the intermediate product of the 4th stage and goes as input to making of solar modules/panels.Solar Cells can be bought and made into Solar Panels as PV Solar Cells don't have much of a standalone usage.Note Buying Solar Cells and making DIY Solar Panels does not make much sense as it adds little value and does not save money.You are better off buying Solar Panels from affordable solar panel manufacturers.
April 3, 2011
Economically also Solar Panels are starting to approach retail electricity prices in number of places in the world.Large scale solar power plants are already selling power at 10-15c/KwH which is lower than the retail electricity prices in most places.Still competition between solar panel manufacturers,improving technology and scale are making solar panel costs come down at a rapid pace.In fact Solar Panel prices have declined by more than 50% from 2008 end to 2010 and are expected to fall by an average rate of 10% in the coming years as well.However Solar Panels are seldom bought by the customers directly but are rather bought by the solar system installers/contractors.However its a good idea to know about the costs of solar panels and systems that you are paying for and not get fleeced by unscrupulous solar installers.
April 1, 2011
Solar Panels Efficiency – Range,Technology Dependence,Companies with Highest Efficient Solar Modules
The Companies that make the Solar Panels with the highest efficiences are Sunpower and Panasonic/Sanyo.Sunpower has the highest efficient solar modules in the market using a properietary process and has solar cells with efficiency reaching a top limit of 24%.Sanyo also has very efficient solar panels under the HIT brand name.These solar panels also approach the 18% range (solar modules not cells).Normal crystalline plain vanilla solar panels come in the range of 13-14%.Note solar modules have lower efficiency than solar cells as some area is left for the frame etc.There are other companies that are fast catching up to Sunpower and Sanyo in the high efficiency solar panels as well.Note higher efficiency solar panels sell at higher prices per watt as the require lesser area.AUO which has a JV with Sunpower has recently claimed to have produced the higher efficiency solar panel .
March 31, 2011
Solar Panels have become a mass phenomenon as Bloomberg reported a few days ago rivaling in explosive growth the Apple iPad. Falling prices of solar panels […]
March 30, 2011
Solar and Wind Energy are the two most widely used forms of Renewable Energy amongst others like Geothermal,Tidal,Biomass etc.While Hydro and Nuclear Energy are also considered by some to be Alternative forms of Energy,most governments do not count these two in their renewable targets.Wind Energy has been the dominant amongst the 2 in the last 2 decades as falling prices of Wind Power has made it more widely used.However the rapidly declining costs of Solar Energy has made it the faster growing of the two with 50% annual growth being seen in the last decade.Solar Energy also has a much larger potential than any other form of Energy.However its higher costs have inhibited its growth till now,however the entry of low cost Asian producers and fast technology innovation has already brought solar power on parity with fossil fuels in some places like Italy,Turkey,Hawai etc.
March 30, 2011
Solar Roofs are a niche area but is growing in popularity with the entry of more and more companies selling products tailormade for this area.What are Solar Roofs exactly - does it mean a Roof with Solar Panels installed on it or something else.Solar Roofs are not roofs where solar electricity is generated by putting in solar mounting/racking systems and mainstream solar panels,rather they are roofs where specialized solar products called solar shingles are installed.Solar Roofs can also mean a roof where Building Integrated Photovoltaic products are installed.Some companies make BIPV products like flexible solar panels or organic/dye solar cell panels ( these are niche companies).
March 30, 2011
Sharp is the biggest company in the world in terms of making revenues from sales of solar panels so it seems counterintuitive for someone to recommend not buying Sharp Solar Panels.However this Japanese Conglomerate has been losing marketshare rapidly to cheaper Asian competitors.Sharp due to its factories in high cost locations makes solar panels at a much higher cost and sells them at much higher prices as well.The reason is that they manage to sell so many solar panels is that consumers are not educated about other better options and the other solar panel companies don't have the distribution networks.Note Sharp has been trying to diversify away from crystalline solar panels to thin film solar panels.The reason is that they are losing the competitive advantage to Chinese companies like Trina Solar and others.
March 29, 2011
Solar Panel Manufacturers globally have kept on increasing due to the fast growing nature of the industry and low entry barriers.However most of the solar panel manufacturers have high costs and low quality.Most of these producers have little growth prospects and are a bad choice to buy from as they might go bellyup.This would lead to a void of the 25 year warranty of the solar panels.So it makes sense only to buy from the biggest and best solar manufacturers in the world.Solar Panel Manufacturers are present in most parts of the world with Korea,China,Taiwan,USA,Japan and Germany dominating.However small solar panel producers are also present in most countries like Spain,Greece,India etc.Solar Panels are of mainly 2 type - crystalline and thin film.Most of the solar panels produced today are of the crystalline type and are mostly used in residential rooftops.Thin film panels are mostly used in large ground solar power plants.Thin film solar panels are of lower efficiency and are lower priced as well.However falling costs of crystalline solar panels has led to their increasing dominance.
March 29, 2011
Cheap Solar Panels are widely available with the entry of a multitude of Korean,Chinese and Taiwanese companies.Most of these solar panel manufacturers are fighting on price and have decent quality.With little to differentiate between solar panels made by different firms,cheapness has become the main selling point for these solar panels.Cheap Solar Panels can be bought by an informed customers as expensive Western and Japanese brands still hold a large marketshare.But buying these brands might not make sense economically or environmentally.You can easily avoid buying solar panels from BP Solar because they outsource manufacturing of their solar panels to cheaper locations.It is common sense to buy cheaper solar panels from the companies located in those low cost locations.
March 28, 2011
Free Solar Panels don't exist just as Free iPads don't exist.Some websites and companies advertize free solar power or free solar panels based on government subsidies.Note even these free solar power offers are not completely free as they have a payback periods depending on how much government subsidies are given.Nobody is going to give you a free solar panel or a free iPad without a catch.
March 28, 2011
British Petroleum (BP) the multi billion dollar Oil and Gas Conglomerate is a strange player in the Renewable Energy Sector of Solar Energy.BP was a dominant company amongst the top 10 global manufacturers of solar panels till a few years ago.However the lack of interest on the part of management,low investment,lack of R&D has made it a bit player in the fast growing solar panel market.Companies which did not exist till a few years ago have outpaced BP to become top solar panel producers.However BP Solar Panels continue to sell in a number of market because of existing sales relationships and brand name.However it is only uneducated and uninformed consumers who are buying BP Solar Panels in my opinion.BP Solar Panels should be avoided both from an economic point of view and from the environment perspective.
March 19, 2011
While Chinese pure play solar panels companies have already captured a majority of the global solar module market,the entry of newer Chinese players into the solar energy market refused to stop.China's 5 largest state owned utilities have already made their presence felt in the Chinese domestic solar installation market by bidding extremely low to win projects under the Chinese Solar Subsidy program.Automotive companies like BYD have also announced a big investment into solar panel manufacturing while Hanlong and Bluestar Groups have decided to invest in the CPV and Polysilicon sectors respectively.
March 19, 2011
German's Solar Energy Market is the biggest in the world by a fair margin.Germany installed almost 6 gigawatts of solar panels in 2010 taking the total installed capacity to almost 16 GW which is 40% of the world's total installed solar capacity.Note Germany's Photovoltaic Solar Electricity now forms almost 10-15% of the total electricity production in the country at peak time.Note Germany's solar industry got a renewed boost when 7 old nuclear plants were shutdown following Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Disaster recently.Previously Germany had decided to extend the operating life of its Nuclear Plants despite stiff opposition.Germany Solar Subsidy which is framed under the Renewable Energy EEG law has made Germany one of the world's leaders in Wind,Solar and Biomass Energy.Germany's Manufacturing Industry has benefited from the strong domestic market with many of the world's top solar panel companies located there.Solar equipment,inverters and cell companies are also present in large numbers.Recently Germany amended its Feed in Tariff Law to slowdown the exponential growth in solar panel installations.This is over and above the regular reduction in solar subsidies done each year.
March 4, 2011
The Indian Government’s launch of the ambitious Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission(JNNSM) was done with much fanfare with a target of reaching 20 GW of Solar Capacity by 2022 under 3 phases from the 81 MW currently.While the government had the best intentions and had laid down a well defined 10 year plan with subsidy support for both Solar Thermal and Solar PV Technology,it has already run into problems.Due to high interest the government went in for bidding of projects which led to irrationally low bidding from unknown firms.This has put the entire exercise in question with the the biggest private utility saying JNNSM is a failure.Without extensions of deadlines it looks highly unlikely whether the 37 winners will actually put up the plants.
February 10, 2011
Moser Baer made ambitous plans of making it big in solar energy but has not managed to execute successfully in its plans.Despite pouring millions of dollars into differents parts of solar energy,Moser Baer has failed to make a mark even domestically leave alone globally.However India's JNNSM has given a fresh lease of life to Moser Baer's solar investments.The company has managed to win a number of system projects which will be supplied by its inhouse solar panel production.Now the company is also entering into manufacture of low value add items where competition is expected to be much lower.The company is going to build a 1300 MW Solar Module Junction Box Plant to supply India's fast growing solar capacity.
January 12, 2011
About 800 jobs in the Solar Industry will be lost directly to China as the USA administration has failed to support its established solar companies.Massachusetts had supported Evergreen with $58 million in subsidies but it was not enough for Evergreen to compete against the ongoing subsidies received by the strong Chinese players who have captured almost 70% of the global market in a few short years.The other US solar companies like Sunpower and First Solar are surviving by manufacturing most of their solar panels in Malaysia and other places.The recent "Buy American" Pentagon Law may not help all that much as module making is a low value add activity already being done by European and Chinese players in the USA.In the complicated supply chain of global manufacturing its difficult to understand who ultimately benefits and loses from such provisions.Note most of the polysilicon going inside the wafers and cells made in Asia are imported from USA and Europe.