THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Archive for November, 2010

One Block Off the Grid (our former owner) has a great post this week on “Why Solar Can’t Go Mainstream Without Sarah Palin.” While I don’t agree with every specific point in the article, I think the general points are very important and it is an excellent overall piece.

The general points are:

1. Solar energy is primarily associated with certain people, benefits, or terms that pigeonhole it (i.e. climate change, Al Gore, Obama, the environment, hippies, rich greenies).
2. Solar needs to be associated more with topics that are more broadly or deeply important to people (i.e. saving money, national security, financial investment, independence, Conservatives, job creation).
3. Key figures in the mainstream media and popular society need to pick up the topic more in order for this shift to happen (i.e. Sarah Palin, Oprah, Donal Trump, Jim Cramer, or Glenn Beck).

As with many things in this world, people are more influenced by people they can relate to and know well (or think they know well) than statistics or impersonal information.

In the case of solar, if you live on the same block as someone who has it, 1BOG has found that you are 222% more likely to go solar.

So, of course, as more people go solar, it should have a sort of snowball effect. But how do you get the initial neighborhood leaders to go solar? One key way would be to get the celebrities they trust, relate to, and whose advice they follow to go solar or encourage their supporters to go solar.

While people like Al Gore, President Obama, Brad Pitt, and Leonardo DiCaprio might have some effect in this arena, they won’t have as strong an effect as people coming from an “environmental protection and climate change aren’t important” perspective or people like Oprah who greatly influence people’s actions.

1BOG came up with this little graphic below to show the theoretical difference visually. Clever.

Great piece by 1BOG and excellent graphics to go with it.

Now, if we could only get Oprah to read it…

Image Credits: 1BOG

SunPower has sold out of its solar panels for the rest of this year, and into early 2011, despite a huge 65% ramp-up of production at its new Malaysian factory.

In a conference call covering company finances, SunPower CEO Tom Werner revealed that sales exceed supply beginning in this fourth quarter and extending into next year. Sales have increased 41% in the third quarter over the second quarter, largely due to new utility-scale orders. Projects in the pipeline now total 5 GW.

“Geographically, our top three markets were Italy, the U.S. and Germany, in terms of both megawatts and revenues. Utility and power plants revenue more than doubled in the third quarter to US$261 million compared to US$128 million in the second quarter of 2010. The strong performance was primarily driven by our successful execution in Italy and the build-out of projects in the US,” Werner told PV-Tech.

Growth was steadier in the non-utility-scale market for the company: US$264 million in the second quarter grew to US$293 million in the third in solar panel sales for rooftops for homeowners and businesses.

Renowned for their panels’ superior efficiency (squeezing the maximum number of electrons from the minimum sized panels) the company makes solar panels that are popular with aesthetically-minded homeowners for their sophisticated and sleek appearance. Kind of the Rolls Royce of solar panels.

However, till now, they have also been known for making the most expensive panels on the market. But that is about to change.

The new ramp up in production to meet the increased demand, both for utility scale projects, as well as for residential solar panels, has brought much greater cost-effectiveness in assembly line production.

As a result, by the end of next year, their panels, adjusted for their increased output in relation to conventional crystaline silicon panels, are flirting with just $1 a watt.

“On the cost side, we are on track to achieve our Q4 2011 plan of US$1.08 per watt efficiency adjusted panel cost relative to conventional crystalline silicon technology” says Werner.

Image: Sunpower via Trendir
Susan Kraemer@Twitter

Senator Baucus will find a way to extend a 30% cash grant program for wind power, he told NAW (North American Windpower) this week. The tax credit known as Section 1603 has done more than any Federal policy in the US in the last 30 years to jump start wind projects – and solar and geothermal projects as well. After the tax equity market vanished in 2008, the cash grant has done more than anything else to keep capital-intensive wind projects moving.

It might seem unlikely that this can be passed now, but when this Senator says he can find a way to do this, there is reason for hope.

After all, it was Baucus, as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in 2008, that inserted the extension of tax credits that were about to expire, into the Bush bank bailout bill.

At the last minute, Baucus managed to insert it into the final version of the must-pass $700 billion bank bailout bill that was passed at the end of the Bush administration, during a time when the nation risked complete financial meltdown.

If you remember, the bank bailout became a must-pass bill. When the House voted it down on the first try, the Dow Jones slid 700 points in a day. After that Republicans and Democrats voted for it.

While the renewable measures were derided at the time as “pork” and “Christmas tree trimmings” the fact is that this nation needs renewable energy for its future energy security and renewables have received only a fraction of the subsidies that fossil energy gets. And direct renewable energy policy has been thwarted by the minority filibuster for a decade.

Building on that provision, the next year, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Democrats extended the tax credits by making them available as cash grants – and added a three-year extension of the production tax credit, which expires at the end of 2012. But that was during a brief three month 60 vote majority.

What Baucus did, was under the filibuster rule we have now. So, if there is one person who has proven himself capable of nimbly taking advantage of a crisis to insert good renewable energy language at the last minute into the sort of must-pass legislation that the minority can’t filibuster, it is clearly Senator Baucus.

No bloviating for months about contemplated energy bills, which have the effect of waving a red flag in front of a bull. Just quietly wait, then pounce, as the opportunity arises.

Fortunately, as it happens, we have exactly that kind of must-pass legislation coming up. The Bush tax-cuts-for-the-rich bill is one bill that will actually come up for a vote, because the Republicans won’t filibuster this one!

So, in this filibuster-proof bill, just as on the previous one, there could be an opportunity to quickly slide in good energy legislation the country needs.

It is too bad that energy policy has to be done by slipping it into non-energy bills. With peak oil and climate change breathing down our necks; how sad that this once promising nation is now incapable of passing good renewable energy policy to safeguard our future in a straightforward manner, like a sensible developed nation.

But there might be some reason for hope for passing this particular chunk of it now.

Image: Darren Spears
Susan Kraemer@Twitter

Senator Baucus will find a way to extend a 30% cash grant program for wind power, he told NAW (North American Windpower) this week. The tax credit known as Section 1603 has done more than any Federal policy in the US in the last 30 years to jump start wind projects – and solar and geothermal projects as well. After the tax equity market vanished in 2008, the cash grant has done more than anything else to keep capital-intensive wind projects moving.

It might seem unlikely that this can be passed now, but when this Senator says he can find a way to do this, there is reason for hope.

After all, it was Baucus, as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in 2008, that inserted the extension of tax credits that were about to expire, into the Bush bank bailout bill.

At the last minute, Baucus managed to insert it into the final version of the must-pass $700 billion bank bailout bill that was passed at the end of the Bush administration, during a time when the nation risked complete financial meltdown.

If you remember, the bank bailout became a must-pass bill. When the House voted it down on the first try, the Dow Jones slid 700 points in a day. After that Republicans and Democrats voted for it.

While the renewable measures were derided at the time as “pork” and “Christmas tree trimmings” the fact is that this nation needs renewable energy for its future energy security and renewables have received only a fraction of the subsidies that fossil energy gets. And direct renewable energy policy has been thwarted by the minority filibuster for a decade.

Building on that provision, the next year, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Democrats extended the tax credits by making them available as cash grants – and added a three-year extension of the production tax credit, which expires at the end of 2012. But that was during a brief three month 60 vote majority.

What Baucus did, was under the filibuster rule we have now. So, if there is one person who has proven himself capable of nimbly taking advantage of a crisis to insert good renewable energy language at the last minute into the sort of must-pass legislation that the minority can’t filibuster, it is clearly Senator Baucus.

No bloviating for months about contemplated energy bills, which have the effect of waving a red flag in front of a bull. Just quietly wait, then pounce, as the opportunity arises.

Fortunately, as it happens, we have exactly that kind of must-pass legislation coming up. The Bush tax-cuts-for-the-rich bill is one bill that will actually come up for a vote, because the Republicans won’t filibuster this one!

So, in this filibuster-proof bill, just as on the previous one, there could be an opportunity to quickly slide in good energy legislation the country needs.

It is too bad that energy policy has to be done by slipping it into non-energy bills. With peak oil and climate change breathing down our necks; how sad that this once promising nation is now incapable of passing good renewable energy policy to safeguard our future in a straightforward manner, like a sensible developed nation.

But there might be some reason for hope for passing this particular chunk of it now.

Image: Darren Spears
Susan Kraemer@Twitter

IBM, one of the world’s leading IT companies and smart grid solutions leaders is planning to offer its services to Indian utilities over the next few years. IBM’s General Manager of Global Energy and Utilities told an Indian business daily that his company sees tremendous potential for growth in the Indian market as it expands to provide electricity to more consumers.

India suffers from grave power shortage which is likely to worsen over the next few decades. On one hand, there are problems with the lack of adequate generation capacity with power cuts ranging to several hours still prevalent in many cities. On the other hand, there are problems with the lack of transmission infrastructure with several thousand villages still not connected to the national grid.

A third of the power transmitted is lost in the transmission network while a tenth is lost to theft. While these losses have been coming down slowly over the recent years, there is still a long way to go for the utilities to achieve the desired state of operations. India has also been missing its generation infrastructure expansion plans for the last several decades.

Last year the Indian government announced the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency which aims at improving energy efficiency in industrial as well as commercial and residential sectors. While for the industrial sector a scheme similar to the carbon trading, called the energy efficiency certificate scheme is in works, the case with the commercial and residential sector is slightly complicated. The industries can take care of themselves once the binding efficiency targets have been stipulated to them but the government needs to put in more effort for improving efficiency in the commercial/residential sector.

Therefore, such a situation calls for the implementation of the smart grid. A smart grid would help the utilities get information about the electricity use by the consumers and can potentially adapt it distribution process with respect to the time and quantum of power demand. The smart grid which uses smart meters could potentially be used for detecting power theft. In addition, the info that the consumers would have access through the smart meters would possibly help them manage their energy use in a better and more efficient way.

An IBM-backed smart grid pilot project conducted in Fayetteville, Arkansas showed that homeowners and businesses were able to save about 15 percent during the six months and some homes achieved savings of as high as 40 percent. These savings were attributed to the change in behavior of the consumers towards their power usage as they had access to the power usage by their appliances in real-time.

A key to the project was the use of personalized, web-based displays for each business or residence that allowed facility managers or homeowners to log in and see how much energy their appliances and gadgets are using in real-time. the project also allows the FPWC to manage energy use from these devices during high electricity demand periods.

The companies’ goal with the pilot project was to highlight the energy used by “ghost” devices: air conditioners, water heaters, and other devices that are using electricity even when no one is around. With the instant information provided by the smart meters, individuals and businesses are able to see when unecessary energy is being used, and turn those devices down or off.

Smart gird technology can not only help India make its transmission network much more efficient and safe by reducing losses and theft but can also make the whole process of energy use much more efficient. And this is extremely essential for the Indian grid which is still in the expansion mode and can incorporate these new-age technologies easily at this stage.

One of the leading distribution companies in India, New Delhi Power Limited, has joined the Intelligent Utility Network coalition and with its partnership with IBM the company aims at reducing the transmission losses from the current 18 percent to 10 percent in the next three to seven years.

Image: Marcus Wong (Wikimedia Commons)

The views presented in the above article are author’s personal views and do not represent those of TERI/TERI University where the author is currently pursuing a Master’s degree.

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