Displaced Tortoises for Solar in Mojave Roils Environmentalists

Construction of such large-scale green-energy projects has splintered environmental groups. When concern over global warming was at a peak, national organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council threw their support behind industrial-scale wind and solar installations on public land. Now some smaller conservationist groups object to what they consider an environmentally destructive gold rush.

"Of course we need to do solar, but it should go on rooftops or in appropriate places, not the pristine desert," says April Sall, director of the Wildlands Conservancy in Oak Glen, California, operator of the state's largest nonprofit preservation system. "We need to tackle warming — but not forget that there are other things at stake."

Priorities Clash

The Mojave solar project embodies the clash of environmental priorities. The $2.2 billion installation being built by closely held BrightSource Energy Inc. of Oakland, California, is designed to power 140,000 homes without emitting greenhouse gases. But it threatens the tortoises. That's why the Western Watersheds Project conservationist group of Hailey, Idaho, sued to stop it in a Los Angeles U.S. court. (For an interactive graphic of the project, click here.)

The 120-year-old Sierra Club, which calls itself "America's largest and most influential" environmental group, also lobbied for changes to the project's design to protect the tortoises. Yet the 1.4 million-member organization chose not to try to block the plant, says Barbara Boyle, a Sierra green energy specialist.

"Ultimately, we need to jump-start renewables to combat climate change, and large-scale solar has to play a big part in that," Boyle says. However, as it became clear the project was rooting out many more tortoises than projected and as some California chapters urged action, the organization joined a coalition that sued the Department of the Interior in March to block another long-planned Mojave solar project that it says threatens wildlife.

Climate Change

Similar disputes are playing out elsewhere and show a growing concern among green groups and willingness to block large-scale solar and wind projects when the cost to wildlife and habitat seem to outweigh the benefits of fighting climate change. A surge in supplies of cheap, clean-burning natural gas has also begun to undercut demand for more costly green energy.

The green backlash against sacrificing habitat and wildlife to curb global warming parallels polls finding that the public rates climate change low on a menu of environmental problems and has doubts whether it can be fixed. In a March Gallup survey, the issue ranked last among seven environmental concerns, with just 30 percent saying they worried about it "a great deal."

A Washington Post-Stanford University poll in July found that while most Americans believe the earth is warming, 60 percent said little could be done to stop it, and more than 70 percent opposed energy taxes to address it.

Lethal Blades

Near the northern Florida Everglades, the Audubon Society has fought a 200-megawatt wind farm on 10,000 acres (3,900 hectares) of private sugar land, saying its 475-foot tall turbines and spinning blades will form a death corridor for migratory birds and the endangered snail-eating Florida Kite. The project, proposed by closely held Wind Capital Group LLC of St. Louis, was approved by the Palm Beach County Commission and could produce energy for 60,000 homes, the company says. It still needs state and federal permits.

In the southern Sierra Nevada of California, Defenders of Wildlife sued in federal court to block the proposed North Sky River wind-power project. It would be built by NextEra Energy Inc., based in Juno Beach, Florida, next to an existing wind farm where turbine blades killed eight golden eagles this year.

The American Bird Conservancy accused the U.S. government in a lawsuit in Washington of suppressing information about the threat that wind energy projects pose to migratory birds and other wildlife. The government denied the allegation.

26 Projects

Including the Mojave project that is relocating desert tortoises, the Interior Department has accelerated construction approval for 26 large-scale solar plants on public lands since 2009, including nine that it cleared in August. The Obama administration has steered $9 billion in stimulus funds from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to 23,000 solar and large-scale wind installations, according to the Department of Energy.

Conservationist and Native American groups sued to halt five other Mojave solar projects. The organizations argue that federal and state authorities conducted inadequate environmental reviews and failed to consult with tribes on sacred sites. The Bureau of Land Management, the solar companies and the state deny the allegations.

Dozens more solar plants could arise across the American desert West. A July BLM plan allocates 285,000 public acres to 17 solar zones. An additional 19 million acres — an area almost the size of West Virginia — may be approved for solar projects. The goal is to produce 23,700 megawatts, enough to power 7 million homes, according to the BLM. Solar power now provides less than 1 percent of U.S. electricity, amounting to 5,700 megawatts, or enough for about 1 million households.

Abandoned Mines

Conservationists say it is wrongheaded to rip up the public desert and destroy wildlife habitat when millions of already-degraded acres are available. The Environmental Protection Agency last year identified 80,000 to 250,000 abandoned mine sites that could be used for solar and other renewable energy projects, according to Janine Blaeloch, director of the Seattle-based Western Lands Project, a watchdog group.

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/displaced-tortoises-for-solar-in-mojave-roils-environmentalists?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

08.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cost Cutting: Is QBotix the BOS Innovation Solar Needs?

Watch Bokhari discuss the QBotix technology at Solar Power International, along with an animated demonstration, in the video below:

Balance of systems (BOS) accounts for about 50 percent of the installed cost of a solar system. A traditional tracking system, whether single or double axis, consists of a pair of motors installed on many trackers in the system. This creates many failure points throughout the system, which can be very difficult to maintain and ultimately reduces efficiency. 

The QBotix system consists of 200 trackers, which equal about 300 kilowatts (kW), and two robots, one primary and one backup, which travel on a steel monorail to each tracker. The monorails also contain two charging points for the robots. A robot travels along the rail every 40 minutes to adjust each tracker individually throughout the day. The steel rail also carries the system's wiring, which eliminates the need for trenching.

Because QBotix is streamlined with a robot, the entire system uses less steel – a major price driver for tracking systems. According to Bokhari, the QBotix system is roughly half the cost of double-axis trackers and the same cost as single-axis. "And because of that price parity of the single-axis trackers, we are able to achieve an LOC reduction of up to 20 percent compared to fixed systems," explained Bokhari. 

The robot itself is made of water- and dust-resistant components. "You can put [the robot] under a high-pressure water hose for 30 minutes and no waste will get in," explained Bokhari. "Or you can put it in a high-pressure chamber with very fine talcum power and nothing will get in." 

The system is also weather-resistant. The steel system is designed to withstand high wind loads for the life of the project, about 20 to 25 years, while the robot can withstand temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius and as high as 60 degrees Celsius. 

The robot collects performance and reliability data that allows it to optimize the performance of each tracker, and ultimately the entire system. It also contains built-in GPS sensors, memory capabilities and wireless communications. "It is almost like a doctor going from patient to patient that is able to assess the critical data from every patient," said Bokhari. 

As for maintenance, if the robot malfunctions the backup immediately takes its place, which means there is no tracking loss. The robots are also easily replaceable, which does not require skilled labor. "The robot is like a black box traveling on the rail, so it can easily be swapped out just like a spare tire," said Bokhari.

The system comes preassembled and can be used with any standard foundation and solar panel. And because it is much lower to the ground heavy machinery is not necessary for installation. It can be installed on ungraded land, sloped land, curved land, which, according to Bokhari, is not possible with other systems.

So is QBotix what the solar industry needs to move forward? Can it truly lower system costs enough for people to notice?

Bokhari said the target market is distributed generation, and then move on to utility-scale. "We will start with deployments going up to a few megawatts. Because our system is modular we can easily put together a larger system," said Bokhari. "After that, our customers can use our system as they start building larger power plants."

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/cost-cutting-is-qbotix-the-bos-innovation-solar-needs?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

07.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

Green Tech States Are Not Necessarily Democratic

Most people would expect blue Democratic states to be eager to embrace clean tech and green jobs, the authors assert, with red Republican states resolutely declining to join in the action. However, according to the report, in the 10 states where clean tech jobs are growing the most quickly, only two can be considered traditionally Democratic – Hawaii and New York. Many of the remaining states are decisively Republican, including North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Alaska. Additionally, among Top 10 states where green jobs make up the biggest percentage of the labor force, only three – Washington, Oregon and Vermont – are Democratic.

"What's more, many of the governors working the hardest to bring clean tech jobs to their home states are not only Republican, but are usually regarded as leaders of their party," according to the report. This demonstrates that clean tech and green jobs are only contentious inside Washington D.C., the authors conclude. "Outside of the capital, where governors (and mayors) are more concerned with creating jobs than scoring debate points, there is no controversy about the impact of clean tech." 

"(Clean tech) is almost universally appreciated as the important engine for job development and economic growth that it is," the authors say. "Disregarding the partisan bickering in Washington, these local officials are using clean tech to bring high-quality jobs to their states, in the process reviving communities and winning the support of local voters in both parties."

Zooming out even further, the report reveals that seven of the top 17 states with the most rapid growth in the clean tech sector are considered swing states for the 2012 presidential election. "Numbers like these suggest we are entering an era in which politicians who unfairly criticize or otherwise ignore clean tech run the risk of alienating a bedrock constituency: job holders, most of whom vote," the authors say.

A copy of the report is available here.

Lead image: Divided flag via Shutterstock

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/green-tech-states-are-not-necessarily-democratic?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

07.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

The Demonization of Clean Tech: The Five Biggest Myths

As a longtime analyst at clean-tech research firm Clean Edge and contributor to the recently published book Clean Tech Nation (coauthored by Clean Edge colleagues Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder), I should be on the front lines defending the clean-tech moniker. But given the noticeable intensifying of false debates surrounding clean tech in the last year, it's worth taking a moment to examine ways in which the industry's far-reaching identity has opened the door to some misplaced antagonism.

#1: Energy Sources as Sports Teams

Unless you are employed in a particular sector of the energy industry, as long as the car runs, the lights are bright, the showers hot, and the beer cold, it makes little sense as a consumer to root for one specific energy source against another, as if they were sports teams. Solar power isn't the Miami Heat, and – as much as T. Boone Pickens would like you to believe it – natural gas isn't the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Of course, it's imperative to evaluate energy sources based on availability, affordability, and environmental impact. But blind support of identifiers like traditional energy, alternative energy, renewables, or clean energy – which aggregate many dissimilar resources and technologies – can quickly create an "us versus them" culture. And that's exactly what seems to be playing out on the national political stage in this election season. When the failure of one longshot solar startup (that shall not be named) can be used to demonize all aspects of a multi-hundred billion dollar industry, perhaps the umbrella is too large.    

#2: The Misrepresented History (and Current Reality) of Energy Subsidies

Government has always played an important role in energy innovation. Nuclear power plants are offshoots of nuclear submarines, which themselves are derivative of atomic bombs developed by the Manhattan Project – the ultimate embodiment of government-funded R&D. Less understood is that today's shale gas boom also owes much to government involvement, as recent technological advances are fruits of decades of public-private research and commercialization efforts, as the Breakthrough Institute detailed well in a recent report. 

Unabashedly ignoring this history, The Wall Street Journal's editorial team recently used a snapshot of 2010 federal subsidies to argue that renewables don't merit government support because right now "wind and solar get the most taxpayer help for the least production" – an argument that only makes sense if 2010 was the lone year subsidies were ever available. Surprisingly, the universe did exist prior to January 1, 2010, so we don't have to rely on such disingenuous analysis. A report by DBL Investors' Nancy Pfund and Yale University graduate student Ben Healey, which looked into the historical role of U.S. federal energy subsidies, found that annual federal support for oil, gas, and nuclear has averaged 22 times the amount of subsidies available to renewables.

This extreme imbalance is one reason why Clean Tech Nation's Seven-Point Action Plan suggests phasing out all energy subsidies over the next decade. We know that's a controversial proposal, but let's debate the future of subsidies based on facts, not myths.

#3: The False Promise of Energy Independence

"Lobsters are cheap in Maine because storing and shipping live lobster is hard, but globally traded commodities aren't like that," says Slate's Matthew Yglesias in what might be the most effectively concise dismissal to date of the U.S. energy independence delusion. 

Yes, U.S. reliance on foreign oil has fallen amidst an Obama-era domestic production boom – allowing for fewer direct imports from petro-dictator nations. But unlike lobsters, oil is easily stored, shipped, and traded across borders, so America's oil fate will forever be linked to conditions defined by the global free market.

And if American energy "independence" was truly a top concern, vehicle electrification would be priority number one, as 99 percent of U.S. electricity is derived from domestically-generated electrons. Yet instead of being hailed as uber-patriotic "DEVs" (domestic energy vehicles), electric vehicles continue to fight perceptions of simply being expensive eco-toys.

#4: There is No Such Thing as a Green Job

Granted, this is a tricky one, as definitions vary widely – so claiming a direct link between these jobs and a remedy for the economy often does little more than fuel opposition to all industries involved when the nation's labor market proves stubbornly sluggish. Opponents can claim, for example, that it takes fewer than 30 workers to maintain a 250 MW wind farm that powers 75,000 households. But as a recent NRDC report finds, that same wind farm will actually create 1,079 jobs over the lifetime of the project, mostly during manufacturing and construction.  

There are plenty of wind turbine technicians, increasing masses of solar installers, and armies of workers at the world's largest industrial conglomerates working on products to beef up the electric grid, boost vehicle efficiency, and convert waste into resources. As demand for clean-tech products and services grows, an expanding workforce will obviously be an economic boon.

#5: The Climate Change "Debate"

When even Koch brothers-funded researchers conclude that the world is warming and humans are to blame, it's time to stop arguing the science and start focusing on solutions. But this doesn't seem to be the trajectory of things. Climate change continues to be politically toxic, and demand for clean tech – the market's answer to a changing climate – is being severely hamstrung as a result.    

In place of real climate action, U.S. leadership on both sides of the aisle is clinging to an "all of the above" energy approach. But until the current subsidy outlay changes, in no way will this translate into a level playing field. 

Ultimately, clean tech – or green tech, or advanced energy, or whatever you choose to call it – will win out. The realities of a resource-constrained world and changing climate are just too powerful to ignore. But as clean tech moves forward, it's increasingly important to understand the steadfast opposition – and its myth-making operation – facing this innovative sector that dares challenge the status quo. 

Lead image: Myth via Shutterstock

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/the-demonization-of-clean-tech-the-five-biggest-myths?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

06.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Worldwide PV Equipment Market Squeeze Continues

After declining in the first quarter to its lowest level since the start of the data program, second quarter worldwide completed orders actually increased slightly, up two percent quarter-on-quarter. However, the reported billings of $706 million were only 35 percent of the billings reported in the same quarter a year ago.

Excluding a one-time large order reported in the previous quarter, worldwide bookings declined again, this time 20 percent for the quarter to $235 million, reaching their lowest level since the first quarter of 2010. At 0.33, the book-to-bill ratio stayed below parity for the fifth consecutive quarter.

"It's still bad news, the 7^th inning of the downturn," says Aaron Chew, senior alternative energy / solar power analyst at Maxim Group LLC in New York.  He agreed with SEMI's conclusion that the extremely challenging environment for PV equipment suppliers worldwide is likely to persist due to low booking activities from PV manufacturers, coupled with no near-term signs of recovery. "I see no turnaround in demand for equipment guys for the rest of the year, at least until mid-2013," he said.

Further depressing the outlook for PV equipment manufacturers, he said, is the emergence of a big secondary market for equipment.  "All of the companies that failed are being shut down and liquidated. About 40 cell and wafer companies shut down in China. Their equipment is getting auctioned off at 50 cents on the dollar, so guys like Yingli can ramp up for half the cost.  The bad news for equipment guys temporarily is that they have to compete with that," Chew said.

With huge overcapacity since March 2011, PV prices have dropped approximately 65% in the last year, reducing manufacturers' margins.  But the dour pricing situation could quite likely become the market's salvation, Chew said. "It's a bad time in solar because no one is making any money, but the flip side is that it makes solar more and more competitive with fossil fuels, and demand is fine," he said. "We never thought about solar in markets that are now becoming mainstream, like Chile, Japan, and China. Germany and Italy will feel the pain in shifting from subsidized to unsubsidized markets, but the slack will be picked up by China, Japan and even the US."

As a result, he expects the global solar industry to supply approximately 30 GW of demand this year, 50 GW in 2 to 3 years and 100 GW by the end of the decade. Responding to such increases in demand will require new manufacturing equipment.

"It sounds crazy today because there is such overcapacity weighing on solar, but by mid-2013, a new investment cycle may be starting. I think people may be surprised by the end of next year when we could be at 40GW of demand, and people will need to reinvest in equipment," Chew said.

SEMI's worldwide PV equipment billings and bookings data is gathered jointly with the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) from about 50 global equipment companies that provide primary data on a quarterly basis. 

Lead image: Money squeeze via Shutterstock

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/worldwide-pv-equipment-market-squeeze-continues?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Studies Cite Increased Demand for Wind Power, Other Renewables

According to the Global Consumer Wind Study 2012 (GCWS), the desire for more renewable energy options was voiced by 85 percent of survey respondents, with 49 percent saying they'd have no problem digging deeper into their pockets to support companies committed to renewable energy in the product manufacturing process. Even more encouraging, those numbers spiked considerably when consumers were asked specifically about wind power, with 62 percent indicating that if given a choice, they would consciously choose to buy products manufactured using wind over traditional forms of power generation.

These statistics bode well for the efforts of WindMade, a nonprofit whose primary function is the identification of companies and products that rely on wind power for at least 25 percent of their overall electricity generation. The organization's ultimate goal is not only to give eco-conscious consumers the information necessary to vote with their wallets, but also to generate interest for an industry whose potential still vastly exceeds its demand.

"One of the important challenges the [wind power] industry is facing in many markets around the world is public acceptance," writes Angelika Pullen, Communications Director for WindMade. "Our objective is to help address this problem by creating a tool for that majority of the public that is supportive of wind power, to identify and favor those brands and companies that are using wind energy." 

But public acceptance is one thing — actual corporate espousal of renewable energy is another. And in an era where social and ecological consciousness ranks high in the area of mass appeal, new evidence has come to light that tells us not all private companies are riding the aforementioned fence over whether to pursue renewable alternatives. An increasing number are leading the charge, as evidenced by the second of the two studies, the Corporate Renewable Energy Index Report 2012 (CREX).

According to the results of the report, global corporate investment in renewables has surpassed investment for fossil fuel generation by a significant margin. In 2011, corporations around the globe spent $237 billion investing in renewable energy, eclipsing the $223 billion spent chasing fossil fuel power generation. The CREX is an index that ranks companies by their level of investment in renewable energies. The report also found that 40 percent of renewable energy purchases made in 2011 were made by companies for the purpose of on-site power generation, showing a marked increase from previous years.

The GCWS survey was conducted by TNS Gallup, and the CREX report was prepared by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Lead image: Demand chart via Shutterstock

20 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/studies-cite-increased-demand-for-wind-power-other-renewables?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

12.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Blackstone to Buy Vivint for $2B and Support Its Expansion in Solar and Beyond

When the deal closes, which should come before the end of the year, it will give Blackstone control over 50 percent of the company, reported the New York Times. The rest of the company is owned by the management, according to Reuters.

Vivint built its reputation as one of the country's largest residential security service provider in the country. It then added the sales of equipment and services for homeowners to automate and control their thermostats, lighting and small appliances remotely. The company entered the solar business last year and in October announced a $75 million fund from U.S. Bankcorp to finance residential solar installations and sell leases to homeowners. Instead of paying for the equipment and labor of installing a solar energy system upfront, Vivint's customers pay a monthly fee over 20 years. This financing model has become popular not only because it removes the high upfront cost, but it also is supposed to lead to lower monthly utility bills.

Founded in 1999 as Apax Alarm Security Solutions, the company changed its name to Vivint last year to reflect its ambition to move beyond the home security market, Vivint's co-founder and CEO, Todd Pedersen, told me last year. The company's name is a mesh of "Vive," or "to live," and "intelligent."

Pedersen said back then that Vivint became a big home automation company because it figured out how to market and install equipment efficiently. He believed the same strategy will work just as well in the solar business. He was so confident that he predicted Vivint would become the largest residential solar company in the U.S. this year.

Having Blackstone as an investor should help Pedersen realize his vision. Blackstone apparently outbid two other private equity groups to win the deal to buy the majority stake in Vivint. Vivint is counting on a significant financial support from Blackstone that will enable the company to develop "innovative new technologies, products and services designed to expand the company's influence beyond the home environment into the automobile, the workplace, areas of recreation and other core spheres of human activity." This may indicate that Vivint is eyeing other energy management services, including perhaps electric car charging, which could be centralized and remotely controlled by Vivint and its customers.

Blackstone's interest in Vivint reflects this investor sentiment that the retail service segment of the solar market is so much more attractive than the manufacturing sector, which has seen many factory closures and bankruptcies.  The market has experienced an oversupply of solar panels since the start of 2011, and that has benefited installers and their investors as well as consumers. Prices for solar panel systems owned by investors rather than consumers have dropped in California, for example, though that decline doesn't necessarily mean homeowners also are paying lower monthly fees on their leases. 

19 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/blackstone-to-buy-vivint-and-support-its-expansion-in-solar-and-beyond?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

10.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

China Solar Manufacturer LDK Looks for Buyer

There are quite a few developments on the solar energy front today, led by the release of new financial results from LDK (NYSE: LDK), the weakest of China's major solar panel makers, that show a company in the midst of a meltdown. Meantime, Beijing has officially protested a US law that allows Washington to levy punitive tariffs against overseas industries that receive unfair state support, such as China's solar sector. Both the US and Europe believe China supports its solar sector with unfair subsidies and have taken various punitive actions; and now India is also launching its own similar investigation, dealing yet another blow to the struggling sector.

Let's start with the LDK results, which show a company teetering on the brink of collapse as it deals with the worst-ever downturn for the young solar panel sector. Not surprisingly, LDK has filed its second-quarter results just 2 weeks before the US-mandated deadline of the end of September, as it attempts to avoid greater attention to its poor performance. Also not surprisingly, the results were quite ugly, with revenue falling by half from the previous year as LDK's loss ballooned to a massive $254 million. (results announcement)

The company's shares fell by a relatively modest 3 percent after the news came out, reflecting the reality that investors have heard so much bad news already that this latest downbeat report is really nothing special. One of my sources tells me LDK has actually hired investment bank Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to try and sell the company to one of China's big state-owned enterprises.

I wouldn't be surprised if this was true, as LDK is clearly in big trouble and would never be able to attract any private sector buyers. Regardless of the situation, we can probably expect to see some spectacular fireworks from LDK by the end of the year, as the company either collapses or gets bought by an unlucky state-run company under pressure from Beijing or the provincial government of Jiangxi, where LDK is based.

Moving on to the bigger news, China has announced it is lodging an official protest with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over a US law that allows Washington to take punitive actions against overseas industries that receive unfair support from their local governments. (English article) China's protest isn't aimed at a specific industry, and indeed the US has used the law to levy punitive tariffs against several Chinese products over the last year. But clearly solar panels are one of the main targets of this new WTO protest by Beijing, after the US earlier this year said it will levy big punitive tariffs on Chinese solar panels that now account for more than half of the world's supply.

While the US has already determined that Chinese solar panel makers receive unfair state support, the European Union also announced last month it is launching a similar probe. (previous post) And now it seems that India will launch its own probe over the matter, dealing yet another setback to the embattled sector. (English article) I'll repeat my advice to Beijing once again by saying that rather than repeatedly protesting the accusations by foreign governments, China needs to finally admit that perhaps some of the complaints are legitimate and then find ways to address the concerns.

Bottom line: LDK's latest earnings report shows a company on the brink of meltdown, while Beijing's latest trade complaint shows it is still in denial about its unfair subsidies to the country's solar sector.

19 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/09/china-solar-manufacturer-ldk-looks-for-buyer?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

07.43 | 0 komentar | Read More

PV Firms and Utilities Eye Residential Storage

"When we take the literal definition of grid parity for PV, nothing is going to change,' he says. 'No customer looks at PV and calculates the levelised cost of energy - the average customer couldn't do that."

The next bit, though, is where it gets interesting. While residents may not register when 'both points are equal', they will spot when the cost of grid electricity overhauls their revenue from feed-in tariffs (FiTs). "When we reach that point, the timing for storage will be right," says Bhamre. And, in his view, we could be fairly close. By 2014-2015, a "considerable market" will be building up, he says.

EuPD Research's forecasts rest on a model for residential PV's development in which the sector undergoes a comprehensive transformation to enter a new era: PV 2.0, in the firm's terminology.

According to EuPD, residential PV in Europe has already witnessed two cycles of growth within the "PV 1.0" era. In the first cycle, the sector was propelled by 'environmental idealists', who can take credit for kickstarting installations in 2007 and 2008. In the second cycle, "straight-edge investors" became the engine of growth. Drawn to the sector purely by attractive returns from FiTs, these have driven surging new capacity over the last few years.

Now, as PV's appeal to investors wanes in line with sliding FiTs, the cost of its electricity is also poised to drop, ushering in the third cycle: "Green electricity generation in an open market".

In this "post-grid parity" market, EuPD expects the essential structure of PV systems to be transformed. At the peak of the second growth cycle, residential PV systems tended to feed all their power into the grid. In Germany, though, 90 percent of new systems are already engineered for self-consumption. From now on, existing and new systems are likely to feature storage.

"It makes sense," says Bhamre. "It's about saving electricity costs rather than making money with a FiT. If, with hypothetical numbers, for each unit you feed to the grid you receive €0.20 but to buy one unit from the grid you pay €0.25, you'd rather use the electricity you have on top of your house."

A desire for autonomy and a sense of environmental responsibility emerge from surveys as other factors that will speed development, in Germany at least. "People will go for storage even if it's a little more expensive," says Bhamre.

Exploring Storage

The commercial world is clearly thinking along similar lines. Storage has provided the dominant theme at a number of major renewable energy trade shows in 2012.

Phono Solar Technology Co, a Chinese state-owned solar panel maker, recently showcased its Enercube for residential energy storage and management. With a storage capacity ranging from 6.4 kWh to 9 kWh, it features an energy management system to help households alter consumption as well as "time shift" their demand.

Several other PV players have announced initiatives to enter storage. For PV manufacturers, in fact, the plunge in panel prices raises interest in downstream technology such as storage. Trina Solar's announcement of a collaboration with Germany's E3/DC - a supplier of car charge and home storage systems - stressed that the project would strengthen the company's position as "provider of solar energy solutions".

Lithium-ion based storage solutions are set to emerge from Trina's tie-up from mid-2013. Initially targeted at early adopters in Germany and Switzerland, the storage solutions would be marketed independently from PV.

Hanwha SolarOne aims to be on the market earlier with a bundled product developed with Silent Power, a U.S.-based specialist in distributed energy storage systems for the renewable energy and backup power markets.

Under a partnership announced on 9 July 2012, Korea's Hanwha Group has invested $8 million in Silent Power. A co-marketing strategy will feature the storage specialist's OnDemand Energy Appliance, a "battery-agnostic" device - suited for lithium-ion, sealed lead-acid and advanced lead-acid battery packs - that can store excess energy produced during times of peak production.

Not that battery makers need solar firms to point out the opportunity. In recent weeks, Panasonic has already targeted German homes with long-life lithium-ion battery systems that could plug the looming gap between FiTs and grid power. The 1.35 kWh module has an estimated lifetime of 5000 load cycles at 80 percent depth of discharge (DOD).

Panasonic had earlier partnered with German firms to develop the E3/DC power management and storage system, which went on sale this year. The system has a usable capacity of 4.05 - 8.10 kWh and a maximum power output of 4 kW, suited to the needs of an average German household.

Under the Franco-German Sol-Ion research project, scientists at Baden-Württemberg's Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) in Stuttgart have also been testing a storage system about the size of a standard household freezer over six months.

The Sol-Ion contains the power inverters needed for the solar array as well as a battery charge rectifier, both with a nominal output of 5 kW. Lithium-ion batteries with a capacity of 6 kWh provided the centerpiece for the system, which was fed by a 5.1 kW array.

Outside Europe, Japan has provided another test bed for solar storage systems. A system from Kyocera integrates solar panels, an inverter and monitoring software with lithium-ion storage and inverter from Nichicon Corp. A 7.1 kWh battery unit weighing about 200 kg features lithium-ion cells from Samsung.

Getting to Market

Pilot projects and early installations suggest that PV storage systems can indeed work as planned. A case study from EuPD Research concludes that a German family of four with a 5 kW system could raise the proportion of their needs served by their PV panels from 25 percent up to 58 percent by integrating a 5 kWh battery in the system.

Yet costs remain prohibitive. Ben Hill, president of Trina Solar Europe, estimates that the cost of adding storage to a residential PV installation could near $10,000, doubling the cost of the system. His estimates chime with EuPD estimates for prices of about €9500 for a 9 kWh lead-acid battery system or €13,000 for an equivalent system based on lithium-ion batteries - prices for either route that far outweigh any savings on grid electricity.

19 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/pv-firms-and-utlities-eye-residential-storage?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

06.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Distributed Generation Will Make Electric Grids More Secure, Expand Access

As our society continues to become more wired, the impact of a sudden power outage – such as what occurred in India in early August – becomes increasingly severe and disruptive. With more and more businesses – including mission critical facilities like hospitals, military bases, and water treatment plants – reliant upon access to large amounts of electricity and the Internet, blackouts can significantly damage a country's economy, public health and safety.

At the same time, there are regions of the world – particularly in emerging nations – where entire villages remain without access to power because it is simply too expensive to build the infrastructure needed to transport electricity to the rural areas. According to a 2010 International Energy Agency report, the lack of access to electricity hinders social and economic development and exacerbates major health problems such as hunger, sanitation and access to clean water. As a recent New York Times headline simply put it, energy access is vital to abolishing the worst poverty in the world.

A solution to both of these problems – increasing vulnerability to a power outage in developed areas and lack of access to electricity in developing areas – can be found in distributed generation. Traditionally, electricity is generated in large, centralized facilities, and for the most part these facilities run on fossil fuels. Distributed generation instead allows electricity to be generated from many small, de-centralized sources, such as rooftop solar or a small solar farm.

For developed areas, this method of electricity generation offers far greater grid security than traditional generation in centralized facilities. Generating power through several independent generation stations rather than a handful of major power plants dramatically decreases the impact of one power plant unexpectedly shutting down. The presence of several generation stations allows some to ramp up their production to account for the unexpected loss of others, keeping the grid stable even as power generation fluctuates.

For areas currently without access to electricity, distributed generation facilities bypass the onerous cost of developing infrastructure to transport electricity long distances from enormous power plants and delivers the power they so badly need.

The technology to both develop power grids using more and more distributed generation and integrate distributed generation into large electric grids is getting more advanced each year. Companies are already developing solar-powered thermal power plants designed specifically for off-grid applications and solar community cooking systems to reduce fossil fuels use. Others are supporting the development of solar-powered toilets that require no running water and produce no pollutants.

Other solutions include local wind generators – small wind turbines – that can power homes and small businesses. And as the use of home-based solar panels increases, each individual household or business will create more and more of its own electricity, increasing energy security, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and netting an economic benefit.

As nations overhaul their grids in response to the recent blackout in India and work to provide electricity access to their most remote areas, distributed generation should be part of the solution.

Lead image: Power lines via Shutterstock

18 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/09/distributed-generation-will-make-electric-grids-more-secure-expand-access?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

09.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Four Charts Provide Distributed Solar Lessons from California

A new study for the California Public Utilities Commission explores the "Technical Potential for Local Distributed Photovoltaics in California."  Basically, it's one of the more in-depth analyses of local solar power in the country, suggesting that California has the capacity to add 15 gigawatts (GW) of local solar (20 megawatts and smaller) to its grid by 2020.  The study pushes the boundaries of distributed generation by assuming that local solar can be installed sufficient to meet 100% of local demand, far beyond the conservative "15% rule" that utilities typically apply.

There are the usual caveats about the technical limitations of the current grid, but a few graphics from the report provide a glimpse into the implications of a distributed generation future.

This first chart shows supply curves for various types of distributed solar under their 15-GW scenario.  What I find interesting is that the biggest chunk of distributed solar is not on the ground or on commercial roofs, it's residential rooftops.  Half of the state's distributed solar potential is on residential rooftops.

This next chart illustrates the cost and benefits of residential solar PV for a PG&E substation in Fresno, CA.  What I find interesting is that 6-7 cents of the levelized cost of solar (which includes the federal tax credit) are offset by electric system benefits and greenhouse gas reductions.  Energy provides another 5-6 cents.  Presumably, state incentives (the CSI, net metering, etc.) fill the gap.

This next chart of interconnection costs for distributed solar has two interesting findings.  First, interconnection costs (for the utility) are lower for residential solar than for other small-scale (< 1 MW) distributed solar.  Costs fall off as projects increase in size to a sweet spot of 3-5 MW and then rise again.  Divided over the projected output over 25 years, however, these costs are in the hundredths of a cent per kilowatt-hour.

This chart shows what it will mean to have a significant amount of solar on the grid.  It will effectively shift the peak demand period on the electricity system from the mid-afternoon to the early evening (when solar PV no longer produces much electricity).  This could have interesting implications for net metering customers who count on high peak prices to pay off their PV investment.

The last item of interest is their cost projection for maximizing local solar power.  Reaching the 15-GW distributed solar potential would increase the state's renewable energy supply from 33% in 2020 to 48%.  The marginal cost is about $6 billion, or about $0.15 per kWh.  That's not bad when the avoided cost (e.g. "market price referent") in California is around $0.12 per kWh, especially when we're talking about 2.5 GW of additional local solar power with $750 million in economic benefits and new jobs.

This post originally appeared on ILSR's Energy Self-Reliant States blog.

Lead image: Solar panels on roof via Shutterstock

18 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/09/four-charts-provide-distributed-solar-lessons-from-california?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

09.52 | 0 komentar | Read More

Suntech Reducing Solar Cell Production Capacity

Suntech gained 6.6 percent to 93 cents an American depositary receipt (ADR) at the close in New York, the most since Sept. 11. Each ADR represents one ordinary share.

Suntech will cut production capacity for solar cells to 1.8 gigawatts, the Wuxi, China-based company said in a statement. The company said it had 2.4 gigawatts of annual capacity in May when it released its first-quarter results. It didn't say when it believes output would increase again.

The company isn't reducing its 2.4 gigawatts of solar-panel production capacity, just temporarily closing the cell production portion of it. The majority of the approximately 1,500 employees affected will be offered other jobs and the rest will be fired, according to the statement.

Prices for solar cells dropped 45 percent in the past year as governments in the U.S. and Europe pared back incentives and demand slowed. Suntech faces possible tariffs in Europe, which was the largest market for the products last year, in addition to anti-dumping duties imposed in the U.S.

The cutback isn't a surprise and more solar manufacturers will probably follow suit, said Alex Morris, a research associate at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in Houston. "Oversupply has sent prices cratering and margins as well. Right now this is just scratching the surface of that overcapacity."

Reducing capacity will lower costs, Suntech's Chief Executive Officer David King said in the statement.

"With these and other initiatives we target to create a sustainable business model and return to positive operating cash flow in 2013," he said.

Copyright 2012 Bloomberg.

Lead image: 

18 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/suntech-reducing-solar-panel-production-capacity?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

07.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

The Big Question: What Can We Expect over the Next 12 Months?

Maria van der Hoeven, Executive Director, International Energy Agency

Renewable energy continues to grow in the face of both economic crisis and subsidy reductions in key markets. The technology portfolio is expanding, with generation from wind, solar PV and bioenergy growing in double digits year-on-year. Hydropower continues to grow steadily and remains the largest renewable source in absolute terms. Even geothermal and ocean energy are growing. That growth is being driven by emerging and developing markets outside the OECD - and we expect this contribution to accelerate.

One striking trend is the geographic spread of renewable energy projects, often to totally new markets. Just a few years ago, only a handful of countries hosted significant solar, wind, or bioenergy projects — but renewable energy projects are now taking root across Asia, in Latin America, and in Africa and the Middle East.

While we see growth across renewable technologies, of course the trends for each vary. Solar PV is particularly striking. Stagnating economies and electricity demand, combined with feed-in tariff reductions and other support limitations, are slowing down European PV growth. But that is compensated for by increases in China, the US, Japan and India, and also driven by a rapid fall in component costs. And with falling costs comes intensified global competition. A consequent shake-up of the industry should ultimately bode well for its long-term health. Companies surviving the current consolidation are restructuring and successfully transitioning from subsidized markets to new and potentially more competitive market segments.

Finally, although wind and solar often grab headlines, hydropower remains the largest renewable source by a wide margin. And despite its more sedate image, hydro's growth continues at a healthy pace, driven by the need for baseload capacity in emerging economies, and by increasing pumped storage demands in countries seeking to integrate more variable renewables.

With an outlook marked by growth and driven by emerging economies, these trends are likely to continue and accelerate into the medium term.                      

Birger T. Madsen, Director, Navigant's BTM Consult APS

The global wind market has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past two decades. In 2011, it defied the fragile Western economic climate with a record level of global installations (around 42 GW). There is no doubt that although much of the IP and highest ranking turbine OEMs reside in Europe, the balance of power has shifted to Asia and specifically China, the number one market in the world. 

The wind industry was largely unaffected by the credit crisis, but now is feeling its hangover. It is faced with an overcapacity of turbines and some core components, limited credit availability, high material prices, shortages in skilled labor, continuing low U.S. gas prices and Chinese turbine and core component suppliers producing at lower costs than western competitors. This has resulted in Western companies reducing prices and profit margins, resulting in a strategic rethink of their earlier ambitious targets and aggressive investment decisions made during the boom of 2008. Despite this, the investment level available to the wind industry remains high, but there has been a marked evolution in the shape and face of the investment vehicles available, most notably in the offshore sector.

Looking ahead over the next 12 months, the Chinese market will still constitute the lion's share of global installations despite a drop in annual installations, with Europe seeing a flat level of growth and the US seeing a spike as companies seek to capitalize on the PTC before it expires at the end of 2012.

It is, however, the Latin American, Indian, Eastern European and European offshore markets which are expected to provide the main impetus in installations moving forward.

It's crucial that transmission capacity is improved in time to facilitate the expected offshore progress in northern Europe. Furthermore, it is expected that there will be a continued shift towards the use of direct drive technology and an increasing interest in two-bladed wind turbines.              

Andrew Beebe, CCO, Suntech

Rumors of our industry's death have been greatly exaggerated. Yes, it's true that upstream module oversupply is thinning margins and eroding profitability. But the global solar market will still grow in 2012, just not at the pace we're used to. Although it's a tough time to be a solar manufacturer, it's a great time to be a solar consumer. That's what matters. 

For the first and last time, the price of solar modules has breached the US$1/W mark, a harbinger of cost-competitive solar. We have finally reached the tipping point. New markets are emerging, and the potential for growth is astounding. 

Of course, to achieve this growth, solar companies will need to endure a market that is slowly digesting excess capacity and ensuring that only the most efficient producers survive. As the industry moves through this consolidation phase, we expect bankability to separate the wheat from the chaff. We are witnessing a 'flight to quality', where customers are looking for a reliable and trustworthy brand that can uphold its end of the promised 25-year relationship.

In addition, innovation will define future leaders. In previous years cost reductions came from both technology improvements and declines in key material prices; in coming years innovation will take centre stage. Companies that have a technology heritage and have invested heavily in R&D will be able to innovate ways to redesign cells and modules, to effectively use cheaper ingredients and to scale higher conversion efficiencies.

Despite the skepticism of critics, we can expect the industry to continue on a moderate growth trajectory in 2012 and to accelerate into 2013. The consumer's good fortune bodes well for the industry as our ultimate goal is to make solar power a viable and affordable energy choice.

We knew that solar manufacturers would have to go through this ultra-competitive "Valley of Death". Consolidation is maturation. Amidst unfounded political skepticism of our industry's long-term health and potential, we must stay focused on what matters.

Andrew Oldfield, Head of Cleantech, Mercia Fund Management

There is still a lot of work to do to move UK climate chief Lord Stern's central thesis (that the true cost of not acting on environmental issues is far greater than the cost of investing in alternative technologies) into the political mainstream. It is being questioned whether green is compatible with growth, when in fact it should be synonymous. Community led cleantech companies offer a viable approach, commercializing disruptive innovations without the heavy investment the sector has demanded in the past. 

In solar, for example, new business models will be enabled by technology advances bringing existing low-cost industries into the supply chain. This will require equity finance to build some exciting early stage SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] in a capital efficient manner. The financial backdrop is not healthy: for example, seed stage venture investment in the UK has dropped every year from 2006 (about &pound;400 million [US$620 million]) to last year (about &pound;10 million [$16 million]). This is seriously affecting the ability of UK cleantech entrepreneurs to get their ventures funded.

There is a perception that early stage ventures do not offer an attractive risk-reward profile. The reality is that seed stage investment has often been through publicly backed funds with significant restrictions on follow-on investment. These funds have therefore shouldered the operational risk inherent in backing early stage, high growth companies - some of which do fail - without being able to invest in the winners that do eventually emerge. This negatively skews the true value of early stage investing on average. 

The UK urgently needs to re-seed its early stage venture capital market, with substantial funds going into cleantech sectors. A fully functioning seed fund will do 80 per cent of its deals in seed, but 80 per cent of the money goes into later rounds. Community-led cleantech will help returns, but government help is needed to correct the perception that early stage is not an attractive place to invest. Once corrected, the market will take over the job. 

In the end the sector needs to stand on its own feet. Ironically this requires more early stage funding so the financing of disruptive innovation can be shown to be attractive and therefore self-sustaining.

Sven Teske, Renewable Energy Director, Greenpeace International            

The renewables industry's circumstances have changed fundamentally over the past five years. Renewables became mainstream, economic, and grew out of their sometimes wild teenage years. And even faster growth across all renewable energy technologies is more important than ever.

A certain amount of climate change is now "locked" based on the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere since industrialization began. On the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe yet another nuclear incident underlined the urgent need to rethink global energy strategies. The Fukushima disaster sparked a surge in global renewable energy and made at least some governments reconsider their energy approach. At the same time, the poor state of the global economy has resulted in decreasing carbon prices, some governments reducing support for renewables, and a stagnation of overall investment, particularly in the OECD. Rising oil demand is putting pressure on supply, causing prices to rise and making possible increased exploration for "marginal and unconventional" oil resources, such as regions of the Arctic newly accessible due to retreating polar ice, and environmentally destructive tar sands in Canada.

For almost a decade it looked as if nothing could halt the growth of the renewables industry. But the economic crisis and its continuing aftermath slowed growth and dampened demand. While the industry is slowly recovering, increased competition, particularly in the solar PV and wind markets, has driven down prices and shaved margins to the point where most manufacturers are struggling to survive. PV prices fell more than 60 per cent in the past two years, with costs not always following. More production capacity - not only for PV - is a must to get to the market size needed to save the climate and supply enough energy to growing economies such as China and India.

A renewable energy market of around 200 GW by 2020 is required. The big question is whether governments around the world will provide the reliable policy framework needed, and if infrastructure will be adapted to renewables not the other way round. 

Lead image: Question marks via Shutterstock

18 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/the-big-question-what-can-we-expect-over-the-next-12-months?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

07.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

"No More Solyndras" Act passes the House

The bill aims to end the loan guarantee program through the U.S. Department of Energy by preventing DOE from issuing loan guarantees on applications received after the end of 2011, and sets new restrictions on existing applications and loans.

The legislation was in response to the shutdown of Solyndra, a solar manufacturer that filed for bankruptcy in September 2012 after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich) co-authored the original bill with Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla). The subcommittee voted 29-19 to pass the bill in August.

"Three failed companies is more than enough reason to declare DOE's loan guarantee program a failure and end it," said Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky). "…Instead of handing out billions in loan guarantees to selected companies, we need sound energy policies that allow the public sector to thrive and create jobs. The No More Solyndras Act is a commonsense solution that will protect taxpayers and encourage a more robust energy future."

The bill now moves on to the Senate.

This article was reprinted with permission from Power Engineering magazine as part of the PennWell Corporation Renewable Energy World Network and may not be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher.

Lead image: Capitol Building via Shutterstock

18 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/no-more-solyndras-act-passes-the-house?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

07.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Solar: A Solution to Worldwide Electricity Needs

Currently, 1.3 billion people worldwide are without access to electricity and 1 billion more have only intermittent access, said Richenda Van Leeuwen, executive director, energy and climate for the United Nations Foundation. In addition, 2.8 billion people lack access to clean cooking solutions, she said.

In response, the UN launched the SE4ALL campaign, with an objective to reach three goals by 2030: ensuring universal access to modern energy services, doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

The UN has identified 40 countries as areas of energy need. In many of these countries, solar can be a big part of the solution, Van Leeuwen said. "Solar energy has 25 to 80 times its current potential."

As average PV module prices have fallen by nearly 75 percent in recent years, more developing nations are able to turn to solar, she said.

Xiaoping Wang, senior energy specialist with the World Bank, spoke about the World Bank's efforts to bring funding for electricity to Latin America.

"You have countries in Latin America that have universal access, then you have countries like Haiti that have less than 30 percent access."

Altogether, 34 million people in Latin America are without electricity, Wang said, and 89 million are still using inefficient biomass systems to cook their food. However, Latin American electricity access has expanded tremendously since 1970, when only 51 percent of the continent had access to electricity. In 2010, 94 percent of Latin America had access to electricity.

The challenges to bringing electricity to Latin America include the region's difficult topography, high connection costs with low consumption, and consumers' limited access to finance, Wang said. "We estimate to overcome these challenge and reach universal access for Latin America, there would need to be an $8 billion investment."

"The potential in these countries is obviously enormous," said Titus Breeninkmeijer, president, Solgenix, LLC.

In conjunction with the SE4ALL initiative, SEIA has launched The Solar Industry Commitment to Environmental and Social Responsibility, which John Smirnow, vice president, trade & competitiveness, shared during the session.

One of SEIA's top priorities is to help ensure a sustainable solar supply chain globally. In support of this mission, SEIA is taking proactive steps to promote environmental and social responsibility within the industry, Smirnow said. To learn more about SEIA's mission, visit www.seia.org.

Credit: Caro's lines via Flickr

Watch the video below to see more on the conversation about the United Nations's SE4All Initiative.

18 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/solar-a-solution-to-worldwide-electricity-needs?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

22.32 | 0 komentar | Read More

Shortfall in Funding for Solar Training

"Our SWIC program cut the cost of acquiring a trained solar worker in half – from an industry average of up to $30,000 per worker – and reduced the acquisition time from 90 days to 30 days," says Payne. The SWIC project, which ran for four years until June of this year, was an integrated, systematic approach to talent acquisition by identifying, training and placing "the right people for the right jobs at the right time" to meet the specific needs of employers in Silicon Valley's solar, energy efficiency, and electric vehicle industries. The program was funded through a $4 million California Green Innovations Challenge grant, involving three partners: the SolarTech trade association, based in San Jose; Foothill-De Anza Community College District, in Cupertino, Calif.; and NOVA Workforce Development, based in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Over the 18-month grant period, SWIC trained 255 unemployed professionals and, of those who completed the program, 61 percent achieved employment, according to Payne. While SWIC has since wound down, Payne will present a white paper on "Financing the Next Generation of Solar Workers," at the Interstate Renewable Energy Council's (IREC's) Clean Energy Workforce Conference in November in Albany, N.Y. "We've worked up a variety of business models for funding the training of solar workers, although we could wind the SWIC back up," Payne says.

The SWIC worked in conjunction with the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP), of Clifton Park, N.J., IREC, of Latham, N.Y., and other organizations to help broaden the base of community colleges involved in solar training. NABCEP now has 300 community colleges, training institutions and other educational institutes credentialed, according to Kristine Reynolds, the applications administrator for the organization.

IREC is now the program administrator for a $4.5 million portion of the five-year U.S. DOE-funded Solar Installer Training Network (SITN), which falls under the DOE SunShot initiative. SITN was launched by DOE in 2009 "to address a critical need for high-quality, local, and accessible training in solar system design, installation, sales, and inspection" with a budget of $10 million.

IREC has particularly sought out community colleges to assist in solar education course building. One of these is Kennebec Valley Community College, of Fairfield, Maine, which was awarded a $1 million SITN grant to help train solar instructors in its region. SunShot also maintains a small fleet of training vehicles that seek to reach educators and code officials in more remote areas.

In June, IREC also released a series of "Best Practices Documents, a compendium of national curriculum models of solar training, education and workforce development curriculum for solar instructors" on a wide range of topics, including solar content coordination. These documents aid SITN's nine regional institutional instructors in training educators.

For more on this topic, you can watch the roundtable discussion on solar training that we conducted last week at Solar Power International.  It's called "Training for a Solar Job: What Do I Need to Know"

Lead image: Solar power workers at a plant via Shutterstock.

18 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/shortfall-in-funding-for-solar-training?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

13.35 | 0 komentar | Read More

France Taxing Carbon Emitters in an Effort to Overhaul Consumer Energy Costs

Making more people eligible for so-called "social" utility rates will make energy more accessible, he said in a speech at an environment conference in Paris. Existing law allows for 1 million households to benefit, he said.

The 2013 budget will include a "general tax" on businesses that contribute to air pollution, he said. The government also plans to review the CSPE tax on electricity bills that goes toward paying the higher costs of renewable energy.

President Francois Hollande has embarked on a plan to lower France's reliance on nuclear power and overhaul energy costs for consumers. Electricite de France SA and GDF Suez SA, the Paris- based former monopolies, have the rates that they charge households in their home market regulated by the government.

A draft law aimed at boosting energy efficiency and lowering demand would make rules on the tariffs more complex because they will depend on home insulation and revenues.

"I want to encourage moderation in energy use," Ayrault said today. Under the plan, the government wants 1 million homes renovated annually for which financial aid will be available, he said.

Business Costs

"What worries us the most is how much this will cost and who will pay," Laurence Parisot, head of the business organization Medef, said after the conference on the government's energy policies and the planned pollution tax. "We can't keep raising costs for companies without a big impact on jobs and competitiveness."

The government will also start tenders by the end of the year for two offshore wind parks near Le Treport in the Channel and Noirmoutier island off the Atlantic coast, as well as large- scale solar installations, Ayrault said. This will be accompanied by a streamlining of administrative procedures for development of onshore turbines.

EDF and partners including turbine maker Alstom SA won in April a French government tender to build three offshore wind farms, while Iberdrola SA got one. That first round was for almost 2,000 megawatts that will add an estimated 1.1 billion euros to household electricity bills when the wind farms are running, the government has said.

France, which doesn't yet have any offshore wind power, plans to install 6,000 megawatts of offshore wind, tidal and wave power by 2020 to boost clean energy.

Lead image: wind turbines via shutterstock

17 Sep, 2012

-
Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/france-taxing-carbon-emitters-in-an-effort-to-overhaul-consumer-energy-costs?cmpid=rss
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com

08.27 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mengumpulkan Backlink Dengan Cepat

Mengumpulkan Backlink Dengan Cepat bisa kita lakukan dengan gratis tanpa biaya. Cara Cepat Menaikkan Pagerank ini sudah banyak dilakukan oleh para blogger2 yang sudah ahli. Gak usah susah2 komentar sana sini. Cukup ikuti panduan ini. Oiaa.. Belum tahu apa itu PageRank? baca dulu gih di om wikipedia

Mengumpulkan Backlink Dengan Cepat adalah dengan copy paste artikel ini dari atas sampai bawah. Tapi sebelum itu bacalah dulu pesan-pesan dibawah ini.

Silahkan pelajari dengan baik lalu anda terapkan dengan benar…. Ada kata bijak yang mengatakan "Honesty is The Best Policy (Kejujuran adalah politik/strategi terbaik)", mari kita buktikan….apakah konsep kejujuran disini dapat kita gunakan untuk menghasilkan traffic dan popularity yang sangat hebat dari sebuah metode rumit para expert webmaster atau pakar SEO..? Saya percaya kita bisa asal metode ini anda terapkan dengan benar…apabila ini di aplikasikan pada web/blog anda sesuai ketentuan maka:

• Blog anda akan kebanjiran traffic pengunjung secara luar biasa hari demi hari, tanpa anda harus repot-repot memikirkan SEO atau capek-capek melakukan promosi keberbagai tempat di dunia online.
• Blog anda juga akan kebanjiran backlink secara signifikan hari demi hari, tanpa perlu repot-repot berburu link keberbagai tempat di dunia internet.

Hal yang harus anda lakukan adalah ikuti langkah-langkah berikut :

1. Buatlah postingan artikel seperti posting saya ini, atau copy-paste artikel ini. Lalu beri Judul sesuka anda (karena itu merupakan SEO buat web/blog anda sendiri).
2. Anda cukup hanya meletakkan Link-Link di bawah ini pada artikel anda tersebut pada blog/web anda.

1. blogger sporting
2. Asma Penyakit
3. Malaria Mosquito
4. automotive cyberspace
5. the spread of Avian influenza
6. That endanger diets
7. healthy beautiful skin
8. keep your health
9. Myths About Sleep
10. healthy without drugs

PERATURAN :

1. Sebelum anda meletakkan Link-Link tersebut ditas ke dalam postingan web/blog anda, harap hapus Link nomor 1 , Sehingga link no 1 hilang dari daftar link dan setiap link anda naikkan 1 level ke atas. Yang tadinya no 2 naik menjadi no 1, yang tadinya no 3 menjadi no 2, yang tadinya no 4 menjadi no 3 dan begitu seterusnya. Setelah itu masukkan Link anda pada urutan Paling bawah ( no 15 ).
2. Ingat!!! Jangan Merubah Urutan daftar link.. Buktikan kejujuran anda.. Karena ini demi keuntungan bersama, kita sesama blogger 
3. Apabila setiap blogger yang ikut dalam metode ini berhasil di duplikasi ole hblogger lain yang akan bergabung, andaikan 5 blogger yang bergabung maka Backlink yang anda dapat adalah Ketika:

Posisi anda 15, jumlah backlink = 1
Posisi 14, jumlah backlink = 5
Posisi 13, jumlah backlink = 25
Posisi 12, jumlah backlink = 125
Posisi 11, jumlah backlink = 625
Posisi 10, jumlah backlink = 3.125
Posisi 9, jumlah backlink = 15.625
Posisi 8, jumlah backlink = 78.125
Posisi 7, jumlah backlink = 390.625
Posisi 6, jumlah backlink = 1.953.125
Posisi 5, jumlah backlink = 9.765.625
Posisi 4, jumlah backlink = 48.828.125
Posisi 3, jumlah backlink = 244.140.625
Posisi 2, jumlah backlink = 1.220.703.125
Posisi 1, jumlah backlink = 6.103.515.625

Dan semua Dari kata kunci yang anda inginkan, bayangkan jika ini bisa berjalan dengan sempurna maka anda akan memperoleh 6.103.515.625 external link yang berasal dari berbagai blog yang anda tidak akan pernah bayangkan sebelumnya. Belum lagi apabila ada pengunjung blog anda dari Link List tersebut diatas maka otomatis anda akan memperoleh traffic ke web/blog anda juga. Ingat!!! Aturuan mainnya, Anda harus memulai dari urutan paling bawah (no 15) sehingga hasil backlink anda bisa Maksimal. Jangan salahkan saya apabila anda tidak mengikuti metode ini dengan benar dan Link anda tiba-tiba berada pada urutan no 1 dan menghilang pada Link daftar. Jadi mulai lah pada urutan paling bawah(no 15). Bisakah Anda melakukan tindakan tidak fair atau tidak jujur dengan menyabotase metode ini, misalkan saja "menghilangkan semua link asal" lalu di isi dengan link web/blog anda sendiri…? ….Bisa, dan metode ini menjadi tidak maksimal. Kejujuran adalah strategi/politik terbaik…..Tapi saya yakin bahwa kita semua tak ingin menjatuhkan kredibilitas diri sendiri dengan melakukan tindakan murahan seperti itu… —- SELESAI —-

Semoga metode ini bisa berjalan sesuai harapan kita bersama. . . ! ! !

Cara Cepat Menaikkan Pagerank mudah bukan? Beri tahu kepada kawan2 blogger yang lain agar pagerank anda naik, naik, dan terus naik

06.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Warna Merah Siap takut

Warna Merah Siap takut Warna merah selalu diasumsikan sebagai warna yang berani. Tapi bagi pria, warna merah bisa menjadi petanda gairah seksual yang tinggi.

Ketika melihat wanita mengenakan gaun berwarna merah, pria cenderung akan tertarik secara seksual. Mereka menganggap wanita dengan balutan busana merah memiliki daya tarik seksual lebih tinggi dibanding yang berbalut busana warna lain.

"Keterkaitan ini bisa berakar dari fungsi utama biologi kita sebagai manusia," ujar peneliti Universitas Rochester, dikutip YourTango.

Pada penelitian terakhir yang diterbitkan Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, peneliti menunjukkan foto dari wanita yang sama terhadap 25 pria. Foto tersebut menunjukkan wanita yang sama menggunakan kaus berwana merah atau putih. Setelah melihat foto tersebut, mereka ditanya bagaimana model wanita tersebut dalam hubungan asmara.

Menanggapi pertanyaan tersebut, mereka memberikan penilaian daya tarik seksual yang lebih tinggi pada wanita dengan pakaian berwarna merah. Meskipun model yang ada adalah orang yang sama, wanita berpakaian merah tampak menarik secara seksual dan tampak mampu melakukan hal-hal yang "nakal".

Para peneliti melihat hal ini berhubungan dengan interaksi seksual yang terjadi pada monyet. Kulit hewan primata betina ini akan menjadi merah untuk menunjukkan bahwa mereka memasuki masa subur dan siap untuk dikawinkan dengan pejantan.

Tak beda dengan manusia, menurut peneliti, ketika wanita mengenakan pakaian berwarna merah berarti mereka ingin mengatakan maksud terselubung. Karena ketika memasuki masa subur, secara instingtif mereka akan menggunakan pakaian-pakaian yang dapat meningkatkan rasa percaya diri untuk menggoda pria. Dan, warna merah selalu menjadi pilihan wanita untuk tampil percaya diri dan berbeda.

Jadi, melangkahlah percaya diri dengan pakaian berwarna merah untuk mencuri hati pria idaman Anda Warna Merah Siap takut

01.30 | 0 komentar | Read More

Promo Member Alfamart Minimarket Lokal Terbaik Indonesia

Promo Member Alfamart Minimarket Lokal Terbaik Indonesia merupakan promosi Yang dilakukan Oleh Minimarket Lokal Terbesar dan Minimarket Pertama Terbaik Indonesia guna untuk menarik Simpati dan Perhatian lebih dari masyarakat untuk menjadi Member Alfamart dan khususnya pecinta Informasi internet dengan menyelenggarakan Promo Indonesia Kontes SEO Alfamart 2012.

Member Alfamart Adalah sebutan untuk para pelanggan setia Alfamart.Para member Alfamart akan mendapatkan berbagai macam keuntungan dan kejutan special dari Alfamart seperti: HematKu, Kalender Belanja, Specialku dan Hadiahku,serta program ekslusif lainnya. Member Alfamart adalah pelanggan yang memiliki dan bergabung dalam keanggotaan Kartu AKU, A Card Flazz atau Kartu AKU BNI Promo Member Alfamart Minimarket Lokal Terbaik Indonesia

Bagi anda yang suka berbelanja tentunya tidak asing lagi dengan minimarket yang satu ini. Sebagai Minimarket Pertama yang memiliki member terbanyak di Indonesia Alfamart memberikan banyak inovasi untuk memanjakan membernya. Salah satunya adalah dengan konsisten 2 minggu sekali  memberikan Promo khusus untuk member-membernya baik untuk berbelanja di Alfamart atau pun di merchant-merchant yang banyak bekerja sama dengan Alfamart untuk memberikan potongan harga atau harga spesial.

Promo Member Alfamart Minimarket Lokal Terbaik Indonesia. Promo Indonesia ini diberikan oleh Alfamart sebagai Minimarket pertama yang mempunyai member terbanyak di Indonesia. Ketika mendengar kata "promo" pasti semua orang tertarik, karena pada setiap kegiatan promo pasti akan ada diskon, hadiah atau sesuatu yang menguntungkan lainnya. Dan kabar gembiranya, Alfamart sebagai minimarket besar Indonesia sedang mengadakan penawaran yang menarik, yaitu Promo Member Alfamart Minimarket Lokal Terbaik Indonesia. Promo Indonesia ini diberikan Alfamart untuk para calon member dan juga member Alfamart.

Minimarket Alfamart yang berdiri sejak tahun 1994 oleh PT. Sumber Alfaria Trijaya Tbk ini yang sekarang sudah memiliki banyak member dan merupakan member terbesar di Minimarket Indonesia. Pertumbuhan  Alfamart di Indonesia sangatlah pesat bak "jamur di musim hujan", terbukti dengan berdirinya cabang-cabang Alfamart yang tidak hanya di kota-kota besar tapi sampai ke pelosok-pelosok kecamatan di seluruh negeri Indonesia.

Alfamart Minimarket Pertama yang memiliki member terbanyak di Indonesia Alfamart Memberikan Motivasi dan Inspirasi serta Inovasi untuk memanjakan membernya. Salah satunya adalah dengan konsisten 2 minggu sekali  memberikan Promo Indonesia khusus untuk Member Alfamart baik untuk berbelanja di Alfamart Minimarket atau pun di merchant-merchant yang banyak bekerja sama dengan Alfamart Minimarket untuk memberikan potongan harga atau harga spesial.

KARTU AKU Promo Member Alfamart Minimarket Lokal Terbaik Indonesia

    Kartu Aku

Adalah kartu member yang pertama kali diluncurkan Alfamart pada tahun 2005. Dengan Kartu AKU, Member akan dapat memperoleh manfaat dan berbagai macam keuntungan serta Promo Indonesia menarik yang tidak dapat diikuti oleh pelanggan lain yang bukan merupakan member Kartu AKU. Kartu AKU berlaku Nasional di Alfamart seluruhIndonesia.

A CARD FINAL Promo Member Alfamart Minimarket Lokal Terbaik Indonesia
    A Card Flazz

Adalah Kartu Member Alfamart yang di luncurkan pada 15 Mei 2010 bekerja sama dengan Flazz BCA, yang selain berfungsi sebagai kartu member juga dapat digunakan sebagai alat pembayaran/transaksi karena A Card Flazz merupakan Kartu Prepaid (kartu non rekening yang dapat menyimpan uang untuk keperluan berbagai transaksi).

A Card Flazz dapat digunakan sebagai alat pembayaran tidak hanya diseluruh outlet Alfamart, Alfamidi ataupun Alfaexpress tetapi juga diseluruh merchant Flazz antara lain restoran, salon, toko buku, parkir, bioskop dan masih banyak lagi. Untuk sementara ini, A Card Flazz berlaku di Jabodetabek,Surabaya

KARTU AKU BNI Promo Member Alfamart Minimarket Lokal Terbaik Indonesia
    Kartu Aku BNI

Merupakan salah satu Kartu Member Alfamart yang di luncurkan pada 1 Januari 2010, merupakan kerjasama antara Alfamart dengan Bank BNI. Kartu AKU BNI merupakan kartu multifungsional, yang selain berfungsi sebagai kartu member, juga berfungsi sebagai alat pembayaran. Pengguna Kartu AKU BNI juga akan mendapatkan berbagai keuntungan dan kejutan spesial dari Alfamart serta tentunya dapat mengikuti program-program eksklusif khusus member di Alfamart. Untuk saat ini, Kartu AKU BNI berlaku di Alfamart Jabodetabek.
8 Keuntungan Member Alfamart

   1. Hematku dan Kalender Belanja
   2. Spesialku dan Hadiahku
   3. Special Big Program for "Member Alfamart"
   4. Redemption For "Member Alfamart"
   5. Member Alfamart" Thematic Promo
   6. Special Treatment for "Member Alfamart" Birthday
   7. Special Event/Activities For "Member Alfamart"
   8. Merchant For "Member Alfamart"

 

Demikianlah penjelasan singkat tentang  Promo Member Alfamart Minimarket Lokal Terbaik Indonesia Semoga dapat bermanfaat dan memberikan pengetahuan Lebih kepada masyarakat agar dapat bergabung menjadi Member Alfamart dan pastikan anda mendapakan keuntungan dan manfaat lebih dari Alfamart Minimarket Lokal Terbaik Indonesia

05.45 | 0 komentar | Read More