Friday, December 14, 2007
More solar stories from China
An industry observer predicts, however, that the sunny days of Chinese solar companies may cloud in the face of international foreign competition, as China's advantage of low labor costs slowly erodes. Chinese companies, whose products are predominantly exported out of China, need to seize the opportunities of tapping into its domestic market, although that would entail overcoming serious challenges in grid connection and pricing which Chinese policy makers are still grappling with as they try to implement the country's new renewable energy laws.
Finally, an uplifting rags-to-riches expose on China's Mr. Solar Water Heater--Huang Ming, founder of China Himin Solar Energy Group, the world's biggest producer of solar water heaters. The company had revenues of 2 billion yuan last year. Of the other 3,000 solar heating companies in China, only 10 earn 200 million yuan annually. More than 2 million sq m of Himin's heaters alone are installed on rooftops every year, nearly twice the total of Europe and North America. Huang Ming's solar dreams look set to expand as favorable government policies seek to expand the use of solar water heaters.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
China--the solar water heating capital of the world
Often mentioned in the same breath as Rizhao is the city of Kunming in the southern province of Yunnan, as this Worldwatch Institute story describes.
Solar water heating systems in Kunming, Yunnan.
Source: Worlwatch Institute
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Google's "RE less than C" Initiative
Those of us who have followed Google's green ways know better. The company has had a fine tradition of green:“My first reaction when I read about this was, ‘Is this a joke?’” said Jordan Rohan of RBC Capital Markets. “I’ve written off Google’s competition as a threat to Google’s long-term market share gains. But I haven’t written off Google’s own ability to stretch too far and try to do too much. Ultimately, that is the biggest risk in the Google story.”
Robert Peck of Bear Sterns agreed that “the headlines were a little scary at first” and said investors were initially worried that this was another example of Google “trying to bite off more than they can chew.”
- Founder's Sergey Brin and Larry Page were early investors in Nanosolar, one of the hottest Silicon Valley solar startups, and in Tesla Motors (which incidentally was named by Greentechmedia as one of the Top 10 clean tech startups of the year)
- Google has developed cutting-edge energy efficiency technology to power and cool its data centers in the U.S. and around the world and joined other industry leaders to form the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a consortium that advocates the design and use of more energy-efficient computers and servers.
- Generating electricity for its Mountain View campus from a 1.6 Megawatt corporate solar panel installation, at the time the largest, and still one of the largest in the U.S.
- Accelerating development and adoption of plug-in vehicles through the RechargeIT initiative. (See also previous post)
- Working on policies that encourage renewable energy development and deployment, such as a U.S. Renewable Energy Standard, through Google.org, its philanthropic arm.
Let's cut the justifications and get down to what this blog is about--Solar. One of Google's flagship partnerships under this initiative is with eSolar, California-based company developing solar thermal technology for utility-scale deployment, which boasts ease of transportation and installment, modularity, scalability, redundancy, and resilience against wind tear.
An eSolar windfarm (source: eSolar)
Monday, November 26, 2007
India Starts to Shine
Indeed, the authors of Clean Tech Revolution, a book I've highlighted previously, list Hyderabad as one of the ten emerging clean tech hubs of the world, noting that it is home to the likes of solar-power lantern maker, NEST, and seller of solar hot-water systems known as solar geysers, Photon Energy Systems.
Finally, it should be mentioned that India is also a destination for several notable rural electrification projects, as this one by the German energy company, Conergy, the Solar Electrific Light Fund (SELF), and the UNEP India Solar Loan Programme, demonstrating the usel of microfinance to achieve sustainable development.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Arup to Build Solar City
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Saving on Silicon
The new wafer reclamation process produces monitor wafers from scrap product wafers - generating an overall energy savings of up to 90% because repurposing scrap means that IBM no longer has to procure the usual volume of net new wafers to meet manufacturing needs. When monitors wafers reach end of life they are sold to the solar industry. Depending on how a specific solar cell manufacturer chooses to process a batch of reclaimed wafers - they could save between 30 - 90% of the energy that they would have needed if they'd used a new silicon material source. These estimated energy savings translate into an overall reduction of the carbon footprint -- the measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emitted over the full life cycle of a product or service -- for both the Semiconductor and Solar industries.Separately, MIT Technology Review reports that Clean Venture 21, a Kyoto, Japan-based has developed a novel way of making solar cells that cuts production costs by as much as 50 percent by reducing the amount of silicon needed. The photovoltaic (PV) cells are made up of arrays of thousands of tiny silicon spheres surrounded by hexagonal reflectors. These spheres work like car headlights but in reverse, ensuring that any light hitting the reflector is directed toward the sphere--essentially acting as mini-concentrators. The hexagonal shape of the reflectors allows them to be slotted together without dead space between them.
Of course, the whole basis of the thin-film solar boom is the avoidance of silicon as a raw material. This piece by Popular Science (it has a cool slide show and animation too!) talks about Silicon Valley-based Nanosolar's silicon-free thin film technology.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Singapore's Green Ambitions
The announcement is part of Singapore's larger ambitions of becoming a clean tech leader, as it enacts a slew of energy efficiency initiatives described in this article. Also take a look at this government website (the Economic Development Board) outlines the country's clean tech plans. Finally, this other article in IHT discusses Singapore's joining of the second generation biofuels race.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Solar Power 2007 and Chinese Solar
The Solar Power 2007 conference in Long Beach, California recently concluded. I wasn't there, but some people, like John Addison and Ed Gunther (Parts one, two, three and four).
A little bit about China...
Separately, this article discusses the China solar boom on the US stock market, observing that unlike that tech bubble, solar companies are able to ramp up production quickly, produce real products, and earn real profits. The article does a great job of summarizing the different specialties of the various U.S.-listed Chinese solar companies, however, perhaps inaccurately attributes this proliferation of Far Eastern solar enterprises to the enormity of China's environmental problems ("This [long list of U.S.-listed Chinese solar companies] is no coincidence. A mad rush to clean up the country before the Olympic games isn’t going to be enough to permanently squelch China’s pollution epidemic. If the country is going to get the problem under control it’s going to have to count on alternative energy technologies like solar power for contributions").
The fact is that the main markets of most of these Chinese companies are in the west, predominantly Europe, not its domestic market. Until the proper micro-incentives for renewable energy implementation (and proliferation) are set in place, such as solar tax credits and preferential feed-in tariffs for solar-generated electricity, then only can Beijing's macro policy aspirations (such as their proposed renewable portfolio standard of generating 20% of their energy from renewable sources) be realized. Just imagine how great these Chinese solar companies will do if and when the domestic market gets going....Throw in you life savings into these companies now!!
The Chinese should get there...I am cautiously hopeful. They have to...the costs of environmental degradation to human welfare will start to take their toll. In Hong Kong where I am currently at, I've been noticing an increasing number of newspaper articles on climate change and clean energy, and high level central government officials pledging to get tough on greenhouse gases.
Then again, as a counterpoint, I've also seen a fair number of articles in the business section about large coal companies having successful public share offerings...against a backdrop of increased incidents of mining disasters.
Will the real China please stand up?
Saturday, September 29, 2007
I'm Back!
But first, some tidbits about the latest in large scale solar thermal (aka Big Solar) in the US. PG&E, FPL and venture-backed Ausra are all are bullish on Big Solar and getting into the game, particularly in the open desert regions of California, as this article reports. Look, too, at the Green Wombat's September '07 postings, as he covers in more details the projects that the likes of the above and others like BrightSource are looking at in California, the "Saudi Arabia of solar" and Florida, the self-billed (and increasingly fittingly so) "Sunshine State."
Here's the wiki on what solar thermal is all about.
In the meantime, U.S.-listed Chinese solar companies--LDK, Yingli and Trina--were busy striking deals and other arrangements over the past week. Its worth noting that solar plays, at least on on the NYSE and Nasdaq, have been doing particularly well over the past month.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Non Solars Going Solar
Last month, we caught wind of IBM's possible foray into PV. Now, murmurings are swirling that chip maker Intel and electronics manufacturer Samsung are seeking to expand into the solar business. Intel is reportedly looking at acquisitions in Germany, while Samsung plans to open a solar power plant in Greece by the end of the year.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Solar Boom, All Over the World
In the Czech Republic, a 2005 renewable energy law modeled after Germany's has spurred on the Czech solar industry. Last year, the country as a whole generated only 540 MWh of solar energy. Korowatt’s solar plant, which began operating in January, is expected to outdo this total on its own, with 628 MWh expected this year. Another Czech-based company, HiTecSolar, announced completion of its own “largest solar power station in Central Europe,” located in east Moravia.
Japan, already amongst the world's leaders in solar cell production and where solar adoption exist without subsidies, may need to increase reliance on solar, particularly thin-film solar, to fight its pollution woes.
In the mean time, despite turbulence in the stock markets, publicly listed solar names do not seem to be experiencing a slowdown, but are instead ramping up with expansions plans. SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR) inked up new ingot, wafer and polysilicon deals; LDK Solar secured a three year wafer supply agreement; and China-based Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) set up its new U.S. head office in Phoenix, Arizona.
Monday, August 6, 2007
U.S. House Passes RPS and Extends Solar Tax Credits
HR 2776 extends renewable energy production tax credits to 2012, costing around $6.6 billion over 10 years, and extends a 30% tax credit for solar energy and fuel cell investment for eight years to 2016, costing around $563 million.
On one of the most contentious and heavily lobbied issues, the House voted for HR 969 to require investor-owned electric utilities nationwide to generate at least 11% of their electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind or biofuels and a maximum of 4% for energy efficiency for a combined 15% RPS, or perhaps more accurately a "REPS" (Renewable energy and Efficiency Portfolio Standard). More than 20 states have similar standards in place (see the Database for State Incentives for Renewable Energy or DSIRE) or under development, but proponents say a federal standard is needed to rapidly drive increased use of renewable energy.
With the Senate version of the legislation already complete (but lacking an RPS or solar tax credit provisions), passage in the House leads to a conference committee stage in the fall and possible final passage of a reconciled bill in late October or early November.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
IBM Solar: the next "Big" thing
I am looking forward to it.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Israel-based Solel to build world largest solar farm
Perhaps the most environmentally satisfying aspect of the project is that the electricity generated by
Elsewhere, PG&E is also making aggressive moves in wind and wave energy, reports the Green Wombat.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
New Efficiency Record of 42.8% Achieved
The consortium's goal is to create solar cells that operate at 50 percent in production, Barnett said. With the fresh funding and cooperative efforts of the DuPont-UD consortium, he said it is expected new high efficiency solar cells could be in production by 2010.
The highly efficient VHESC solar cell uses a novel lateral optical concentrating system that splits solar light into three different energy bins of high, medium and low, and directs them onto cells of various light sensitive materials to cover the solar spectrum. The system delivers variable concentrations to the different solar cell elements. The concentrator is stationary with a wide acceptance angle optical system that captures large amounts of light and eliminates the need for complicated tracking devices.
The VHESC would have immediate application in the high-technology military, which increasingly relies upon a variety of electronics for individual soldiers and the equipment that supports them. As well, it is hoped the solar cells will have a large number of commercial applications.
Separately, a US-Korea team announced an efficiency record for organic solar cells at 6.5%.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Who's side is the government (and private equity) on???
In the current fiscal year, the Energy Department plans to spend $159 million on solar research and development. It will spend nearly double, $303 million, on nuclear energy research and development, and nearly triple, $427 million, on coal, as well as $167 million on other fossil fuel research and development...“Coal and nuclear count their lobbying budgets in the tens of millions,” said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. “We count ours in the tens of thousands.”
The New York times also had interesting side bars on solar thermal and storage of solar power.
A rural solar initiative in the Phillipines faces the challenges of the high costs of solar panels and realted maintenance.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
China Sunergy Announces Approval of N-type Cell Patent
Monday, July 9, 2007
Sunny Days in Singapore
It is reported that SGX Sesdaq-listed Equation Corp Limited through its newly-acquired subsidiary Solar Morph Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-registered company will undertake the construction and operation of a thin-film amorphous silicon plant in Singapore, commencing with establishing a 20MW manufacturing line by mid-2008 and continue to expand to its full 60MW annual capacity by 2010
The Solar Bulls are Raging!!!
First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) closed at $119.34, up an unbelievable 23.95% (after an already torrid year!--it has quadrupled since the start of the year) in the wake of announcing 5 new contracts worth $1.3 billion, its board approval of new a new Malaysian plant.
Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) closed at $67.37, up 16.0%, on the announcement of several contracts to supply European customers with 99 MW worth of PV modules over the next 2-3 years.
JA Solar (NASDAQ: JASO) surged 14.8% to $42.76 after announcing that it has commenced production on four additional 25 MW per annum solar cell production lines in its Ningjin, Hebei, China site increasing its manufacturing capacity from 75 MW to 175 MW per annum.
The combined news created for a bullish sentiment across the solar board, lifting up other solar stocks which did not have any announcements of their own, including Yingli Green (NYSE: YGE, up 15.9%), Solarfun (NASDAQ: SOLF, up 11.4%), Hoku Scientific (NASDAQ: HOKU, up 13.7%), Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ, up 8.9%), LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK, up 8.5%), Evergreen Solar (NASDAQ: ESLR, up 6.1%) and Suntech Power (NYSE: STP, up a "mere" 4.1%).
As a Forbes article explains, First Solar and Trina Solar's new contracts target end users in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Canada, among others, reflecting the continued growth of solar in these markets as the European Union and the Canadian province of Ontario enact legislation and standards to replace their fossil fuel based energy sources with renewable power.
Full Disclosure: The author owns some shares in First Solar and Suntech Power.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Polysilicon Shortage Exerts Pressure on China Sunergy
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Bioplastics and Quantum Dots: The Next Generation in Thin Film
Also reported last week, Menlo Park-based Stion raised $15 million in Series B financing. The company is keeping its thin-film technology under wraps, but a CNET article speculates that the basis of Stion's technology lies in quantum dots--nano particles that are sensitive to physical phenomena and can be used to trap electrons.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
$60 Million Solar Grant by U.S. DOE
Third Party Financing Gains Traction
Morgan Stanley has gotten into the solar third party financing game. Last week, it was announced that Morgan Stanley has agreed to own and finance solar electric power systems totaling more than four megawatts that SunPower will deploy on seven Wal-Mart facilities in California. Wal-Mart will purchase electricity generated from the solar power systems from Morgan Stanley through a long term purchase power agreement. Click here for more.
The Red Herring reports that San Francisco-based solar-energy services company Recurrent Energy received $10 million in a first round of funding from venture capitalists. Like Tioga Energy (see previous post), Recurrent installs, owns, and operates the solar power systems for property owners and sells the solar-generated electricity through a PPA.
...and So Does Thin Film
New Jersey-based Energy Photovoltaics, a manufacturer of amorphous silicon thin-film solar modules has raised $77.5 million in its Series B financing.
According to this story, GE's foray into the thin-film market has it purchasing thin film products from two California-based companies, DayStar Technologies and Miasole, both specialists of CIGS thin-film technology.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
SANYO Electric Achieves 22% Solar Cell Efficiency in the Laboratory
Solarbuzz reports that SANYO Electric has broken its own record for what the company says is the world’s highest energy conversion efficiency in practical sized (100 cm2 or more) crystalline silicon-type solar cells, by achieving an efficiency of 22% at the research level for its proprietary HIT solar photovoltaic cells. The previous highest efficiency had been 21.8%.
Action on Capital Hill: The Gavel reports that the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment today explored means to advance solar energy research and technologies. The Subcommittee addressed the topic in the context of pending “The Solar Energy Research and Advancement Act of 2007” bill, authored by Subcommittee Vice-Chair Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), which will soon be introduced to establish several important research, education and training programs to facilitate the adoption of such technologies.
A number of financing deals were announced:
- Advent Solar (adopter of "emitter-wrap-through" technology) raises $70 million in Series D financing;
- Silicon Valley Solar (manufacturer of cells with internal concentrator technology to amplifies the effect of the sun) raised $10.2 million for its acquisition of NuEdison;
- Deli Solar (USA), Inc. (OTC BB: DLSL.OB) (seller of hot water and space heating devices in China) raised $2.75 million in Series A financing.
- Engine manufacturer Infinia announced it has raised $9.5 million in venture funding to develop solar-based, non-combustible stirling engines.
In other news, San Francisco is set to launch a solar mapping web portal, using Google Maps as a visual platform, that estimates solar energy potential for commercial/residential structures in San Francisco, and allows building owners to visualize the potential environmental benefits and monetary savings resulting from installing solar energy panels on their property. Click here for the San Francisco Solar Map!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Google and Ascent
On the same day, its philanthropic arm, Google.org, as part of its climate change initiatives, launched its RechargeIT program to beta test new plug-in hybrid and vehicle-to-grid car technologies. One angle Google is exploring is the use of renewable energy sources such as solar in plug-in hybrids; it will be connecting its test fleet of plug-in cars to solar charging stations on campus to demonstrate the role that renewable electricity can play in replacing gasoline and other fossil fuels in the transportation sector.
Relatedly, Akeena Solar, one of the U.S.'s biggest solar system integrators, announced that this Thursday on June 21 it would unveil solar-powered electric car-charging stations, the equivalent of gas stations dispensing solar energy instead of gasoline.
Ascent Ascending
Meanwhile, shares of Ascent Solar (Nasdaq: ASTI) edged up 9% last Friday after shareholders approved the options Ascent granted to Norsk Hydro (NYSE:NHY) which will enable Hydro, the third-largest integrated aluminum supplier in the world, to increase its equity stake in Ascent Solar from its current 23% to up to 35%. Ascent's stock price rose to $8.02 today, up substantially from $2.45 earlier this year. Hydro's relationship with Ascent is expected to be enhanced. Already, it is reported that the two companies are collaborating in the joint development of a building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) product line
Thursday, June 14, 2007
A Haiku for Hoku
Build it and they will cometh
Sanyo then Suntech!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Europe's Solar Manifesto
The SRA states in no uncertain terms that it is afraid of China's emerging success in the PV industry and the threat it poses to Europe's solar industry. Specifically, it describes China as the second country (after Japan) with an industrial policy specifically focused in the solar industry, with a goal of covering the solar value chain from silicon feedstock to complete systems. Hence, the SRA outlines the R&D priorities across the full spectrum of PV technologies, including crystalline-based, thin-film and concentrated solar technologies, as well as balance-of-system components.
The SRA also discusses non-technological issues such as standards, quality assurance and government R&D policy, although not to the same degree of detail and thoughtfulness as Solartech's white paper for turning the Silicon Valley into Solar Valley.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Fat Spaniel: Increasing Solar Adoption by Reducing Information Asymmetry
But one San Jose, California start-up, Fat Spaniel, which recently announced a strategic alliance with DRI Energy, aims to change all that with a small device that links up to existing solar equipment and monitors energy collection. The data the device gathers is fed into servers at Fat Spaniel, where it's digested and distributed live via PC or cell phone to the consumer, the utility company, the solar installer and/or others who need to know the information. User can get real-time and historical information about amount of solar power produced by their solar systems, and even what that translates to in terms of avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions (see above pictured example of web interface).
With this technology, utilities of solar financiers like SunEdison can more accurately better monitor a solar energy system's productivity and more accurately monetize their power purchase agreements in an arrangement where it purchases, installs, owns and maintains the systems while charging its customers periodically simply for the purchase of solar power.
System installers can use the technology to ensure that the systems have been properly installed and remain effective and productive throughout its lifespan, or undertake necessary maintenance work if it is not. In an interview with Green Wombat, founder of Fat Spaniel, Chris Beekhuis accounts:"[Our clients] want to be able to forecast and guarantee performance. But it is very difficult to monitor those remote sites. We have an installer in Southern California who is approaching 100 installations. They can see a problem online and then go out and fix it. They leave a door hanger that says, 'I’ve improved performance of your array.' "
Individual users of the technology can benefit by becoming more conscious about their energy usage in the context of the supply of power generated from their PV systems. As Chris Beekhius, founder of Fat Spaniels, explains in his article in RenewableEnergyAccess, "real-time access to these types of data helps maximize system efficiency—you can't improve the efficiency of a system for which you have no data."
Ultimately, the increased information serves to heighten transparency in the renewable energy markets, and reduces the risk premiums for investments in such technologies. This is best described by Beekhuis himself, in the following excerpt from his article:
As the U.S. moves into a national regime of renewable energy standards and regulated carbon markets, system owners and operators will want to maximize the financial value of their investments in renewable generation. The best way to track a system's real energy output to ensure accurate Performance Based Incentive Payments, protect ratepayer investments in capacity-based or expected performance-based rebate programs, and to grow vibrant and trusted financial markets for Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Credits, is through independent metering and monitoring.
While no one would question the good intentions of the clean energy community, financial markets do not run on good intentions. In fact, a fundamental economic tenet is that markets don't function at all without meaningful, verifiable information that comes from trusted sources. If buyers and sellers are uncertain about the products they're trading, or can't reliably compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges, they have no way to accurately assign a value to those products.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Tioga Energy and Enervision
San Diego based Envision Solar has one of the coolest solar array concepts that I've seen in a while--"Solar Groves." According to Rob Day, author of blog Cleantech Investing, Envision raised $600,000 as part of a $2 million Series A round. Partnering with PV module maker Kyocera, architectural firm Tucker Sadler, and construction firm Midwest General, Inc., Envision Solar provides solar shading structures composed of "Solar Trees" from design through construction. A "Solar Tree" consists of a central pole that supports a "canopy" of solar panels, which are designed to be built above cars in parking lots to create shade and generate solar power without encumbering the parking spaces. The first Solar Grove was completed in May 2005 in San Diego at the car park of Kyocera (see picture). Consisting of 25 Solar Trees, the Solar Grove has produced more energy than predicted, about 427,000-kilowatt hours the first year, the equivalent requirement for 68 average homes for a full year.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Non-Technological Cost Reductions to Solar Power
Most interestingly, the paper starts with the proposition that PV installation costs in the US are twice of that in Germany and Japan, and that building permit and utility interconnection costs in the U.S. are also significantly higher than in Germany and Japan, and proceeds to focus on primarily on non-technology issues (i.e. the price of silicon or increasing conversion efficiencies) such as harmonizing standards for PV performance installation, utility interconnections and building permits; promoting workforce training in the PV industry; and promoting third-party financing mechanisms (through power purchase agreements) to reduce upfront capital costs of solar installation for consumers. It is the hope that the combination of these measures will substantially reduce installation costs and also reduce installation times from 29-50 weeks (as is the case now) to as little as 9 weeks. [See related blog post by the Spicy Solar Guy on why solar installation in Germany significantly lower than that of the U.S.]
An interesting side note is that solar modules only account for 50-60% of the costs of a solar system's price. The remainder consists of installation, as well as various "balance of system" components such as the inverter and mounting systems. Thus, apart from increasing conversion efficiencies of PV cells and reducing installation costs through the above measures, a meaningful opportunity exists in reducing the costs of inverters and mounting systems, components that are hardly as sexy or get the press attention as solar modules themselves. Indeed, the white paper reports that the "learning rate" for inverters is only about 10%, compared to 20-25% of PV modules and other balance if system components. One of the paper's recommendations is thus increased R&D in inverters.
Another paper (titled "What the Solar Industry can learn from Googel and Salesforce.com"; free registration required) by The Topline Strategy Group discusses the challenges that must be overcome to make solar power a "short fuse technology" (i.e. a technology that has a shorter early adopter period and achieves widespread mainstream adoption far faster than traditionally thought possible). This paper covers makes many of the same proposals as the SolarTech white paper, including harmonizing standards, streamlining utility interconnection and permitting processes, and increasing innovative financing mechanisms to reduce upfront capital costs of installation. Another proposal unique to the Topline paper is to create a secondary market for solar equipment (this way a homeowner won't feel stuck with fixed costs of a PV system which lasts 30 or more years when such homeowner doesn't think he'll stay in the home for that long a time) by making the accompanying warranties to the PV system transferable (currently they are not transferable).
All these kinks suggest how very much in infancy the solar industry is (even thought the technology has been around for decades), and how much opportunity lies ahead to proliferate PV's use.
I'm salivating.
Note: Thanks to the Green Wombat for first bringing Solartech's efforts to my attention.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Last one there is a rotten egg!!
In what's becoming a trend of retailers, Macy's announced today that 26 of its stores in California will be going solar, with the help of PowerLight, subsidiary of Sunpower Corp (Nasdaq: SPWR). According to the press release:
For 15 of the 26 stores, Macy’s will purchase solar-generated electricity under
the SunPower Access™ program, a solar services agreement that allows the
retailer to purchase just the electricity generated at its stores – not the
solar power systems themselves — from a third-party financier. At the end of a
10-year term, Macy’s will have the option to renew the agreement, transfer the
equipment to a new site, or buy the system. Macy’s will buy solar power systems
for the remaining 11 stores through an outright system purchase.
According to greenblog Environmental Leader, other retailers going yellow recently include Kohls, Target, BJ's Wholsale Club, Costco, Staples, Tesco and of course, Walmart.
Automaker Nissan also announced today that it will install 606 solar panels (480 PV, 126 solar thermal) in its Barcelona plant. This is part of Nissan's plant to reduce its carbon dioxide emisssions by 7% of 2005 levels.
But if a clearer message about solar being the right thing to do needed to be sent, then the Vatican's move to go solar will be heard loud and clear.