THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Archive for June, 2011

The “New York City Solar Map” was launched last week. The map shows both existing solar PV & solar thermal installations in the Big Apple as well as solar PV rooftop potential across the city. As you can imagine, the potential is HUGE.

Solar rooftops could provide the city with about 50% of its peak electricity demand!

“The New York City Solar Map is a tool that all New Yorkers can use to learn about the potential for solar on their buildings and across the city. It also provides practical information and steps for installing solar,” the site for the map says.

Now, this is a great-looking project and hopefully it will help to spur a lot more solar projects in NYC. But rather than just leave it at that, the folks over at txchnologist came up with a rather cool idea: get some NYC stars on board to get this thing really going!

In particular, the folks over there picked out the homes of a number of NYC icons and celebrities who could solar up. Looking at Madonna’s $30-odd million Manhattan townhouse, Denzel Washington’s, Yoko Ono’s, Calvin Klein’s, Jennifer Aniston’s, Henry Kissinger’s, Ed Koch’s, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s, and a few others’ NYC homes, they found that these high rollers could create hundreds of kilowatts of solar power (the typical home solar array can create 5 kilowatts).

Good idea! Hope some of these stars will pick up on the challenge and look to install some solar power. “New York’s solar revolution has to start somewhere and celeb rooftops seem as good a place as any,” the txchnologist writes. Certainly!

Here’s a great follow-up idea from one of our Facebook readers: “How about a competition between NYC and Hollywood, CA.” Love it!

More Solar Energy Stories on CleanTechnica:

1. Giant $1.4 Billion Solar Project Will Almost Double Total U.S. Capacity from 2010
2. Solar Shingles About to Blow Up?
3. Solar Power Graphs to Make You Smile

Photo via David Shankbone

Biofuel firm KiOR, which debuted on the Nasdaq Friday morning priced at $15 per share, also closed the day at $15 per share — in other words, as flat as a Britney Spears high note. The day of flat trading followed the company pricing its shares significantly under its estimated pricing of $19 to $21 per share.

Not a great performance, but not all that bad either. The company made $150 million in the IPO, and could sell another 1.5 million shares. And flat is always better than down (though it’s only the first day).

KiOR’s price could stay in that range for a while, if two other biofuel IPOs are any indicator. Amyris (a AMRS) and Gevo have managed to keep their share prices mostly from dropping. Amyris’ shares are trading at double its debut price, and Gevo is trading around the same as its debut price at $15 per share. KiOR’s shares are bouncing slightly down in after-hours trading, but we’ll see next week where the stock heads.

Four-year-old KiOR has ambitions to cheaply turn wood chips into a substitute for crude oil, which can then be used by the world’s oil refining industry. KiOR plans to use the funds from its IPO to build up to five plants, which in total will cost $1 billion. The first one is supposed to be built in Columbus, Miss., will cost $190 million, and is already funded, says KiOR.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

• A 2011 Green IT Forecast
• Green IT’s Q4 Winners: Wind Power, Solar Power, Smart Energy
• Green IT 2011: China Marches Towards Greentech Dominance

Obtained from Proterra's Website

Proterra has received $30 million USD in new funding, including $6 million from GM Ventures to provide short range electric buses to businesses.

Proterra developed a way to make shorter range electric bus travel feasible. The worst problem that electric vehicles have is the cost of their battery packs/banks. They are so expensive that they alone elevate the cost of electric vehicles far above that of gasoline models, and short range models are cheaper but their range is too short. Therefore, manufacturers of these vehicles either have to back them up with onboard generators which supply power to the motor or charge the batteries, or they choose the more expensive option and use large battery packs which store plenty of energy.

Proterra is capitalizing on the fact that the lithium titanate batteries powering their buses can be charged in 10 minutes, and therefore can be charged at each bus stop that has a charger setup. The distance between bus stops is normally short, making it possible to use very short range batteries which enable them to travel 30-40 miles per charge and keep recharging them frequently.

Short range buses are more efficient than long range models because they are lighter due to fewer batteries. Two more advantages of such a setup are that fewer batteries cost less money, and reduce the price of the bus.

Proterra claims that the lithium titanate batteries they use to power these buses are able to handle frequent and fast charging all day, every day, unlike traditional lithium ion batteries which they say would break down after only a few years of that abuse.

Time will tell if this project is feasible and will reveal any flaws it may have. Real world testing is always necessary to fully ensure that it is practical.

h/t Technology Review

Here’s an extremely lengthy end-of-week roundup of cleantech stories. To make scrolling through your interests more manageable, I’m splitting it up into a few pages based on topic. Starting on this first page with the fan favorite, solar energy. Then, going on to:

Page 2 –>> Wind Energy
Page 3 –>> Energy Efficiency & Energy Storage
Page 4 –>> Transportation
Page 5 –>> Politics
Page 6 –>> Other Clean News & Commentary

Solar Energy

China’s ‘solar city’ rushes to catch power boom

BAODING, China (AP) – Solar panels jut out of streetlights in China’s self-proclaimed Clean Energy City. Tiny wind turbines twirl atop public buildings.Schools are due to teach students about “green living.”

In the scramble to profit from demand for clean energy, this city southwest of Beijing is promoting itself as a manufacturing center for solar, wind and other gear by transforming into a living showcase of environmental technology.

“Baoding is following a path of ecological civilization,” a deputy mayor, Zhou Xingshi, told a group of visiting reporters….

Will Crystalline Solar Kill Thin Film? A Conversation with Applied Material’s Solar Head Charlie Gay

I had a chance to chat today with Dr. Charlie Gay, the President of Applied Material’s solar division.  You may recall, we broke the story in the blogosphere 5 years ago about Applied’s entry into solar, which was anchored with a highly touted and very aggressive strategy for turnkey large format amorphous silicon and tandem cell plants called SunFab….

Siemens Buys Stake in U.S.-Based Solar Company Semprius

Siemens has acquired a minority share (approximately 16 percent) in U.S. solar company Semprius. Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, Semprius develops high concentrating photovoltaic (HCPV) modules. Siemens will act as a strategic investor to help Semprius develop this technology to market maturity. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price….

1366 Technologies to Recieve $150 Million Loan From DOE

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently announced the offer of a conditional commitment for a $150 million loan guarantee to 1366 Technologies for the development of a multicrystalline wafer manufacturing project. The project will be capable of producing approximately 700 to 1,000 megawatts (MW) of silicon-based wafers annually using a manufacturing process called Direct Wafer. The process could reduce manufacturing costs of the wafers by approximately 50 percent, cutting the cost of solar power. Phase 1 of the project will be located in Lexington, Massachusetts and is expected to generate 70 permanent jobs and 50 construction jobs. The company is evaluating site locations for another planned phase, which they anticipate will create hundreds of additional jobs….

Solar Silicon Maker Calisolar Gets $275 Million DOE Loan

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently announced the offer of a conditional commitment for a $275 million loan guarantee to Calisolar to commercialize its solar silicon manufacturing process. Calisolar’s process should produce silicon for use in solar cells at less than half the cost of traditional polysilicon purification processes, which will reduce the overall cost of solar modules and panels. At full production, the manufacturing plant is expected to produce 16,000 metric tons (MT) of solar silicon annually, equivalent to more than two gigawatts of solar power generation per year. The project will be built in three phases of 5,333 MT capacity each, and is expected to be located in a former General Motors stamping plant in Ontario, Richland County, Ohio. Calisolar estimates that the facility will generate, at its peak, nearly 1,100 permanent jobs and up to 1,000 construction jobs….

In Solar World, a Tale of Two Policies

Just as Germany announced its intentions to maintain its current feed-in-tariffs rates to bolster softer than projected figures, a key player in the U.S. solar market may take a different approach and cut into its incentive program….

Enphase Energy Files for IPO

Enphase Energy, the Petaluma, Calif.-based pioneer of inverter technologies for the solar industry, filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock….

CleanPath Launches $800 Million Fund to Invest in Solar PV Projects

CleanPath announced the close of an equity and credit facility to invest in the development and construction of large-scale solar PV projects in North America. CleanPath will manage two revolving facilities to invest over $800 million into 1,000+ megawatts in large-scale solar PV projects over the next 60 months….

The U.S. Utility PV Market by the Numbers

GTM Research just launched our U.S. Utility PV Market Tracker, a real-time source of information on one of the fastest-growing PV market segments in the world. The tracker includes, among other things, a database of every operating and contracted utility PV project in the country, as well as most earlier-stage projects (a total of 391 projects as of today). It also includes market analysis and ongoing news flow….

An Update on White House Solar Panels and Our Solar Program

We cannot win the future without winning the clean energy race, which is why President Obama laid out a clear goal to increase our nation’s clean energy share and continue to build a 21st century clean energy economy. Last fall, to underscore the Obama Administration’s commitment to clean and renewable energy, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and CEQ Chair Nancy Sutley announced that the Energy Department would lead a project to install American solar photovoltaic panels and a solar hot water heater on the roof of the White House….

Team China Transforms Shipping Containers into a Solar-Powered House

Design aesthetics, engineering, marketing appeal — these are just a few of the elements Solar Decathlon houses will be evaluated and scored on. But new this year to the competition is the Affordability Contest. Teams are encouraged to think creatively and strategically not only about the overall structure and functioning of the house, but also on how accessible they can make their design to everyone….

One Million Households Powered by Solar Energy in Bangladesh

The number of households powered by solar energy in Bangladesh has passed the one million mark — the fastest expansion of solar power in the world, according to Bangladeshi officials. Aided by non-governmental organizations that provide low-cost loans to install solar panels, Bangladesh’s rural households — most of which are off the electricity grid — have driven a dizzying expansion of solar power in recent years….

Chinese Banks Back $10 Billion Bid to Build Solar in Europe

Two Chinese banks are providing as much as $10 billion in funding to a group of three Chinese makers of solar equipment to build sun-powered energy projects in Europe….

Solar Energy Bound For Europe Via Tunisia

Solar energy developer, Nur Energie, has been working on developing a utility-scale solar power plant in the North African country of Tunisia for a couple of years and now, according to the company, it has reached a milestone that brings its plans to export solar energy from Tunisia closer to reality.

Nur Energie says that it has worked out technical details with Italian high-voltage transmission network operator, Terna, to lay a transmission line between Tunisia and Italy to accommodate an estimated 2000 megawatts of clean energy generated electricity….

Suntech says leases will “level the playing field”

Chinese panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd is getting into the solar lease business to compete with venture-backed start-ups such as SolarCity and SunRun, the vice president of project finance for its U.S. business said on Wednesday….

Total $1.3 billion SunPower bid successful

Oil major Total SA’s $1.3 billion takeover of SunPower Corp will help the U.S. solar panel maker double its market share over the next 18 months, SunPower Chief Executive Tom Werner said on Wednesday….

India to produce 700 megawatts of solar power this year

With ambitions to boost green power to 20 gigawatts by 2020, India is well on their way. According to The Economic Times, the country is set to produce 700 megawatts of solar power at a cost of $2.2 billion by December of this year….

Colorado sprouts the largest community-owned solar power array

A solar field containing 3,575 solar panels expected to produce 1,500 megawatt-hours each year for a co-op sprung up this week in Rifle, Colorado.

The solar field is a cooperative between Holy Cross Energy, the Clean Energy Collective and Garfield County, according to multiple reports…

Business rolls out solar panel kit for beginners

A Scottsdale, Arizona based company recently introduced an all-inclusive solar panel kit designed for installation on homes and light commercial buildings.

Kyocera Solar Inc. will produce the MyGen solar energy kit, a pre-engineered system that will have everything required to complete a solar installation on a home or business. There will also be the option to accommodate a future expansion or upgrade….

Google has officially pulled the plug on its web energy management tool PowerMeter. The project, which Google launched two years ago, just “didn’t catch on the way we would have hoped,” says Google in a blog post, and the tool will be shut down Sept. 16, 2011 (giving users enough time to download their data before the end of the service).

PowerMeter has seemed to have been on life support for much of the time it’s been in existence, and last I heard, it had brought in just 11,000 users. Turns out it’s difficult for a large Internet company to convince utilities to partner with it, and it’s also hard to get consumers to care about energy consumption. At the same time, PowerMeter was closely tied to smart meter data when it was first launched, and smart meter installations were still in an early stage back in 2009 (and still are).

PowerMeter enabled its users to monitor and manage their energy consumption online via an iGoogle widget, if the utility had agreed to connect their smart meter data with Google. Utility San Diego Gas & Electric and smart meter maker Itron became Google PowerMeter partners. Later, Google opened up the PowerMeter API and connected with gadget makers to make it more of a direct-to-consumer tool.

PowerMeter stemmed out of Google’s philanthropic arm Google.org, and Google long said it didn’t plan to make any money off of the tool. Well, that turned out to be true. Other companies that have launched services and gadgets in the home energy management space have changed course or folded. Microsoft launched a similar tool to PowerMeter called Hohm, which it later evolved.

Still, Google’s moves are often influential, even if they aren’t profitable. Google’s launch of PowerMeter worried startup competitors and entrepreneurs at the time, and scared some utilities who didn’t want Google owning the relationship with its power customers. PowerMeter also brought a lot of attention to a space that, for the most part, can be less-than-sexy.

Google shutting down PowerMeter will also draw attention. Startup Wattvision, which makes a low-cost energy home energy management tool, wrote on its blog yesterday that it’s offering a $50-off coupon for this weekend only — use the coupon code: “byepowermeter”.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

• Lessons in Smart Grid Privacy from Facebook and Google
• The Developer’s Guide to Home Energy Management Apps
• California’s New Energy Data Privacy Rules: Some Answers, Many Questions