Thứ Năm, 31 tháng 10, 2019

Solar sales recover for electronics brands LG, Kyocera and Panasonic

Korean conglomerate LG reports increasing demand for its high-efficiency PV products in key markets while Kyocera said its solar business is improving profitability. Panasonic posted a slight increase in sales for its PV segment, including solar manufacturing.

Korean manufacturer LG Electronics has reported its Business Solutions division – which includes its solar module manufacturing business – saw sales increase significantly in the last quarter.

The company said year-on-year and quarterly growth was driven by increasing demand for high-efficiency PV products in key markets, as well as for premium products in the information display business. Overall, the division’s three-month sales increased 21.2% year-on-year from KRW568 billion ($486 million) in the third quarter of last year to KRW698.7 billion in the latest reporting period.

The Business Solutions unit’s operating income rose 90% year-on-year to KRW66.8 billion, as a result of improved productivity and higher sales, the company added.

LG said it expects solar sales to grow further in the current quarter, as a consequence of rising demand in emerging solar markets along with solid demand from the U.S. and Europe. “But competition in terms of power, efficiency and price will intensify,” said the electronics giant.

The South Korean multinational’s overall turnover was up 1.8% year-on-year, to KRW15.7 trillion, with net profit falling from KRW497 billion to KRW346 billion.

Improved solar business for Kyocera

Japanese manufacturer Kyocera reported the unit containing its PV business – the Life & Environment Group – saw sales increase from ¥40.8 billion ($368 million) in the first half of 2018-2019 to ¥42.1 billion in the same period of this fiscal year, which ends on March 31.

“The profitability of the solar energy business improved due to structural reforms implemented in fiscal [year 2018-]2019, which more than offset an increase in R&D expenses for storage batteries,” the company said, without providing further details about the PV business.

The segment’s net loss improved year-on-year, from ¥6.3 billion to ¥4.9 billion.

Overall, the group reported sales down slightly from ¥800 billion to ¥799 billion, with profits falling from ¥106 billion to ¥85 billion.

Panasonic’s Life Solutions

Fellow Japanese electronics staple Panasonic also published its financial results for the first half of 2019-2020, and reported its Life Solutions division – including the PV manufacturing business – posted a slight increase in sales from ¥951 billion in the second quarter of 2018-2019 to ¥993 billion in the latest quarter, with operating profit growing year-on-year, from ¥22.8 billion to ¥41.1 billion.

That growth, however, was attributable to higher sales of ‘home-distribution panel boards’ – domestic fuse boxes – and water-related equipment and building materials, with Panasonic making no mention of the solar module business.

The company did say, the agreement it signed with Chinese heterojunction panel maker GS-Solar in May is sustaining its plan to optimize the development and production capability of its solar panel business. With that deal, the Japanese company agreed to transfer its Panasonic Energy Malaysia Sdn Bhd solar manufacturing subsidiary to GS-Solar (China) Company Ltd. Panasonic is also separating out its PV research and development unit into a joint venture with its Chinese partner.

In Japan, the company ceased to produce modules at its factory in Otsu, in Shiga prefecture, in March 2017. Six months later it shuttered its silicon ingot factory in Oregon, in the U.S.

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European coal fleet will run at a loss of €6.57bn this year

Economic thinktank Carbon Tracker used financial modeling to determine the profitability of every coal power plant in the EU. On average, 79% of the facilities run at a loss, with Germany, Spain and Czechia among the states particularly exposed to the consequences – for coal investors and the public.

Around 79% of the European Union’s coal power fleet runs at a loss, and will burn through €6.57 billion this year.

Economics thinktank Carbon Tracker used asset-level financial models to analyze the operating economics of every coal plant in the EU. The resulting analyst note – “Apocoalypse Now” – not only had a title to make pv magazine’s editors jealous, but exposed the idea of coal being the cheapest energy source.

Carbon Tracker analysts estimated 84% of lignite and 76% of hard coal generation capacity is operating at a loss in the political bloc, and the two forms of fossil fuel generation could lose €3.54 billion and €3.03 billion, respectively, this year. Against ‘relentless’ competition from solar and wind power, the financial case for coal is becoming incrementally worse, according to data provided by Carbon Tracker. In 2017, the report stated, ‘only’ around 46% of EU coal generators ran at a loss.

The authors sourced data from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, and from energy transition thinktank Agora Energiewende to generate assumptions about the costs associated with coal power plants.

German utilities at risk

The coal industries most exposed to financial risk this year are in Germany (which could lose €1.97 billion), Spain (€922 million) and Czechia (€899 million), according to the study. The utilities facing the stiffest coal-related losses are Germany’s RWE (€975 million), Czech energy company EPH (€613 million) and Greece’s PPV (€596 million).

“EU coal generators are hemorrhaging cash because they cannot compete with ever-cheaper renewables and gas, and this will only get worse,” said Matt Gray, head of power and utilities at Carbon Tracker and co-author of the report. “Policymakers and investors should prepare to phase out coal by 2030 at the latest.”

Thanks to generous subsidies, there are coal plants in Poland turning in profits. In Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Czechia and Slovenia, some plants benefit from high wholesale power prices. However, even in those markets, the prospect of carbon taxes and fiercer competition from renewables will have spooked investors.

Carbon Tracker added, governments which fail to shutter their coal plants will end up with a decision: Shift the bill onto utilities “and destroy shareholder value”, or let the public pay through higher electricity bills and/or taxation.

Legal threat

A recent legal case in Poland outlines the risk to coal investors. Construction of the €1.2 billion Ostroleka C power plant was blocked by court action brought by a minor shareholder in the utility concerned, on the basis such a facility posed unjustifiable financial risks to shareholders of the power company.

The Carbon Tracker study noted the chilling effects of worsening economics on the European coal industry, with hard coal electricity generation across the EU down 39% on last year and lignite use down 20%. That retreat added up to “eye-wateringly low” generation capacity utilization rates.

There is a way out, according to the authors of the report. They suggest national governments – which have cheaper access to capital than utilities – form special purpose vehicles to purchase coal plants from power companies on the understanding the proceeds will be spent developing renewable energy facilities.

Such an outcome would realize Gray’s assertion that: “Getting off coal is cheap and can be a win-win for consumers and shareholders, providing governments and investors work with local communities.”

Sunfinity Renewable Energy to be the solar installer for this Sun United Neighborhood Texas co-op

The Lake Olympia Solar United Neighbors Co-op in Missouri City, Texas, selected Sunfinity Renewable Energy to install solar panels for the 33-member group. Co-op members selected Sunfinity because of their competitive pricing, variety of products offered including different types of panels and batteries.

“Solar United Neighbors made the selection process an easy task,” said Marie Moore, a selection committee member. “I’m looking forward to getting my quote to see how much money I can save on utility bills.”

Solar United Neighbors expands access to solar by educating Missouri City residents about the benefits of distributed solar energy, helping them organize group solar installations, and strengthening local solar policies and building a community of solar supporters. Prices for solar have fallen 32 percent over the last five years. Growth projections have Texas as the second fastest-growing state for solar installations over the next five years.

The co-op is open to new members until November 15. The solar co-op is free to join and joining the co-op is not a commitment to purchase panels. Sunfinity will provide each co-op member with an individualized proposal based on the group rate. By going solar as a group and choosing a single installer, members can save on the cost of going solar and have the support of fellow group members and solar experts at Solar United Neighbors.

-- Solar Builder magazine

The largest private coal company in the United States just went bankrupt

Despite promises by President Trump to save the coal industry, the crisis in the sector is clear. Solar, wind and batteries have the world to gain.

From pv magazine USA.

Two-and-a-half years ago, Bob Murray was hugging energy secretary Rick Perry and giving him an “action plan” to save the U.S. coal industry. On Tuesday, the coal company Murray founded filed for bankruptcy and he was set to step down as president and CEO of the business.

Murray Energy, described by S&P Global Market Intelligence as the largest privately-held coal company in the United States, voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal courts on Tuesday morning. In a press statement, the company noted the move allowed it to enter a restructuring support agreement with lenders who own the majority of the $1.7 billion in claims against it.

The company’s main operating subsidiaries joined the parent company in filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Crisis in U.S. coal

Coal’s share of the U.S. electricity generation market has been falling for decades. Even before the rise of solar and wind as significant rivals, cheap, fracked gas was eating coal’s lunch and the capacity utilization factors of coal plants have fallen sharply, undermining their economics.

Those financial realities have been reflected in infrastructure choices. While the United States has put online a vast amount of gas-fired power plants in the last 20 years, the nation’s coal-fired power fleets have been shutting down – and new coal facilities are not being built to replace them.

Fewer operating coal plants means less coal being shipped. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, less than 600 million tons of coal were shipped to the U.S. power sector last year, the lowest volume since 1983.

Despite an increase in exports, companies along the value chain of U.S. coal have felt the heat. Murray Energy is the sixth major American coal company to file for bankruptcy this year, with three others having filed in 2017 and 2018.

The decline of coal presents opportunities for solar, wind and battery storage. However thus far, most of the market share coal has relinquished has been filled by cheap natural gas from shale plays in Appalachia, Northern Louisiana, Texas and across the front range of the Rocky Mountains.

As always, geography plays a role. While utilities in the west such as PacifiCorp are increasingly planning rapid retirements of coal in favor of renewable energy, much of the nation’s coal capacity is not in the west, but rather the South, Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions.

Many of those places are not as windy or sunny as the west or the Plains States, meaning renewable energy productivity is lower and the levelized price of electricity from solar and wind is higher, making it harder to compete with gas. Regardless, in much of the United States, solar and wind are still the least expensive forms of new generation per unit of electricity delivered.

Superior economics not enough

Even in places where solar and wind could cost-effectively replace coal-fired generation, utilities and regulators are often tipping the scales in favor of gas. Examples include Michigan, where regulators are declining to seriously consider alternatives to a gas-fired plant DTE Energy chose to build; Deep South power firm Entergy hiring actors to fake support for a gas plant – and boo solar; and New England, where the grid operator is proposing measures that would hinder the participation of renewables in the region’s wholesale market.

And the list goes on, with electric company Duke Energy releasing modeling which failed to even consider shutting coal plants early, and Ohio recently approving a bail-out of coal and nuclear generators.

It appears superior economics for renewables alone will not be enough for solar and wind to fill the void left by failed coal companies, that outcome will also require a policy environment which offers a level playing field for the competing generation technologies.

REC SunSnap app helps solar installers showcase projects, simplify warranty claims processing

All solar installers could use assistance with time-consuming administrative tasks and marketing, not just to reduce soft costs, but also daily annoyances. Additionally, reducing the administrative hurdles installers face when registering projects can significantly improve their sales performance. Installers would thereby gain more time for customer engagement and business growth. REC Group has launched a new app — REC SunSnap — to help out by making the process of registering REC installations quick and easy, granting solar installers unique sales and warranty advantages.

How it works

Through the REC SunSnap app, installers can register REC projects by simply scanning or keying in a barcode – on- and offline and can later display completed REC projects through a list or searching on a map. After a few quick ‘snaps’ of their excellent work, installers can save photos of their installations and use these to build a collection of success stories. Such a convenient catalogue of previous projects will assist installers in attracting potential customers. In addition, under one company account, several installers can register their projects, helping managers to keep an overview of their firm’s successful installation track record.

What’s cool

The app also facilitates the processing of claims, significantly cutting down administrative work time as all information are stored in the project registration. Notably, REC SunSnap offers an exclusive additional product and labor warranty to certified REC Solar Professional installers. Solar installations registered through the app receive an extended 20+5 year product warranty and 10 year labor warranty, with warranty certificates being immediately available for the customer upon registration.

-- Solar Builder magazine

COP, climate, class struggle?

The World Climate Summit in Santiago de Chile, set to be held in just a few weeks, has just been cancelled. Against a background of social protests in the country, concerns have recently grown as to whether logistics and security could be guaranteed for the event. Nevertheless, social problems and environmental protection must not be played off against each other: Both are closely linked to the economic paradigms of recent decades.

Almost everything was ready. Within the space of a few months, a tent city had been erected in Chile’s capital, Santiago, where the international climate conference – COP25 – was to take place between December 2-13. Chile had stepped in at short notice, after Brazil’s ultra-right government withdrew its invitation to the climate summit. Until recently, Chile was regarded as an anchor of stability in the region and an active member of multilateral bodies. But then the country woke up and began chanting “Chile despertó”.

The protests were ignited by an increase in Metro prices by the equivalent of a few euro cents. First, school pupils and university students responded with flash mobs over the access restrictions; then came the outbreak of violent protests. Metro stations, office towers and barricades were set on fire. For around two weeks, the country has seen civil unrest, with more and more social movements joining the protests. At the same time, there are alarming reports of human rights violations by the security forces.

The demonstrators are concerned with the increasing gap between rising costs of living and declining wages in real terms. In an article by the Guardian, the causes of the protests are aptly summarized as “a reflection of discontent with the material, political and social inequalities engendered by the economic model imposed by the country’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet. That model deregulated markets and privatized social security systems, and was widely emulated by other countries in the region.” And so they chant at the demonstrations: “It’s not 30 pesos, it’s 30 years”. The most important demands of the demonstrators are higher wages and pensions, as well as better health care for all.

There are no demands for environmental protection in the surveys or on the protest signs. Does Bertolt Brecht’s old dictum apply once again: “First comes the food, then the morals”? The Chilean example in particular shows that social issues and environmental protection are very closely linked. Many of Chile’s social problems are also due to a massive economic use of the natural resources.

Just to name a few examples: In Chile, even the right to use water have been privatized, so that many large-scale consumers have secured the water rights of rivers. As a result, in many regions hardly any water remains for small farmers. And the forest industry is relying on monocultures, which have promoted the massive forest fires of recent years. One focus of this sector is the conflict-prone Araucania region, which has a high proportion of indigenous people. With regard to climate change, numerous studies also show that the world’s poorest are the most severely affected by its effects.

Chile is considered the laboratory of neoliberalism. Deregulation and privatization were pushed to extremes here, even further than in the United States under President Ronald Reagan (today: Donald Trump) and in Margaret Thatcher’s Great Britain (today: Brexit). The social protests in Chile are the local response to the belief that the invisible hand of the market leads to the best solutions.

The same applies to environmental and climate protection. Nothing will improve without clear targets, because there is no market for environmental pollution and no market for social peace. As societies, we must agree on rules for our economic system. At the moment, the main issue is to hedge market economy. The question is whether we realize this fully before it burns. Perhaps the shock of the cancellation of the COP25 will take us a little further towards this understanding.

About the author

Stephan Franz works as a freelance consultant. He is currently located in Santiago de Chile, and was tasked with covering COP25 for pv magazine before its cancellation. Since 2007, he has been preparing market analyses in the fields of renewable energies and distributed energy systems.

Saudi power company ACWA secures 200 MW bifacial solar project in Egypt

Saudi energy giant ACWA Power won the tender for the project in August thanks to a lowest final electricity price offer of $0.02752/kWh. Construction of the facility, which will use bifacial panels, is expected to be complete by April 2021.

Saudi Arabian energy giant ACWA Power announced it has signed a power purchase agreement with the government of Egypt for the 200 MW Kom Ombo PV plant it secured in a tender in August.

“Construction is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2021,” the company said in a statement.

Egypt’s minister of electricity and renewable energy, Mohamed Shaker, said: “The lowest tariff contracted to date for solar energy in North Africa is not only a reflection of continuing improvement in technology and the entrepreneurship of the developer, ACWA Power, but also of the attractiveness of Egypt as an investment destination and [of the ability of] the trade and commercial environment of Egypt to enable facilities of this nature to be financed, constructed and operated efficiently.”

Lowest bid

ACWA offered a final price of $0.02752/kWh for the solar electricity the plant will supply, undershooting the bid lodged by Spain’s Fotowatio, which offered $0.02791/kWh. The 200 MW project was procured with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and will be one of Egypt’s largest solar parks, based near the huge Benban solar complex. The Kom Ombo plant will use bifacial panels provided by an unnamed manufacturer, ACWA added.

The Saudi power company has won several renewable energy projects in the Middle East and North Africa, including a 61.3 MW plant at Risha in Jordan in December 2017; three projects with a total generation capacity of 165.5 MW at Benban in January; a 70% stake in a 300 MW project at Sakaka in Saudi Arabia in November; a 100 MW solar project for Askar, in Bahrain in February; and a consortium-led bid which landed the tender for a 500 MW project in Oman in March.

ACWA also recently submitted the lowest bid in Ethiopia’s tender for the first round of its Scaling Solar program.

SimpliPhi extends discount program in wake of California wildfire danger

LFP energy storage system manufacturer SimpliPhi Power has extended its “Energize California” discount program first introduced in June 2019. In response to “public safety power shutoffs” by PG&E, SCE and SDG&E, SimpliPhi has extended its program through Dec. 31, 2019. “We were optimistic when we announced Energize California, hoping that the 2019 fire season would…

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Solar installer Westhaven offering solar+generator packages to California residents

In the wake of the California power outages, local home energy solution provider Westhaven announced the availability of solar-powered generator packages for homes impacted by the shutdown. Offering four products, the company introduces The Haven, The Californian, The Equalizer, and The Power Up. “With three power outages in less than a month, consumers need an…

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Towards circular business models for the PV sector

With solar energy about to reach the iconic terawatt (TW) milestone of globally installed PV capacity, waste handling and end-of-life (EoL) scenarios become a pressing matter.

The solar photovoltaic (PV) energy industry is experiencing radical growth. Nearly 80% of the worldwide PV installations have been deployed during the last five years alone, and cumulative installed PV capacity today exceeds 500 GWp. This figure is expected to overtake 1 TWp peak by 2022.

On the shadow side of this success, the number of PV modules that will reach the end of their useful first-life will also greatly increase. Without effective end-of-life management, they will accumulate proportionately as PV waste. Studies estimate that global PV waste could reach up to eight million tons by the end of 2030 and even a tenfold cumulative of up to eighty million tons by 2050. This does not take into account the waste originating at the production level, or resulting from installations being decommissioned before their ‘technological retirement age’ (e.g. because of insurance claims, repowering, etc.). For comparison, the amount of waste resulting from plastic packaging in Europe alone surpasses 15 million tons annually.

Rather than considering this a mountain too high to climb, the PV sector and affiliated stakeholders are already looking at this evolution as an upcoming era of opportunity, potentially leading to new financing mechanisms and multiple revenue streams across the whole PV value chain. Not coincidentally, significant shifts in R&D efforts and business attention can be observed towards streamlined PV operations and maintenance (O&M), to ensure maximum and cost-efficient first-life operation of PV components. Sustainable (profitable) EoL management and repair procedures are also a focus, to establish long-term and competitive performance and reliability during their potential second life.

Myriad possible approaches

PV recycling, recovery of raw materials, repair or refurbishment of decommissioned, failed or degraded PV modules and their recommissioning (second-life PV modules), are indispensable for a more sustainable, environmentally friendly and economically viable solar PV energy-based future.

Research has already been conducted and decision trees already exist to navigate these different options of EoL management. Yet, insights from the reported literature have been rather fragmented and somewhat one-sided. Indeed, they largely focus on PV recycling processes and related innovation efforts, leaving the potential value of PV re-use relatively unexplored. Knowledge or best practices in repair/refurbishment, reliability and certification/qualification of second-life PV modules have been scarce, and there is even less knowledge and awareness about the opportunities for additional value creation via circular business models. For example, by more closely involving the original manufacturers and downstream stakeholders in relevant parts of EoL processes.

CIRCUSOL sheds light on the matter

CIRCUSOL (short for ‘circular business models for the solar power industry’) is an Innovation Action project funded by the Horizon 2020 program of the European Commission. Coordinated by VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research), it brings together 15 partners from seven different countries. Established in 2018 for a period of four years, the program aspires to formalize the various EoL segments in the PV value chains and to propose adapted technical standards and regularity frameworks for them. Based on this knowledge, the program aims to develop and validate a Product-Service System (PSS) that enables the implementation of circular business models throughout the value chain.

First insights from the program already prove to be highly valuable. Today, by default, once PV modules are decommissioned, they enter the waste stream and are either disposed of or recycled. Because most PV installations are still relatively far from reaching their expected end of life, the majority of today’s PV waste still results from product defects upon production, transportation or infant failures over the first four operational years. CIRCUSOL partners and experts estimate that around half of the PV modules that enter the waste stream can actually be repaired or refurbished and reused. CIRCUSOL has made a comprehensive overview of the current status of players active in the various EoL scenarios, as well as the state-of-the-art in supporting technologies and business models.

A little legislative push

Those familiar with the PV sector will recognize that repair and refurbishment at present remain rather informal and are neither systemized nor standardized. In fact, these activities are currently performed by independent private companies, without any support from the original manufacturers. On this basis, today, there are only limited insights and hardly any standards on the characterization, reliability testing, certification or labeling for second-life PV modules. Yet, from a functional perspective and in view of the Low Voltage Directive (LVD) (2014/35/EU), relevant conformity assessment and safety requirements are still applicable, also for second-life PV modules.

Aside from this, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive (2012/19/EU) addresses the waste management requirements of all electronics’ waste in the EU member states. Indicating a 85/80 (%) recovery/recycling ratio of waste PV modules by mass should be recycled from 2019 onwards. It’s no secret that EoL and recycling technologies must evolve and become available to meet the increasing requirements of WEEE for the case of PV waste.

Joint effort to harvest future potential

All in all sufficient reasons for the PV sector and related stakeholders to put their shoulders under the challenges that need to be tackled and jointly reap the benefits of the various opportunities lying ahead. This includes, but is certainly not limited to, assessment and validation of PV design-for-recyclability and design-for-repairability concepts; development of tailored, cost-efficient reliability testing and characterization protocols for second-life PV modules; cost-profit and life cycle analysis for the PV re-use (i.e. second-life) business case.

About the authors

Eszter Voroshazi is the group leader of the PV module and system activities at imec. She holds and engineering degree from INSA de Rennes (2008, France) and a Ph.D. from the KU Leuven (2008, Belgium). Currently, she works in the frame of the EnergyVille collaboration (a partnership between imec, VITO, KU Leuven and UHasselt, which focuses on smart cities and smart grids) focusing on the development of innovative and sustainable specialty PV module technologies and materials, Energy yield simulation driven design and O&M of PV systems.

Ioannis Tsanakas is a researcher of the PV modules and systems group at imec, in the framework of the EnergyVille collaboration (a partnership between imec, VITO, KU Leuven and UHasselt, which focuses on smart cities and smart grids). He holds a MSc/BSc in Electrical & Computer Engineering (2006) and a Ph.D. in Management & Industrial Engineering (2013), from the Polytechnic School of Democritus University, Greece.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the valuable contribution of all project partners within CIRCUSOL (call: H2020-EU.3.5.4), as well as individual contribution in work, in the framework of PVMINDS (call: H2020-EU.1.3.2). These projects have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement 776680 and 752117 respectively. We also acknowledge that this work was partially funded by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences under project number CN18-15EE-01.

Large orders from Asian solar manufacturers boost Centrotherm

Enormous order intake is ensuring high production capacity utilization at the German PV equipment provider. The company said demand was particularly strong for high-efficiency solar cell production equipment in Asia. Thus far this year, however, that has not been reflected in the balance sheet.

From pv magazine Germany.

PV production line equipment supplier Centrotherm International AG generated orders worth €155 million in the first half of the year – four times more than the level posted for the same period of last year, according to the German manufacturer.

That bumper order book, reported in Centrotherm’s latest financial update, included big contracts worth more than €100 million each, typically representing high efficiency PV cell production line equipment.

The boom in business means Centrotherm had a €196 million backlog in orders at the end of June, said the company.

The recent nature of the order intake was reflected in the fact the Blaubeuren-based company had turnover of just €37 million during the first half, and a book-to-bill ratio – of new orders versus completed sales – of 4:2.

Falling earnings

Centrotherm had sales of €65 million in the first half of last year and the new order volume is unlikely to be recognized as sales until next year, with this year’s sales target set at a modest €90-150 million. With EBIT losses of €1.5 million in the first half of last year widening to €10.2 million this time around, turning the current orders boom into cash cannot happen quickly enough.

However, the reassurance of a full order book has prompted the board to continue to invest in R&D, according to chief executive Jan von Schuckmann.

“The new Centrotherm production solutions are being very well received by our – mostly Asian – clients,” said the CEO, remarking on the latest figures. “This is clearly reflected by the high order intake. Committing expenditure of around €7 million, we have vigorously invested in the development of new system generations and processes. We are optimistic that these investments and the sales successes recently achieved will have positive effects on our corporate development.”

European PV equipment suppliers are experiencing contrasting fortunes, as Chinese manufacturers supply a steady stream of orders but at ever shrinking profit margins. Asian customers are able to bear down on the equipment companies in the knowledge those focusing on European solar manufacturers are still awaiting a hoped-for renaissance in the production of more costly, more sustainably manufactured high-end products.

Selling solar power as energy independence in fossil fuel-heavy Louisiana

By Andy Kowalczyk, Renewable Energy and Energy Choice Advocate, PosiGen Solar It’s often hard to put into context just how unique this time is that we live in. The ability for homeowners to purchase the means to generate their own power via rooftop solar is much more commonplace in 2019 than it was even 10…

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REC releases SunSnap app for installer network

Solar panel manufacturer REC Group has launched a new app for installers, REC SunSnap. The app makes registering REC installations quick and easy for installers, granting them unique sales and warranty advantages. Through its recent installer survey, REC identified that solar professionals are looking for sales and marketing support for their daily work. Additionally, reducing…

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French Development Agency helps Mozambique build 80 MW of solar capacity

Two PV plants are set to be built under the Project for Promotion of Auctions for Renewable Energies program, being implemented with the support of Mozambican utility Electricidade de Mocambique, which is likely to be the future off-taker of the solar energy generated.

The French Development Agency (AFD) is seeking consultants to conduct feasibility studies into the construction of two solar power plants with a combined generation capacity of 80 MW in Mozambique.

The AFD said the two 40 MW capacity projects will be developed under the Projeto de Promoção de Leilões para Energias Renováveis (PROLER) initiative, which is aimed at creating a regulatory framework and auction mechanism for the development of large scale renewable energy projects.

The program is being implemented with the help of Mozambican utility Electricidade de Mocambique (EDM), which is likely to be the future buyer of the renewable energy generated.

The AFD said solar project sites had been identified in Nampula and Niassa provinces, each less than 6km from the nearest grid substations.

Tender deadline

Consultants have until November 11 to submit expressions of interest.

The European Union gave the government of Mozambique €4 million ($4.46 million) for its PROLER program in October 2017.

The two solar projects will augment those being developed by utility EDM with the support of the International Finance Corporation, the private finance arm of the World Bank. A tender was launched for those facilities in mid-July and aims to procure 60 MW of new capacity from projects ranging in size from 10-15 MW.

The 40 MW Mocuba Solar IPP project developed by Norwegian company Scatec Solar is the only large scale solar facility in Mozambique at present. The $76 million project, commissioned in August, has a 25-year power purchase agreement with EDM. That plant increased the country’s PV capacity from only 17 MW at the end of 2018 to around 60 MW today.

THE SUN SHINES ON NATURAL SOLAR

THE SUN SHINES ON NATURAL SOLAR
Natural Solar named Top Solar Retailer for a second year

We are so proud and excited to announce that Natural Solar has been named a winner in the ProductReview.com.au 2020 Awards

Representing the best and most reliable purchasing choices available to Australian consumers in 2019, Natural Solar has taken out the title of Top Solar Retailer for a second year.

This year ProductReview.com.au received more than 75,000 eligible nominations and Natural Solar has been named as one of 152 winners across 82 categories. All awards are judged independently and impartially by the ProductReview Data and Content team based on user reviews.

“At Natural Solar we take the satisfaction of each and every single one of our customers incredibly seriously. We strive every single day to deliver an exceptional customer experience and are delighted to have received so many positive reviews highlighting our service, our staff members and our products on ProductReview.com.au,” says Mr Williams.

“Being recognised by ProductReview.com.auis hugely exciting, and we would like to thank each customer who took the time to provide feedback on their experiences with Natural Solar. We look forward to continue our focus on our staff, installers, products and service through 2020 and beyond!” concluded Mr Williams.

The post THE SUN SHINES ON NATURAL SOLAR appeared first on Natural Solar.

Spain and Brazil the world’s ‘solar investment hotspots’ but eyes on Vietnam

Analysts at Fitch Solutions have published a report singling out Spain and Brazil as ‘outperformers’ in the global solar market and labelled Vietnam the “market to watch”. The analysts expect surging growth from the Southeast Asian nation to continue in the coming decade.

The proliferation of solar projects selling unsubsidized clean energy on wholesale markets in Spain has seen the nation singled out as a “global solar power outperformer” in a study published by analysts Fitch Solutions Macro Research.

Brazil earns similar billing, as a global leader in low-cost solar power production, but Fitch analysts also tipped Vietnam as a ‘solar one to watch’ as they believe this year’s remarkable burst of solar activity was no one-off.

The Solar Power Investment Hotspots report singled out Spain for its leadership on grid parity projects, Brazil for the low prices achieved in recent solar auctions and Vietnam for its impressive generation capacity growth from almost a standing start.

Spain

Fitch recently upgraded its forecast for Spanish solar, noting productive joint efforts by the government and private sector. The analysts expect a rising number of private power purchase agreements in the Spanish market, as well as grid parity projects selling electricity directly on the spot market. Fitch expects Spain’s solar capacity to grow by 11.4 GW between this year and 2028.

However, the analysts highlighted Spain’s recent political gridlock as a potential risk factor. “Forming a working government coalition will be necessary to enabling Spain to reform issues facing the sector such as permitting issues, as well as launching new auctions,” stated the report.

Spain wants 74% of its electricity to come from renewables by 2030, and to be carbon neutral by 2050. According to Fitch, the country will need to install a further 57 GW of renewables between 2021 and 2030 to hit that first target, meaning annual capacity auctions of 3 GW or more will be required.

Brazil

The Fitch report picked up on record low solar electricity prices achieved in Brazil’s recent auctions as drivers for future growth. The analysts noted, the lowest prices achieved were for projects planning to sell part of their output on the spot market to offset the low contract prices agreed.

Fitch expects the Brazilian government to continue to capitalize on low prices for solar with further auctions, and predicts rising retail electricity prices – alongside falling PV costs – will boost the uptake of distributed, small scale solar generation. The analysts forecast the country’s solar capacity will increase from 3.3 GW this year to around 12 GW in 2028.

Vietnam

This year’s surprise gigawatt market, Fitch expects Vietnam to continue its impressive solar growth into the next decade, noting high solar irradiation levels and strong policy support. The government is targeting 12 GW of solar capacity by 2030 and is offering incentives to attract foreign investors. Fitch expects such policy support will make Vietnam an attractive prospect, particularly given the auction procurement regime which has driven down prices in Brazil and other regions.

“While a proposed 20% cut to the FIT [feed-in tariff] for ground-mounted and floating solar capacity in September could curb investor interest somewhat,” noted the report, “we believe that the new FITs of $70.9 and $76.9/MWh for the two solar sub-segments … will remain high enough to attract investors.”

Rebuilding for resilience

The islands of the Caribbean have been focusing on the deployment of storage solutions, minigrids and microgrids in response to the damage their power systems suffered during the 2017 hurricane season. But with the opportunities, there are also challenges.

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Hurricanes have devastated vast swathes of the Caribbean in recent years, with recent Category 5 storms such as Hurricanes Irma and Maria wiping out the electricity systems of numerous islands. As the region recovers, many islands are starting to use decentralized renewable sources and storage technologies to build more resilient energy systems. The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is at the forefront of encouraging island communities to incorporate resilience planning in their energy strategies now, rather than waiting for disasters to hit.

“Most of the countries that were not hit did not necessarily make any changes to their systems to make them more resilient,” says Stephen Mushegan, a project manager for RMI’s islands program. The organization is actively using Resilient National Energy Transition Strategy (R-NETS) processes to change thinking about resiliency. “The emphasis has always been on cost and reliability, and lately environmental energy independence. Without a resilience plan, there is no action.”

Rethinking resilience

The region’s islands are at different stages of rethinking system design. In July, British Virgin Islands Electricity Corp. – whose grid was left in tatters by Irma – unveiled a new R-NETS to create a cleaner, more resilient system. And in Antigua and Barbuda, the utility is developing Category 5-resilient solar and battery systems.

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Several smaller islands are also aggressively transforming their energy systems. On Bonaire, for example, Wärtsilä recently commissioned a 6 MW/6 MWh storage system that the Finnish industrial group claims will double renewables penetration.

Bigger islands devastated in 2017, such as Puerto Rico, are also trying to create resilient systems. “Because it is a U.S. territory, many of the microgrid developers in the U.S. have wanted to jump on that,” says Isaac Maze-Rothstein, a research associate for Wood Mackenzie. The consultancy classifies microgrids as systems offering 24 hours of backup, which does not include most solar+storage setups.

Definitions of systems vary – in the Dominican Republic, for example, many microgrids in the 500 kW range have been built. But some standalone grids in the country are bigger than the entire capacity of other islands, notes Clemens Findeisen, project manager of Germany’s international development agency GIZ.

“Storage will play a major role in all the Caribbean as renewable energy penetration increases,” Mushegan says. “Any island that has high renewable energy targets should expect to be a great opportunity for storage.”

Solar successes

At grid scale, the Dominican Republic and Cuba lead in regional PV deployment, with roughly 166 MW and 96 MW of respective cumulative capacity at the end of 2018, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The Dominican Republic operates a robust large-scale PV tendering process, but has also installed a significant amount of commercial and residential capacity under its net metering scheme.

Meanwhile, Wood Mackenzie is “optimistic” Cuba could install more than 50 MW over the next five years, due to issues with Venezuela’s PetroCaribe energy alliance. “That change in Venezuela – they’re sort of looking to diversify outside of oil,” Maze-Rothstein explains.

He notes the importance of thinking about “resilience” at the grid level but also the facility level, especially for commercial-industrial projects. The consultancy views the latter as separate from typical solar+storage installations. Policymakers need to consider multiple options, from “hardening” traditional infrastructure to focusing on renewables-backed microgrids, but few have figured out how to get the policy right to create new utility business models.

Active market

RMI estimates that several hundred megawatt-hours of storage have been deployed in Puerto Rico. Wood Mackenzie sees it as one of the most active customer-sited microgrid markets in the Caribbean and expects it to more than double in size by late 2024 to 228 MW, with a projected investment of $419 million.

RMI also believes Puerto Rico is emerging as a model of resilience and energy planning for other islands. The outcome of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) restructuring and privatization remains unclear, but Siemens recently submitted a new draft for the utility’s 2019-2038 integrated resource plan (IRP), which accommodates 1.8 GW of PV and 920 MW of storage in its initial five years. It also calls for eight minigrids, integrated with the island’s transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure, to improve resiliency by splitting the grid into load pockets supplied by distributed resources.

“Really novel – we haven’t seen anything like that to this point. We’ve never seen an IRP that integrates microgrids as a core conceptual framework – sort of saying ‘we need microgrids to make this the most resilient system’ possible,” says Maze-Rothstein.

Concerns remain over PREPA’s creditworthiness, as well as interconnection issues. PREPA is expected to soon announce its new T&D operator, but growth in storage deployment is also expected below the grid scale, with Wood Mackenzie estimating that 1,400 residential solar+storage systems were installed in Puerto Rico over the last year.

Paying for resilience

The road to resiliency remains rocky, and one of the challenges is paying for it. A dearth of incentives, as well as real and perceived risks, make it tough to get the economics right.

In Haiti’s nascent off-grid market, which Wood Mackenzie says could grow by 40 MW in the next five years, EarthSpark International is already building community solar+storage microgrid systems.

“On a prepay, local vending basis – there’s a lot of remote access to the data,” says Madison Sturgess, project manager for the non-profit organization.

This lowers operational costs, which Sturgess says is a “big step” in moving microgrid markets toward market. And the past six months have been “really exciting” for policy development, she says.

“The needle has started to move with the Haitian government. It’s really building a market from scratch,” she explains. “You’ve got to derisk this whole process by just doing it. So we’re building the grids. The grids generate the data. And the data informs thoughtful policy advocacy.”

Kenya’s Kisumu County launches tender for solar mini-grids

The local authority is seeking proposals to build mini-grids with generation capacities of more than 5 kW to power hospitals, markets, water pumping and street lighting. The council has expressed a strong preference for the build, operate and transfer project development model.

The County Government of Kisumu (CGK), in Kenya, has launched a tender to select a developer to build solar mini-grids to power hospitals, markets, water pumping and street lighting, ideally on a build, operate and transfer basis. The local authority said the projects would have to have a minimum generation capacity of 5 kW.

“Contracted firms will design, construct and equip the solar PV facilities and may turn the projects over to CGK or own and operate them under mutually agreed terms and conditions,” the tender document reads. “CGK has a strong preference for build, operate and transfer or equivalent financing mechanisms that deliver similar risk, cost and performance characteristics.”

The closing date of the request for proposals document is November 26.

Twin track

According to the authority, only around 46% of the county’s population has access to the grid. “To make up for the deficit, aggressive investments in green energy have been made even as the department adopts counter measures to cut household dependency on grid electricity,” county renewable energy director Daniel Okia said last year.

French developer Voltalia recently secured an $18.1 million loan to develop the 40 MW Kopere Solar Park Power Project in the region. That facility will sell solar electricity to utility KPLC under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

Kenya had around 93 MW of solar generation capacity at the end of last year, according to International Renewable Energy Agency figures. The country introduced a feed-in tariff policy for grid-connected solar projects in 2008, revised the payment levels in 2010 and 2012 and was set to alter them again in 2015 although no change occurred.

The authorities are considering switching to a reverse-auction regime to allocate new solar capacity as solar project costs continue to fall.

Bidders line up for Ecuador renewables auction

The final results of the exercise, which attracted 22 participants, will be known on April 15. A 200 MW solar project will be assigned in the auction, with the winning bidder for that facility securing a 20-year power purchase agreement.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources has announced 22 companies were pre-qualified to participate in a renewables auction launched at the end of July.

Companies from Italy, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, the United States, Portugal, Colombia and Germany now have until November 13 to provide further documentation relating to their bids.

The auction will allocate capacity at the 200 MW El Aromo solar project in the province of Manabí plus two dozen small solar, wind and hydroelectric projects with an aggregate 200 MW of further capacity. In terms of large scale wind power, the exercise will also allocate capacity at the 46 MW Villonaco II project and the 56 MW Villonaco III facility, in Loja province. “There will also be a separate round for the Galapagos Islands with small projects and storage,” said Carlos St. James, a director of the Latin American & Caribbean Council on Renewable Energy, in July.

Hold-ups

The ministry, which had delayed Monday’s deadline for the delivery of pre-qualification documents a month, has pushed back the announcement of the results of the procurement almost seven weeks, from February 28 to April 15.

The off-taker of the renewable energy generated by all the projects will be the state-owned Corporación Eléctrica de Ecuador SA. The El Aromo solar project will be awarded a 20-year power purchase agreement and the wind projects will land 25-year deals.

Under the terms of the exercise, the projects will be built and operated by private developers for a period of time before ultimately being transferred to state ownership.

International Renewable Energy Agency statistics indicate Ecuador had only 26 MW of solar generation capacity at the end of last year, most of it in the form of a 20 MW facility developed in 2014.

Pay-as-you-go solar systems worth $216 million shipped in H1 2019

Industry body Gogla and the World Bank’s Lighting Global program said the last six months set a record for off-grid solar deployment. Solar home systems and other small off-grid appliances are being used in ever larger numbers.

Sales of off-grid solar home systems rose 40% from January to the end of June, to hit 680,000 units as the number of off-grid solar lighting systems sold passed the one million mark.

Those were the headline findings of the latest of the biannual Global Off-grid Solar Market Reports published by industry association Gogla and the World Bank Group’s Lighting Global program. The latest statistics illustrate robust growth in most off-grid solar markets for products including small solar lanterns, single PV panels and solar home systems with a generation capacity of 100 W or more.

A reported 2.8 million solar lanterns were sold in the first half of the year, along with 680,000 solar home systems and some 600,000 multi-light installations. The report’s authors state more than 40 MW of cumulative off-grid system capacity was sold during the six months. Altogether, 4.1 million units of off-grid solar products were installed during the period.

East Africa remains the off-grid industry’s most important market and was the destination for 1.74 million units in the first half. South Asia has become the second biggest market, with 1.16 million units shipped during the period, although pay-as-you-go (PAYG) financing is virtually non-existent outside Africa. Other African and Asian markets lag far behind, with sales volumes ranging from 120,000 in central Africa to 410,000 in the Middle East and North Africa.

The report suggests 3.1 million of the systems shipped in the first half were paid for in cash, generating receipts of $85 million. PAYG financing accounted for 1 million systems and record sales of $216 million.

From laps to modules

The most popular items sold in the first half had a power rating of up to 3 W, indicating solar lanterns, with 2.7 million shipped. Such small units are far more likely to bought for cash with larger, more expensive systems requiring pay-as-you-go finance and the figures bear that out with PAYG paying for 3-100 W systems. Systems larger than 100 W were mostly funded in cash as they are usually targeted at small businesses, more able to afford the one-off expense.

In growth terms, systems with 50-100 W output leaped from $23 million sales in the second half of last year to $62 million in the latest window.

Gogla and Lighting Global estimate an astonishing 280 million people have benefited from off-grid solar systems since 2010, with around 110 million currently using them because of their limited lifespan. That adds up to $4.9 billion in additional income generated by such devices for their owners, the latest report claims, with $10.5 billion of energy savings recouped since 2010 and around 2.7 million people using an off-grid solar device to support their business.

Regional differences

Within the overall success story there are regional differences, dependent on local factors. For instance, the Kenyan off-grid solar market has witnessed 45% PAYG growth since the second half of 2018, buoyed by a supportive regulatory environment and expanding network of off-grid solar agents. By contrast, the market in Tanzania almost halved during the same period, with a lackluster commercial environment, customs checks delaying imports and lack of legal clarity about PAYG microfinance cited as problematic.

This is your SolarWakeup for October 31st, 2019

Consensus Support. Over 70 associations have sent a letter to Congress asking for their support on the ITC. Here is the letter and make sure to transmit this within your circles.

Board Votes. Two items for your trade group votes. I am running for the board of CALSSA in my capacity as CEO of Quick Mount PV, if you are a member of CALSSA, please vote for me! My friend Kendra Hubbard is running for the board of SEIA, she’s done a great job as chair of the DG division and I would love for her to make the board again. Please vote for us!

More coverage tomorrow, Happy Halloween!

Opinion

Magic Valley: Rainy day for solar?

Best, Yann

The post This is your SolarWakeup for October 31st, 2019 appeared first on SolarWakeup.com.

Enphase is riding high

Enphase’s Q3 results show a company that has turned its fortunes around, with revenues more than doubling and high profitability, but questions remain around growth potential.

Given where Enphase was just a few years ago, the company’s Q3 2019 results would be hard to predict. After struggling under heavy losses and undergoing a massive restructuring, Enphase reported a stunning 19% operating margin, and $31 million in net income in its third quarter results.

And its growth has been nothing less than stellar. Enphase was already the second-largest inverter maker in the U.S. residential market, but during the quarter it more than doubled its revenues from this time last year to $180 million. This mostly from the sale of no less than 1.8 million microinverters, or 584 MWdc of capacity.

Enphase isn’t doing so badly with cash, either, and has reached $203 million in its coffers.

This is mostly on the back of the sales of its IQ 7 microinverter, which is now being incorporated into AC modules from major brands including Panasonic, Sunpower and Solaria. Enphase has also upgraded to its IQ 7A, to accommodate modules up to 450 watts.

Geographical matters

While we don’t have exact figures on market share, it appears that Enphase is taking a bigger and bigger bite of its core market in the United States. Here the partnership with SunPower is likely a major benefit, given that in the first half of 2019 SunPower’s installer network, if taken as one company, would have the second-largest share of the U.S. residential market after Sunrun.

Enphase is expecting further revenue growth in the range of $200-$210 million during Q4, but with a slightly lower gross margin. This has not satisfied investors, with Roth Capital described the company’s guidance as “mixed/disappointing”. The company’s stock fell in after-hours yesterday after results were released.

And while Roth still sees room for growth for Enphase in the U.S. market, it has expressed concern about the company’s international business. “Many will jump to the conclusion that Enphase’s U.S. business is done growing, but we believe the real story is how much international business has fallen off,” stated Roth in a research note.

Roth says that its own analysis shows that rest of world revenues were down 15% quarter-over-quarter in the third quarter, and may fall again in Q4. Enphase CEO Badri Kothandaraman alluded to such weakness on the company’s results call, noting that Enphase is reviewing the strategic plan for Australia, a key market.

“I am confident that this region is going to bounce back as we transition into 2020,” stated Kothandaraman.

Grid independence on the way

It is also important to note that while microinverters have traditionally been the large majority of its sales, this is not all that Enphase offers. Enphase is currently reading the third iteration of its Encharge battery, a modular 3.3 kWh unit that includes the soon-to-be-launched IQ8 microinverter. Through its Emsemble system, the company can combine solar, energy storage and a generator to stay on during blackouts, but can also integrate with the grid when power is available.

The key to this is the long-awaited IQ 8, which Enphase describes as a “grid-agnostic” battery. If the company can get this product out in time, it has a ready and eager market for battery storage in California homeowners who are experiencing repeated proactive blackouts.

Thứ Năm, 31 tháng 10, 2019

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