1. California: 47 percent with 971 megawatts
2. New Jersey: 14 percent with 293 MW
3. Colorado: 5 percent with 108 MW
4. Arizona: 5 percent with 101 MW
5. Nevada: 5 percent with 97 MW
6. Florida: 4 percent with 73 MW
7. New York: 3 percent with 54 MW
8. Pennsylvania: 3 percent with 54 MW
9. New Mexico: 2 percent with 45 MW
10. North Carolina: 2 percent with 42 MW
Solar Mosaic: Bring Solar to Your Community for Just $100
Innovative ways to finance solar projects, such as this one, which allows users to buy in increments much smaller than a full solar array for their home, are ways to implement solar energy across the country.
From Good:
We're always interested in innovative ways to finance solar energy, so we were excited to see this recent post from Daniel Kessler. There are plenty of reasons you might not be investing in photovoltaic panels. Maybe you're a renter. Maybe your home doesn't get enough direct sun. Or most likely it's cost: the upfront expense of covering your roof with solar panels is often prohibitive. So maybe you can't afford a complete solar array for your home.
Through the new Solar Mosaic program in Oakland, you can pay $100 for a "Tile" of solar arrays. That "Tile" is part of a broader solar "mosaic" (get it?) that is installed on the roof of a local school, church, nonprofit, community center, or anywhere with a big roof. In essence, the Tile is a $100 share of a local community-based solar project.
From Good:
We're always interested in innovative ways to finance solar energy, so we were excited to see this recent post from Daniel Kessler. There are plenty of reasons you might not be investing in photovoltaic panels. Maybe you're a renter. Maybe your home doesn't get enough direct sun. Or most likely it's cost: the upfront expense of covering your roof with solar panels is often prohibitive. So maybe you can't afford a complete solar array for your home.
Through the new Solar Mosaic program in Oakland, you can pay $100 for a "Tile" of solar arrays. That "Tile" is part of a broader solar "mosaic" (get it?) that is installed on the roof of a local school, church, nonprofit, community center, or anywhere with a big roof. In essence, the Tile is a $100 share of a local community-based solar project.
Solar Electricity Through The Magnetic Effect Of Light
Other than nuclear power, all the energy on earth comes from the sun. Even fossil fuels are made from the decaying ancient plant and animal matter that received its initial energy from the sun. Compared to the amount of energy we use each day, the amount that we receive from the sun is staggering. We only need to capture a small percentage of it to meet our power needs. For this reason, I'm always encouraged by new technologies that find different ways of harnessing this tremendous renewable resource.
From Energy Matters:
Scientists from the University of Michigan have found a new way to capture solar energy without using solar panels and inadvertently discovered a new law of physical motion that has been overlooked for 100 years in the process.
By harnessing a "dramatic and surprising" magnetic effect of light, the research team, led by Professor Stephen Rand from UM’s Department of Applied Physics, say they could produce solar power without using expensive semiconductor-based solar cells.
Although light, like all physical forces, has electric and magnetic effects, until now it was thought the magnetic properties to be too weak to be utilised in any useful way. But when Rand and his team focused light through a non-conductive material, they found the isolated magnetic properties were enhanced by up 100 million times the amount previously expected.
Under these circumstances, the usually negligible magnetic effects of light develop strength equivalent to a strong electric effect. Professor Rand was stunned.
“You could stare at the equations of motion all day and you will not see this possibility,” he said. "It’s a very odd interaction. That’s why it’s been overlooked for more than 100 years."
The team used glass and lasers to shine intense light and separate the magnetic current, creating an “optical battery.”
When a solar panel is exposed to the sun's rays, electron activity is generated and capture fine finger-like electrical contacts distributed across the panel. This is then routed through the junction box on the back of the panel and emerges as electricity. Rand says the new process does not absorb light; instead, intense light energy is used to create huge quantities of magnetic force, which can be converted to electricity.
The UM researchers hope to create a new generation of solar harvesting hardware without semiconductors, which are needed to produce charge separation from solar energy in solar panels. They say the new technique could make solar power cheaper, and predict a light-to-energy efficiency rate of 10 percent, which is under polycrystalline and monocrystalline panels, but on par with some thin film solar panels.
"To manufacture modern solar cells, you have to do extensive semiconductor processing," team member William Fisher says. "All we would need are lenses to focus the light and a fibre to guide it. Glass works for both. It’s already made in bulk, and it doesn’t require as much processing.
From Energy Matters:
Scientists from the University of Michigan have found a new way to capture solar energy without using solar panels and inadvertently discovered a new law of physical motion that has been overlooked for 100 years in the process.
By harnessing a "dramatic and surprising" magnetic effect of light, the research team, led by Professor Stephen Rand from UM’s Department of Applied Physics, say they could produce solar power without using expensive semiconductor-based solar cells.
Although light, like all physical forces, has electric and magnetic effects, until now it was thought the magnetic properties to be too weak to be utilised in any useful way. But when Rand and his team focused light through a non-conductive material, they found the isolated magnetic properties were enhanced by up 100 million times the amount previously expected.
Under these circumstances, the usually negligible magnetic effects of light develop strength equivalent to a strong electric effect. Professor Rand was stunned.
“You could stare at the equations of motion all day and you will not see this possibility,” he said. "It’s a very odd interaction. That’s why it’s been overlooked for more than 100 years."
The team used glass and lasers to shine intense light and separate the magnetic current, creating an “optical battery.”
When a solar panel is exposed to the sun's rays, electron activity is generated and capture fine finger-like electrical contacts distributed across the panel. This is then routed through the junction box on the back of the panel and emerges as electricity. Rand says the new process does not absorb light; instead, intense light energy is used to create huge quantities of magnetic force, which can be converted to electricity.
The UM researchers hope to create a new generation of solar harvesting hardware without semiconductors, which are needed to produce charge separation from solar energy in solar panels. They say the new technique could make solar power cheaper, and predict a light-to-energy efficiency rate of 10 percent, which is under polycrystalline and monocrystalline panels, but on par with some thin film solar panels.
"To manufacture modern solar cells, you have to do extensive semiconductor processing," team member William Fisher says. "All we would need are lenses to focus the light and a fibre to guide it. Glass works for both. It’s already made in bulk, and it doesn’t require as much processing.
New Study Finds Solar Panels Are "Contagious"
When I lived in Minneapolis, it was the law that a homeowner had twenty-four hours to remove graffiti or the city would do it for him and send a bill for the service. The reason being that things like graffiti and litter only encourage more graffiti and litter - not to mention real crime. Now there's a study out that shows how homeowners adding solar panels encourages other homeowners to add solar panels. It makes sense. I can easily see a neighbor asking about the newly-installed photovoltaic panels and then wanting to do the same once he learns how much he'll save.
From Good:
Are you more likely to install solar panels if your neighbor has them? A new study (PDF) out of Stanford says that you are. More specifically, it finds that for every 1 percent increase in the number of installations in a particular zip code, the time until the next adoption of solar decreases by 1 percent. Or, as Vote Solar's Adam Browning put it: Solar is contagious!
So just how quickly can solar power spread as this snowball effect gets rolling? John Farrell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's New Rules Project projects the trends forward:
Of course, this process can take a pretty long time to actually unfold. In the example above, in a hypothetical zip code starting with one solar installation, it takes 15 years for the gap between installations to come down to 10 days.
What neither Browning or Farrell got into was what, exactly, caused solar power's contagiousness. Is it peer pressure? Infrastructure and training? Marketing density?
I dug into the study a bit, and it turns out it's a little bit of everything. One predictable factor is social caché. Call it Keeping up with the Joneses. Homeowners see others putting up solar panels, and they want to projecting the same "green image." Another is information transfer. It gets easier to find out about solar panels if there are people in your zip code who have them. Neighbors talk to neighbors, explaining the benefits of rooftop solar, and demystifying the installation process. Likewise, once local contractors are familiar and comfortable with the systems, they can serve more customers, and talk to other contractors. Finally, companies like SolarCity are taking a hyperlocal approach to marketing and sales. It benefits the company to have a lot of projects in one area, so they'll target a city or town, blast through, and move on.
All of this evidence points to the fact that the best possible way you can get more people to adopt solar energy is to put panels on your own home first.
From Good:
Are you more likely to install solar panels if your neighbor has them? A new study (PDF) out of Stanford says that you are. More specifically, it finds that for every 1 percent increase in the number of installations in a particular zip code, the time until the next adoption of solar decreases by 1 percent. Or, as Vote Solar's Adam Browning put it: Solar is contagious!
So just how quickly can solar power spread as this snowball effect gets rolling? John Farrell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's New Rules Project projects the trends forward:
If you start with a neighborhood with 25 solar installations, where it was 100 days between the 24th and 25th installation, this peer pressure effect will reduce the time between installations to just 10 days by the 250th [photovoltaic] project.Here's what the effect looks like:
Of course, this process can take a pretty long time to actually unfold. In the example above, in a hypothetical zip code starting with one solar installation, it takes 15 years for the gap between installations to come down to 10 days.
What neither Browning or Farrell got into was what, exactly, caused solar power's contagiousness. Is it peer pressure? Infrastructure and training? Marketing density?
I dug into the study a bit, and it turns out it's a little bit of everything. One predictable factor is social caché. Call it Keeping up with the Joneses. Homeowners see others putting up solar panels, and they want to projecting the same "green image." Another is information transfer. It gets easier to find out about solar panels if there are people in your zip code who have them. Neighbors talk to neighbors, explaining the benefits of rooftop solar, and demystifying the installation process. Likewise, once local contractors are familiar and comfortable with the systems, they can serve more customers, and talk to other contractors. Finally, companies like SolarCity are taking a hyperlocal approach to marketing and sales. It benefits the company to have a lot of projects in one area, so they'll target a city or town, blast through, and move on.
All of this evidence points to the fact that the best possible way you can get more people to adopt solar energy is to put panels on your own home first.
U.S. Department Of Energy provides $170 million in funding to support solar energy technologies
In a nation of over 300 million people, $170 million isn't a lot of money, but this SunShot initiative is a great move. Just as the personal computer boom ended the recession of the early 80's, and the world wide web and dot com boom fueled the economic expansion of the 90's, I expect renewable energy to be both the savior of the economy and the solution to our fossil fuel dependency.
From New Energy World Network:
US Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced nearly $170m in funding that will be made available over three years to support a range of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology areas, as part of the department’s SunShot Initiative.
The SunShot Initative aims to reduce the total cost of solar energy systems by about 75 per cent, to roughly $1 per watt, and will play out before the end of the decade.
The research and development funding will support four areas of investment, including improving the efficiency and performance of solar cells, developing new installation or balance of systems technologies, advancing solar energy grid integration, and researching new materials and processes for solar PV technologies.
The DOE said the investments will help reduce the cost for utility-scale solar energy installations, increase American economic competiveness, and help the US lead the world in the global market for solar PV.
‘These investments will drive innovation in the solar energy field – laying the groundwork to meet our SunShot goal of dramatically reducing the cost of solar energy nationwide and helping America to win the race to produce the most cost-effective, high-quality PV in the world. A robust American solar industry will boost our technological leadership and competitiveness, improve the nation’s energy security, create skilled manufacturing jobs, and help reach the president’s goal of doubling our clean energy in the next 25 years,’ Chu said.
Activities under the four funding opportunities will help improve the performance of current and next generation PV cells, develop advanced power electronics that optimise the performance of PV installations, and reduce the costs of PV balance-of-system hardware.
It will build on the department’s portfolio of research and development in solar energy including the Foundation Program to Advance Cell Efficiency (F-PACE), PV Balance of Systems, Solar Energy Grip Integration Systems (SEGIS)-Advanced Concepts, and PV Next Generation.
The initiative will aggressively drive innovations in the ways that solar systems are conceived, designed, manufactured and installed, to bring down the costs of solar energy systems so that they are cost-competitive without subsidies with other forms of electricity generation.
SunShot is a DOE-wide initiative that leverages investments from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), and the Office of Science.
The DOE has invested more than $1bn in solar energy research over the last ten years that has been leveraged with private industry funding to support more than $2bn in total solar R&D projects.
To achieve the SunShot goal of reducing the total installed cost of large-scale solar electricity by about 75 percent, DOE will be working closely with partners in government, industry, research laboratories and academic institutions across the country.
From New Energy World Network:
US Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced nearly $170m in funding that will be made available over three years to support a range of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology areas, as part of the department’s SunShot Initiative.
The SunShot Initative aims to reduce the total cost of solar energy systems by about 75 per cent, to roughly $1 per watt, and will play out before the end of the decade.
The research and development funding will support four areas of investment, including improving the efficiency and performance of solar cells, developing new installation or balance of systems technologies, advancing solar energy grid integration, and researching new materials and processes for solar PV technologies.
The DOE said the investments will help reduce the cost for utility-scale solar energy installations, increase American economic competiveness, and help the US lead the world in the global market for solar PV.
‘These investments will drive innovation in the solar energy field – laying the groundwork to meet our SunShot goal of dramatically reducing the cost of solar energy nationwide and helping America to win the race to produce the most cost-effective, high-quality PV in the world. A robust American solar industry will boost our technological leadership and competitiveness, improve the nation’s energy security, create skilled manufacturing jobs, and help reach the president’s goal of doubling our clean energy in the next 25 years,’ Chu said.
Activities under the four funding opportunities will help improve the performance of current and next generation PV cells, develop advanced power electronics that optimise the performance of PV installations, and reduce the costs of PV balance-of-system hardware.
It will build on the department’s portfolio of research and development in solar energy including the Foundation Program to Advance Cell Efficiency (F-PACE), PV Balance of Systems, Solar Energy Grip Integration Systems (SEGIS)-Advanced Concepts, and PV Next Generation.
The initiative will aggressively drive innovations in the ways that solar systems are conceived, designed, manufactured and installed, to bring down the costs of solar energy systems so that they are cost-competitive without subsidies with other forms of electricity generation.
SunShot is a DOE-wide initiative that leverages investments from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), and the Office of Science.
The DOE has invested more than $1bn in solar energy research over the last ten years that has been leveraged with private industry funding to support more than $2bn in total solar R&D projects.
To achieve the SunShot goal of reducing the total installed cost of large-scale solar electricity by about 75 percent, DOE will be working closely with partners in government, industry, research laboratories and academic institutions across the country.
‘Solar energy to solve city’s power woes’
A rather bold statement by the Delhi government. Still, it shows a confidence in renewable energy that we need to see from more of our elected representatives.
From Hindustan Times:
The Delhi government has told the Supreme Court that it has embarked on an ambitious plan to improve power situation in the capital through large-scale generation of solar energy. In an affidavit filed on Friday, the Delhi government said it is in the process of formulating a detailed solar power policy. Solar water heating system has already been made mandatory for some categories of buildings such as hotels, banquet halls, hospitals and large canteens and traffic signals.
Two power projects will also be in place by the end of 2012 to produce ‘green electricity’ from municipal solid waste, it said giving details of its plans.
“The measures are aimed at energy conservation through promotion of alternative renewable energy sources,” it said.
The affidavit came in response to a February 17 order of the court seeking details on steps being taken to popularize solar energy.
The affidavit said as per the solar power policy, power generation from solar photo-voltaic systems would be promoted. The power generated from these systems and supplied to the grid are to be purchased by discoms at a rate decided by government.
The government said solar energy based Light Emitting Diode (LED) is being used at 669 out of 730 traffic signals and 91 out of 426 traffic blinkers and the process of installing LEDs in the rest will be finished by this year-end.
It said Indraprastha Power Generation Company Ltd has informed the government that it is in the process of setting up solar power plants on rooftops of Pragati-I power station and IP Gas turbine power station.
On the initiatives for generating energy from municipal waste, the government said the Timarpur-Okhla project would generate 16mw of green electricity and is expected to be completed by this year. The Ghazipur project would also process 1,300 tonnes per day of municipal waste to generate about 12MW of electricity.
From Hindustan Times:
The Delhi government has told the Supreme Court that it has embarked on an ambitious plan to improve power situation in the capital through large-scale generation of solar energy. In an affidavit filed on Friday, the Delhi government said it is in the process of formulating a detailed solar power policy. Solar water heating system has already been made mandatory for some categories of buildings such as hotels, banquet halls, hospitals and large canteens and traffic signals.
Two power projects will also be in place by the end of 2012 to produce ‘green electricity’ from municipal solid waste, it said giving details of its plans.
“The measures are aimed at energy conservation through promotion of alternative renewable energy sources,” it said.
The affidavit came in response to a February 17 order of the court seeking details on steps being taken to popularize solar energy.
The affidavit said as per the solar power policy, power generation from solar photo-voltaic systems would be promoted. The power generated from these systems and supplied to the grid are to be purchased by discoms at a rate decided by government.
The government said solar energy based Light Emitting Diode (LED) is being used at 669 out of 730 traffic signals and 91 out of 426 traffic blinkers and the process of installing LEDs in the rest will be finished by this year-end.
It said Indraprastha Power Generation Company Ltd has informed the government that it is in the process of setting up solar power plants on rooftops of Pragati-I power station and IP Gas turbine power station.
On the initiatives for generating energy from municipal waste, the government said the Timarpur-Okhla project would generate 16mw of green electricity and is expected to be completed by this year. The Ghazipur project would also process 1,300 tonnes per day of municipal waste to generate about 12MW of electricity.
3M to build new solar product factory in China
Earlier today I wrote about GE building an enormous solar plant. This afternoon, I'm reading about one that 3M is building. These companies are not non-profit, feel-good, tree-hugging enterprises. They are for-profit concerns that have an obligation to maximize return for their shareholders. If they think investing in green power avenues such as solar energy and wind power, then there's a good reason for doing so.
From Construction Digital:
The 3M Company has announced plans for the construction of a new manufacturing plant in China that will produce renewable energy products.
The plant will be built in Hefei, an industrial city in China between the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers. This will be the 3M Company’s ninth manufacturing plant built in China. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer.
The plant will specialize in the manufacturing of solar energy products. One of its main products will be Scotchshield, a thin film that protects the backsides of the solar photovoltaic modules that are common in China.
This is considered to be a major move by the American-based company to cement its hold in the renewable energy market in Asia. This new plant comes in the wake of 3M making recent investments in solar energy products at facilities in Germany, Columbia, Missouri, Hilden and Singapore.
3M has been involved with the manufacturing of renewable enrgy products since the 70s but it was only in the last three years that the company identified solar energy products as a major growth sector. The company formed its renewable energy division in 2009, which specializes in products for wind, geothermal, and biofuels in addition to solar energy.
3M’s CEO George Buckley announced in December that he expects the market for photovoltaic panels to grow by 27 percent by 2015.
The 3M Company was not the only American company making significant moves in the renewable energy market this week. General Electric, already the largest maker of wind turbines in the U.S., announced yesterday that it plans to build the largest solar-panel factory in America.
From Construction Digital:
The 3M Company has announced plans for the construction of a new manufacturing plant in China that will produce renewable energy products.
The plant will be built in Hefei, an industrial city in China between the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers. This will be the 3M Company’s ninth manufacturing plant built in China. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer.
The plant will specialize in the manufacturing of solar energy products. One of its main products will be Scotchshield, a thin film that protects the backsides of the solar photovoltaic modules that are common in China.
This is considered to be a major move by the American-based company to cement its hold in the renewable energy market in Asia. This new plant comes in the wake of 3M making recent investments in solar energy products at facilities in Germany, Columbia, Missouri, Hilden and Singapore.
3M has been involved with the manufacturing of renewable enrgy products since the 70s but it was only in the last three years that the company identified solar energy products as a major growth sector. The company formed its renewable energy division in 2009, which specializes in products for wind, geothermal, and biofuels in addition to solar energy.
3M’s CEO George Buckley announced in December that he expects the market for photovoltaic panels to grow by 27 percent by 2015.
The 3M Company was not the only American company making significant moves in the renewable energy market this week. General Electric, already the largest maker of wind turbines in the U.S., announced yesterday that it plans to build the largest solar-panel factory in America.
General Electric Announces Record Solar Efficiency, Plans To Build Largest U.S. Solar Factory
Does it seem like the good news on the green power front keeps getting better? A few years ago, I would have bet that our short-sighted politicians, businesses, and consumers would wait until the oil ran out before adopting a sensible energy policy. The fact that many individuals are installing solar panels on their homes, governments are putting up solar farms and offering financial incentives to people who invest in alternative energy, and businesses are building bigger plants and making strides to improve efficiency of panels is all very heartening to me.
From Reuters:
As we've been covering here for some time, General Electric (GE) has been reinventing itself as a green energy behemoth, beginning with a focus on wind energy, then the smart grid and more recently led lighting and solar. They've even developed an electric car charging station called the WattStation.
This morning they are announcing another big step along the path of its rapid push into the thin film solar market, taking direct aim at First Solar (FSLR). The push has been fueled by key acquisitions particularly of PrimeStar of which it acquired a minority stake in 2007, has had a majority stake since 2008, and today announced it has completed a full acquisition of the company. PrimeStar was developing the cadmium thin film solar panels which is the same technology First Solar is using. Earlier last year I mentioned First Solar had reason to be concerned and that is never more apparent than this morning.
"Over the last decade, through technology investment, GE has become one of the world's major wind turbine manufacturers, and our investment in high-tech solar products will help us continue to grow our position in the renewable energy industry," said Victor Abate, vice president of GE's renewable energy business. "We are addressing the biggest barrier for the mainstream adoption of solar technology-cost-and the NREL certification proves that we are on track to deliver the most affordable solutions for our customers."
GE is saying that its full sized thin film solar panel developed with PrimeStar has been independently certified to be the world's most efficient thin film solar panel at 12.8 percent aperture area efficiency. First Solar reported during its latest earnings report that it had reached 11.6 percent and that it expects to hit 12 percent within a few months. A 1 percent increase in efficiency results in a 10 percent reduction in energy cost, so the current spread isn't insignificant.
GE also announced that it will invest $600 million to build the largest solar panel production facility in the US. At full capacity the 400MW facility will produce enough panels each year to power 80,000 homes. The location of the plant is expected to be announced soon and it's great to see they will keep manufacturing in the US.
"Our plan to open a U.S. solar manufacturing facility further demonstrates our confidence in this technology and is just the first phase in a global, multi-gigawatt roadmap. We're not only excited by the efficiency milestone, but also by the speed at which our team was able to achieve it and the innovation runway for future improvements in this technology."
The good news for GE's solar business doesn't end there. They are also announcing more than 100MW in new orders for its thin film products which include the panels and inverters.
From Reuters:
As we've been covering here for some time, General Electric (GE) has been reinventing itself as a green energy behemoth, beginning with a focus on wind energy, then the smart grid and more recently led lighting and solar. They've even developed an electric car charging station called the WattStation.
This morning they are announcing another big step along the path of its rapid push into the thin film solar market, taking direct aim at First Solar (FSLR). The push has been fueled by key acquisitions particularly of PrimeStar of which it acquired a minority stake in 2007, has had a majority stake since 2008, and today announced it has completed a full acquisition of the company. PrimeStar was developing the cadmium thin film solar panels which is the same technology First Solar is using. Earlier last year I mentioned First Solar had reason to be concerned and that is never more apparent than this morning.
"Over the last decade, through technology investment, GE has become one of the world's major wind turbine manufacturers, and our investment in high-tech solar products will help us continue to grow our position in the renewable energy industry," said Victor Abate, vice president of GE's renewable energy business. "We are addressing the biggest barrier for the mainstream adoption of solar technology-cost-and the NREL certification proves that we are on track to deliver the most affordable solutions for our customers."
GE is saying that its full sized thin film solar panel developed with PrimeStar has been independently certified to be the world's most efficient thin film solar panel at 12.8 percent aperture area efficiency. First Solar reported during its latest earnings report that it had reached 11.6 percent and that it expects to hit 12 percent within a few months. A 1 percent increase in efficiency results in a 10 percent reduction in energy cost, so the current spread isn't insignificant.
GE also announced that it will invest $600 million to build the largest solar panel production facility in the US. At full capacity the 400MW facility will produce enough panels each year to power 80,000 homes. The location of the plant is expected to be announced soon and it's great to see they will keep manufacturing in the US.
"Our plan to open a U.S. solar manufacturing facility further demonstrates our confidence in this technology and is just the first phase in a global, multi-gigawatt roadmap. We're not only excited by the efficiency milestone, but also by the speed at which our team was able to achieve it and the innovation runway for future improvements in this technology."
The good news for GE's solar business doesn't end there. They are also announcing more than 100MW in new orders for its thin film products which include the panels and inverters.
Cleantech venture funding hits $2.57 billion
"Follow the money." Wasn't that the advice Deep Throat gave to Woodward and Bernstein? It's also a great piece of advice to any investor or someone following trends. You don't get big money by being dumb money. If the venture capitalists are investing heavily in green power, there must be a darn good reason for it.
From Reuters:
Venture capitalists invested $2.57 billion in the clean technology sector in the first quarter, up 31 percent from a year earlier, with most of the money going to companies involved in solar power.
That was the most money invested into the space since the third quarter of 2008 -- when the financial crisis started -- a report from the San Francisco-based consulting company Cleantech Group LLC said on Tuesday.
The overall number of deals, at 159, was the lowest since mid-2009, meaning that investors were making fewer but larger bets.
"You're seeing a much, much larger average deal size, which just indicates a much stronger bias toward later-stage, bigger-check deals," said Sheeraz Haji, chief executive of San Francisco-based Cleantech, adding that investors are showing less interest in early-stage "pre-product, pre-revenue" companies.
Overall, the sector is on pace to raise the most money since Cleantech started tracking it in 2002, Haji told reporters on a conference call.
"We'll have a record year overall," he said. One helpful factor is the recent spate of successful green-company initial public offerings, including electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors.
The solar sector drew $641 million in capital, with the largest chunk going to BrightSource Energy Inc, a developer of solar fields. Investors see that company as likely to seek an IPO this year.
After solar, the largest flows of money went to companies developing electric vehicles, which drew $311 million. The largest investment in that area went to Fisker Automotive, a maker of luxury plug-in hybrids, which raised $150 million from a group of venture funds as well as battery maker A123 Systems Inc.
The volume of mergers and acquisitions in the space hit $15.3 billion in the quarter, lifted by DuPont Co's $6 billion takeover of Denmark's Danisco, a deal that was announced in January but has not yet closed.
The most active investors by number of deals were Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Vantage Point Venture Partners, the venture capital arms of General Electric Co and Google Inc, and Khosla Ventures.
From Reuters:
Venture capitalists invested $2.57 billion in the clean technology sector in the first quarter, up 31 percent from a year earlier, with most of the money going to companies involved in solar power.
That was the most money invested into the space since the third quarter of 2008 -- when the financial crisis started -- a report from the San Francisco-based consulting company Cleantech Group LLC said on Tuesday.
The overall number of deals, at 159, was the lowest since mid-2009, meaning that investors were making fewer but larger bets.
"You're seeing a much, much larger average deal size, which just indicates a much stronger bias toward later-stage, bigger-check deals," said Sheeraz Haji, chief executive of San Francisco-based Cleantech, adding that investors are showing less interest in early-stage "pre-product, pre-revenue" companies.
Overall, the sector is on pace to raise the most money since Cleantech started tracking it in 2002, Haji told reporters on a conference call.
"We'll have a record year overall," he said. One helpful factor is the recent spate of successful green-company initial public offerings, including electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors.
The solar sector drew $641 million in capital, with the largest chunk going to BrightSource Energy Inc, a developer of solar fields. Investors see that company as likely to seek an IPO this year.
After solar, the largest flows of money went to companies developing electric vehicles, which drew $311 million. The largest investment in that area went to Fisker Automotive, a maker of luxury plug-in hybrids, which raised $150 million from a group of venture funds as well as battery maker A123 Systems Inc.
The volume of mergers and acquisitions in the space hit $15.3 billion in the quarter, lifted by DuPont Co's $6 billion takeover of Denmark's Danisco, a deal that was announced in January but has not yet closed.
The most active investors by number of deals were Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Vantage Point Venture Partners, the venture capital arms of General Electric Co and Google Inc, and Khosla Ventures.
Can a Country Get 90 Percent of Its Power From Renewables?
When we can go from a hypothesis to a computer model to a test installation to a full-scale implementation, and show that it works, then we'll get everyone on board!
From Wired:
Renewable energy is often intermittent and unreliable, but with the right storage technology, it can become a substitute for baseline power.
A paper that will soon come out from the National Solar Energy Center in Israel hypothesizes that the country — which now only gets a tiny fraction of its power from solar — could conceivably boost the total to 90 percent with things like vanadium-redox flow batteries and pumped hydro storage, according to David Faiman, the director of the center and chair of the department of solar energy and environmental physics at Ben-Gurion University here.
The paper is based on an hour-by-hour analysis of the country’s electricity consumption in 2006. Faiman’s group studied the baseline power, intermediate baseline and spinning reserves. Solar plants, without storage, could only generate around 3 percent to 4 percent of the country’s power without being forced to dump large amounts of solar power.
“If you build a really large solar plant, you have a really large problem of getting it to the grid,” he said.
If one were willing to dump up to 20 percent of the solar power generated because of transmission and distribution levels, the total could rise to 20 percent, he said. The 20 percent figure matches the estimates of other researchers in other parts of the world on how much renewables could become part of the energy mix.
But add storage to allow a utility to deliver in the evening the solar power that was generated during the morning and afternoon, and — through the magic of storage — the figure zooms dramatically. The country gets an inordinate amount of sun, and areas like the Negev Desert in the south still sport quite a bit of open space. Plus, some of the intellectual property for concentrating photovoltaic, or PV, comes from the region.
“PV alone could provide 90 percent of Israel’s electricity needs with the appropriate storage,” he said. “Israel shouldn’t build more coal plants. and it shouldn’t even think of building nuclear plants.”
The remaining 10 percent could be provided by gas-burning power plants: Most of the power would be needed at night. The country’s current goal is to get 10 percent of its power from renewables by 2020. Power costs around half a shekel, or 15 cents, a kilowatt-hour and feed-in tariffs have recently dipped below 2 shekels.
So which storage technologies does he like? Pumped hydro is the first idea. Many regions of the country are relatively flat, but underground cisterns exist. Water could be pumped to the surface and then released into them. Gravity Power and Escovale Consultancy Services have touted similar subterranean ideas.
He’s also a fan of vanadium-redox batteries, which are large tanks with flowing electrolytes. Unlike sodium-sulfur batteries, vanadium-flow batteries don’t need to be heated to high temperatures. The batteries also resist corrosion, he said. Compressed air he’s not so enthusiastic about in this scenario.
Any storage technology in this scenario would have to be capable of delivering power rapidly. It takes around 15 minutes at a minimum to get a natural gas plant moving.
From Wired:
Renewable energy is often intermittent and unreliable, but with the right storage technology, it can become a substitute for baseline power.
A paper that will soon come out from the National Solar Energy Center in Israel hypothesizes that the country — which now only gets a tiny fraction of its power from solar — could conceivably boost the total to 90 percent with things like vanadium-redox flow batteries and pumped hydro storage, according to David Faiman, the director of the center and chair of the department of solar energy and environmental physics at Ben-Gurion University here.
The paper is based on an hour-by-hour analysis of the country’s electricity consumption in 2006. Faiman’s group studied the baseline power, intermediate baseline and spinning reserves. Solar plants, without storage, could only generate around 3 percent to 4 percent of the country’s power without being forced to dump large amounts of solar power.
“If you build a really large solar plant, you have a really large problem of getting it to the grid,” he said.
If one were willing to dump up to 20 percent of the solar power generated because of transmission and distribution levels, the total could rise to 20 percent, he said. The 20 percent figure matches the estimates of other researchers in other parts of the world on how much renewables could become part of the energy mix.
But add storage to allow a utility to deliver in the evening the solar power that was generated during the morning and afternoon, and — through the magic of storage — the figure zooms dramatically. The country gets an inordinate amount of sun, and areas like the Negev Desert in the south still sport quite a bit of open space. Plus, some of the intellectual property for concentrating photovoltaic, or PV, comes from the region.
“PV alone could provide 90 percent of Israel’s electricity needs with the appropriate storage,” he said. “Israel shouldn’t build more coal plants. and it shouldn’t even think of building nuclear plants.”
The remaining 10 percent could be provided by gas-burning power plants: Most of the power would be needed at night. The country’s current goal is to get 10 percent of its power from renewables by 2020. Power costs around half a shekel, or 15 cents, a kilowatt-hour and feed-in tariffs have recently dipped below 2 shekels.
So which storage technologies does he like? Pumped hydro is the first idea. Many regions of the country are relatively flat, but underground cisterns exist. Water could be pumped to the surface and then released into them. Gravity Power and Escovale Consultancy Services have touted similar subterranean ideas.
He’s also a fan of vanadium-redox batteries, which are large tanks with flowing electrolytes. Unlike sodium-sulfur batteries, vanadium-flow batteries don’t need to be heated to high temperatures. The batteries also resist corrosion, he said. Compressed air he’s not so enthusiastic about in this scenario.
Any storage technology in this scenario would have to be capable of delivering power rapidly. It takes around 15 minutes at a minimum to get a natural gas plant moving.
Free Solar Panels!
Wow. Normally when you see a come-on like that, you're thinking "there's got to be a catch" (unless you're the type that sends money to Nigerian "princes"). Well, the only catch I see here is that you have to live in the United Kingdom, and of course, supplies are limited.
From Free Solar:
Thanks to a new Government scheme known as the Feed in Tariff, UK property owners can now generate Free electricity with Free Solar PV Panels.
EnergyLink Ltd. have partnered with a leading provider of Free Solar Panels to bring you this fantastic offer and allow you to benefit from Free Electricity for life.
Even if you don't currently use much electricity during the day, it is surprising how many uses you can think of when the electricity is free. You can run your washing machine, charge batteries and operate storage heaters to name but a few. Apply Now For Free Solar PV
From Free Solar:
Thanks to a new Government scheme known as the Feed in Tariff, UK property owners can now generate Free electricity with Free Solar PV Panels.
EnergyLink Ltd. have partnered with a leading provider of Free Solar Panels to bring you this fantastic offer and allow you to benefit from Free Electricity for life.
What's On Offer?
Free Electricity for life! If you own your own property and the roof is suitable for a Solar PV System, you can qualify to have Solar Panels installed free of charge. Our approved installer will fit a system worth in the region of £15,000 and claim back a Government Feed in Tariff to cover the installation cost. You will benefit from FREE electricity during daylight hours.- A FREE Solar PV system worth £15,000.
- FREE Electricity during daylight hours, for life.
- Huge savings on your electricity bills
How Do You Benefit?
Having free solar panels installed means that you will benefit from free electricty during daylight hours for life. The Free Solar PV System will be maintained by our approved installer for a period of 25 years after installation but systems can last for 40 years or more.Even if you don't currently use much electricity during the day, it is surprising how many uses you can think of when the electricity is free. You can run your washing machine, charge batteries and operate storage heaters to name but a few. Apply Now For Free Solar PV
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