Lắp đặt điện mặt trời | Khải Minh Tech: tháng 3 2020

Thứ Ba, 31 tháng 3, 2020

Stem Launches Online Certification Program for Solar Companies

Stem Inc., a company that specializes in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven energy storage services, has launched Stem University, an online certification program that provides required educational classes and tools for solar companies that are in the Stem Partner Program.

Stem’s Premier and Certified Partners are required to complete Stem University coursework in three initial distinct certification tracks: sales, sales analytics and deployment. Additional certifications in commercial operations, product and back up power will be added to Stem University. Once a partner has one or more employees who have completed these tracks, they will become officially “Stem Certified.” To continue in the Stem Partner Program, certifications must be renewed annually.

“Our solar partners continue to come to us for guidance and advice on how to deploy and monetize storage within their implementations. We believe it is our responsibility to share our broader domain expertise with the industry so they can take advantage of sophisticated storage use cases, more easily navigate local permitting requirements and understand the full benefits of solar+storage deployments,” says Alan Russo, chief revenue officer at Stem.

“Our unique Stem University program will enable our partners to learn what it takes to optimize storage in commercial and industrial deployments, and ultimately drive greater savings and new revenue opportunities,” he adds.

Wood Mackenzie recently projected that global energy storage deployments will grow more than 12 times from 2020 to 2024. Stem has taken several steps to ensure its solar developers are in the strongest position to leverage these opportunities. The company has built a partner program with more than 50 active solar partners, which delivered over 159 MWh in 2019. This network originated more than 50% of Stem’s business last year.

Courses available in Stem University are designed to provide hands-on business and technical training for sales professionals, sales analysts and project managers. These resources also provide partners with background on how to identify and address customer needs, creating mutually beneficial deployments that add value for all parties, notes the company.

For more information about Stem Inc.’s Stem University, click here.

The post Stem Launches Online Certification Program for Solar Companies appeared first on Solar Industry.

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Lendlease sells Wallingford Renewable Energy solar project to NextEra Energy Resources

Lendlease, a leading international property and infrastructure group, announced the sale of the 16-MW Wallingford Renewable Energy solar project to a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources. The solar project is located in Wallingford, Conn., with a portion of the project to be built on a landfill. The project has 20-year power purchase agreements in place with two Connecticut utilities, Eversource Energy and The United Illuminating Company. Construction of the project is expected to be completed later this year.

“This project is unique and complex, but it demonstrates our commitment to developing quality, utility-scale solar projects that meet the individual needs of our customers,” said Craig Carson, General Manager of Lendlease Energy Development. “We’re proud to partner with NextEra Energy Resources on this project to see it through the next phases of the project’s lifecycle.”

“Brownfield development is always gratifying as it’s a great use of resources, bringing new life to otherwise unusable land,” said Matt Ulman, vice president of Distributed Generation for NextEra Energy Resources. “NextEra Energy Resources is pleased to have worked with Lendlease on the Wallingford solar project, which provides Connecticut with a source of clean, renewable energy and community tax benefits on brownfield land that previously offered only maintenance costs.”

March is Inverter and eBOS Month here at Solar Builder, sponsored by CPS America. Check out all of our inverter news and insights right here.

Lendlease develops and finances utility scale solar and storage projects throughout the United States. The current project pipeline exceeds 2 GW. The team has previously developed, built and transferred ownership of the 60-acre Cooperative Solar Far One facility in Clark County, Kentucky, and has initiated construction of the Island Palm Communities Energy Services Project in Hawaii, a $150 million energy modernization and security project that powers 5,800 military homes. Lendlease also developed Fort Bend Solar, a 200-megawatt solar farm west of Houston, Texas, and recently announced the sale of Rancho Seco Solar II, a 160MW-ac project in Sacramento County, California.

-- Solar Builder magazine

Solar FlexRack reaches 200 installations with its TDP 2.0 solar tracker

Solar FlexRack Installed in Georgia REDI Solar Projects

Solar FlexRack, a division of Northern States Metals and an innovative leader in photovoltaic mounting and solar tracker solutions, has reached 200 solar tracker installations either completed or in construction of its TDP 2.0 model. The company currently has solar tracker projects in 18 states, working closely with leading solar developers and engineering, procurement & construction firms.

Solar FlexRack’s average selling price of solar trackers fell in 2019 due to supply chain shifts and a restructuring of its internal processes. The footprint of their tracker technology gained in size as projects delivered proven field performance. With a demonstrated track record of reliability, their products have organically scaled up in project size.

“According to GTM Research, North American solar tracker installations are expected to more than double from now to 2024. Solar FlexRack is prepared to meet that demand with a selection of solar tracker solutions to meet project requirements, a world-class engineering team and a competitive pricing model,” commented Steve Daniel, Executive Vice President of Solar FlexRack.

Building on their turnkey offering of full design, installation and commissioning services, including their reliable solar tracking and mounting products that provide unsurpassed reliability and cost efficiencies, Solar FlexRack is rapidly expanding its tracker business into the large-scale solar market.

March is Inverter and eBOS Month here at Solar Builder, sponsored by CPS America. Check out all of our inverter news and insights right here.

-- Solar Builder magazine

Lendlease sells 16-MW Connecticut solar project to NextEra Energy

Lendlease announced the sale of the 16-MW Wallingford Renewable Energy solar project to a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources. The solar project is located in Wallingford, Connecticut, with a portion of the project to be built on a landfill. The project has 20-year power purchase agreements in place with two Connecticut utilities, Eversource Energy and…

The post Lendlease sells 16-MW Connecticut solar project to NextEra Energy appeared first on Solar Power World.

Covid-19 daily bulletin

pv magazine rounds up the latest Covid-19-related stories likely to affect the world of solar and energy storage.

IHS Markit has broken cover by being one of the first business intelligence firms to try and put a figure on how much Covid-19 will affect the solar market this year. The London-based analyst has predicted the world will add 105 GW of solar generation capacity this year, a figure 16% down on last year, with Covid-19 containment measures to be reduced gradually during the second and third quarters. Big solar markets in Europe, India and in Asia outside China and India are expected to be hardest hit but China will beat previous forecasts, with IHS predicting the government will subsidize PV to aid the recovery of a significant domestic industry which will add 45 GW this year. IHS Markit expects solar installations to fall back into line with the upward progress seen over the past decade from next year onwards.

U.S.-owned analyst Wood Mackenzie agreed things would return to normal next year in its weekly Covid-19 update. New projects will suffer during the first half of the year, according to WoodMac with Europe and the U.S. likely to suffer. Energy storage project deployment could fall 20% from the business-as-usual projection for this year, the analyst said, and electric vehicle sales could plunge 57%, year-on-year, due to manufacturing shutdowns and the effect of the anticipated economic fallout of the virus on consumer budgets.

India

WoodMac’s India analysts say the Covid-19 shutdown in the world’s second most populous nation could affect global demand for solar and projects are likely to be pushed into the third-quarter monsoon season, further delaying completion dates.

For the U.S., WoodMac envisages a best-case 16% fall in residential solar rooftop installation but the figure could rise as high as 34%, depending on the extent of Covid-19 disruption.

Italian trade body Italia Solar says 74% of PV businesses it surveyed this month reported a fall in orders, with the figure ranging from 10-80%. Over the next four months, the organization added, two out of five solar companies expect orders to more than halve before summer, thanks to restrictions on movement imposed by the government as it grapples with Covid-19.

The Spanish government on Sunday introduced a royal decree which will halt construction on solar and wind project sites for 15 days, as well as ending the manufacture of solar panels and wind turbines during that period.

Covid-19

Read pv magazine’s coverage of Covid-19; and tell us how it is affecting your solar and energy storage operations. Email editors@pv-magazine.com to share your experiences.

Portugal postpones 700 MW solar auction again

State secretary for energy, João Galamba, said the planned procurement round will have to wait for markets to be less turbulent. The auction was due to be held in April. Meanwhile, a dedicated portal for future rounds has been created.

Portugal’s state secretary for energy, João Galamba, has announced the 700 MW solar auction planned for April has been postponed for an unspecified period.

“The planned auction will have to wait for the markets to calm down,” Galamba said on it Twitter account, without explicitly mentioning the Covid-19 pandemic as the cause.

The state secretary also announced the launch of a portal for future solar auctions.

All the generation capacity assigned in the postponed exercise was due to be allocated in the southern regions of Alentejo and the Algarve, according to Portuguese newspaper Expresso. The newspaper reported projects with a capacity of up to 10 MW were due to be connected to the grid of EDP Distribuição with 10-50 MW facilities to be hooked up to the high-voltage network of national grid operator REN.

The exercise had already been postponed by the Portuguese government in mid-January.

The country’s first solar auction, held last summer, saw the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology allocate 1.15 GW of solar capacity – less than the 1.4 GW originally planned despite the exercise being oversubscribed. The auction delivered a world record low solar electricity price offer of €0.0147/kWh for a 150 MW project by the Akuo Renováveis Portugal unit of French developer Akuo Energy. However some analysts have questioned whether that bid should be considered a true benchmark. The second and third-lowest bids in the auction were submitted by U.S. asset management fund EverStream Capital Management and Lisbon-based developer Power&Sol Energias Renováveis SA, who will generate solar power for €0.01637 and €0.0171/kWh, respectively.

Exclusive details on CPS America’s dedicated solar inverter O&M service

CPS inverter service techs now blanket the country. Photo: CPS.

The concept of offering operations and maintenance (O&M) to solar asset holders is not new. A host of O&M companies now provide soup-to-nuts service for commercial and utility-scale PV plants. But none of these service providers is also an inverter manufacturer, much less one that offers a 99 percent inverter performance guarantee under their service plan.

Enter Chint Power Systems America and its Flex Gateway. CPS has been testing its new inverter service model for the past year and is now rolling it out with plans to have 50 MW under contract this year, and 100 MW next year, according to Ed Heacox, the general manager of the company’s Americas division.

“We know there is a breakdown in the solar industry around inverter performance, warranty and service. The current paradigm for warranties is antiquated, but what we are doing with our services stack can be game-changing for customers,” Heacox says.

Indeed, unplanned solar plant repairs can cost owners up to $3,000 per megawatt each year (based on an average-sized solar power system of 50 MW), according to an October report from GTM Research. Overall, the solar industry will see $16 billion of unplanned repairs over the next five years, projects GTM’s Leila Garcia da Fonseca.

The CPS Promise:
With easy access to real, knowledgeable people, stocked parts, 24-hour RMA turnaround, and exceptional diagnostic hardware, CPS America is committed to full life-cycle service and support. Learn more here.

“We’re primarily offering service more to new projects; if the equipment is not ours, we are not offering service contracts,” Heacox notes. Still, there is an option for solar power plants that have inverters from one or more of the half dozen inverter suppliers now out of business. CPS provides repowering service in addition to its O&M activity, and also plans to offer battery storage later this year.

Growing ‘regional spokes’

Inverter analysis requires high-touch training. Photo: CPS

To serve the entire U.S. O&M inverter service market, CPS has established regional spokes for its Texas-based hub.

“We are investing in trained, action-oriented, customer-centric regional service technicians. They are equipped with vans, parts, tools and spare units for high speed resolutions. This field team has direct, easy-access relationships with customers,” explains Heacox. “We have 25 people doing service operations, which is a competitive weapon.”

In California, for example, the company has two roving field service techs driving stocked vans up to 5,000 miles per month. The company also has some return merchandise authorization infrastructure in Pomona, Calif., along with a tech team based in Pleasanton, Calif.

“The regional field team is backed by our Texas technical support hub and repair/analysis lab. This site is an RMA processing and analysis lab, with technicians and engineers. This also is our field dispatch center, technical support call hub and 24-hour, high-speed RMA logistics operation,” Heacox says.

Key feature: Flex Gateway

The latest version of the company’s Flex Gateway technology is key to the service offering.

“We’re very close to adding a 4G cellular feature that includes both website and mobile app access,” points out Heacox. “Flex offers two-way interactivity for data monitoring, diagnostics, remote control, reset, and firmware upgrades. The technology enables so much more than the old-school cliche of just monitoring; dynamic interactivity presents a whole new language.”

CPS found during its test period that the role of the customer is a “huge factor,” Heacox notes. “EPCs, smaller installers, other O&M service providers, owners, banks and utilities each have a different orientation and thus different interest levels. So we are offering our service to touch every level of role.

“Because we offer an uptime guarantee that a customer can trust, that provides the customer with a firm number to use in financial calculations, which can produce a better investment return number,” Heacox opines.

Size helps CPS provide its warranty and guarantee. Overall, CPS has 85,000 units in operation in the United States, with many of them installed for almost 10 years, he indicates.

“We’ve provided 3.5 GW in the U.S., and last year we shipped just under 1 GW,” he adds.

The company boasts that it is No. 1 in the C&I solar inverter market, and has a 30 percent share of the market for all segments combined. CPS is also a subsidiary of an $8 billion publicly-traded company in China, which provides the financial wherewithal for inverter warranties.

This is just the start

The market for solar O&M service is booming. Annual solar plant O&M costs will double from nearly $4.5 billion in 2019 to over $9 billion in 2024, according to GTM.

“Process automation can help the industry optimize technician time in the field, as well as other areas,” GTM suggests. “Technician efficiency is already rising, as measured by how many megawatts of solar capacity can be served by a single technician, and that trend is expected to continue. Technicians used to be able to service only 20 megawatts of solar capacity. Now it’s possible for a single technician to serve 40 to 60 megawatts — more than doubling their efficiency in some cases.”

Does CPS worry that turn-key O&M service providers will knock off its inverter service?

“No,” says Heacox. “Instead, we think that the turn-key providers will look to us for our part in their overall service, so we won’t really compete. We are now building a network of O&M firms and training them virtually, and have plans for hands-on training in Texas, starting this year.”

Charles W. Thurston is a contributor to Solar Builder magazine, covering the solar industry from Northern California.

-- Solar Builder magazine

A good year for solar: Agrivoltaics in vineyards

French agricultural PV specialist Sun’Agri has revealed the results of tests run on a solar plant integrated with viticulture. During heat waves, the company said, vines shaded by solar panels continued to grow and needed less water.

From pv magazine France.

“Vines are among the crops most affected by the effects of climate change so it is essential that they be at the heart of our experiments,” a spokesperson from the Sun’Agri subsidiary of French solar developer Sun’R, told pv magazine. We’ll drink to that!

Sun’Agri has installed a viticulture agrivoltaic system in the Vaucluse department of southeastern France in partnership with the local chamber of agriculture as part of the Sun’Agri 3 program supported by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe).

The plant was set up in the wine-growing area in Piolenc, in Hérault, as part of a program to test how agrivoltaics perform in specific crop cultures.

“Out of 1,000m² of vines planted with [the] black grenache [red wine grape], 600m² were covered by our dynamic agrivoltaic system,” the Sun’Agri spokesperson said. The 280 panels used have a generation capacity of 84 kW, were placed at a height of 4.2m and can be moved in real time using an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm the French agrivoltaic specialist has been developing for more than a decade.

The algorithm is said to be able to determine the ideal tilt of the panels according to the sunshine and water requirements of viticulture, growth model of the crop, soil quality and weather conditions. “Artificial intelligence is programmed to favor the growth of the plant,” said the Sun’Agri representative. “In the event of extreme climatic hazards – drought, heatwave, hail, frost, heavy rain etc – the AI controls the panels to protect the crops.”

Initial results

The PV structure made it possible for the vines sheltered by panels to avoid having their growth stunted during heatwaves, according to Sun’Agri.

Water demand was also reduced by 12-34% for the PV-sheltered vines thanks to a reduction in evapotranspiration – water evaporating through the soil, said the Sun’Agri spokesperson. It has also been claimed the aromatic profile of the grape was improved in the agrivoltaic set-up, with 13% more anthocyanins – red pigments – and 9-14% more acidity.

The Sun’Agri 3 program is due to pass from its demonstration to a commercial phase in 2022 and also includes agrivoltaic projects linked to arboriculture, greenhouse gardening and arable crops across 15 installations.

Sustainability in solar and storage

In May, pv magazine launched the UP sustainability initiative. Our goal is to dive deep into the topic of what it means to be truly sustainable, looking at what is already being done and discussing areas for improvement. In addition to quarterly themes on issues such as lead in solar and green finance, we have looked at biodiversity, sustainable flying and raw material sourcing in batteries. Read more, stay tuned and get involved! Check out our quarterly themes and UP coverage to date.

Focus on the negatives: A new path to highly efficient tandem cells

Scientists in the U.S. and South Korea have identified what could be a new route to high-efficiency perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells. Through engineering negatively charged particles in the passivation layer, the group made a tandem cell with 26.7% efficiency. With further tweaks to the silicon layer they expect to be able to surpass 30%.

Scientists at the United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) working with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, have demonstrated a technique which could open up new pathways to the development of commercially viable perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells.

Passivation layers are commonly added to perovskite solar cells to limit their reactivity – improving performance and stability. The NREL’s discovery involves engineering such a layer to overcome several challenges. The group focused on the negatively charged particles – anions – in the passivation layer and found adding the anion thiocyanate, mixed with iodine, could boost device performance. The thiocyanate reportedly helped increase current and the iodine improved voltage.

In the paper Efficient, stable silicon tandem cells enabled by anion-engineered wide-bandgap perovskites, published in Science, the U.S.-Korean group described perovskite-silicon tandem cells made using the novel approach. The researchers claim to have achieved 26.2% efficiency and maintained more than 80% of initial performance after 1,000 hours of continuous illumination.

The perovskite layer itself reportedly boasted an efficiency of 20.7% and the group is convinced additional work to perfect the silicon layer could mean their approach would yield tandem cells with efficiencies of more than 30% and open new possibilities for perovskite solar cell development.

“This study provides a new general approach with clear technological breakthroughs and scientific insights for further advancement of perovskite technologies,” said Kai Zhu, senior scientist in the chemistry and nanoscience center at the NREL.

Solar FlexRack reaches 200 solar tracker installations in North America

Solar FlexRack, a division of Northern States Metals and an innovative leader in PV mounting and solar tracker solutions, has reached 200 solar tracker installations, either completed or in construction, of its TDP 2.0 model. The company currently has solar tracker projects in 18 states, working closely with leading solar developers and engineering, procurement and…

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Sweden deployed 287 MW of solar last year

The nation’s cumulative installed solar capacity reached 698 MW at the end of December. Around 19,000 new PV systems were added last year.

Sweden’s operational PV capacity increased from 411 MW at the end of 2018 to 698 MW a year later, according to statistics released by Swedish energy agency the Energimyndigheten.

The figures showed 2019 was the country’s best for solar deployment, with 287 MW of generation capacity added to the grid. The nation had added 180 MW in 2018 after connecting 91 MW, 13 MW, 37.6 MW and 36.2 MW, respectively, in the previous four years.

Sweden now boasts around 44,000 PV arrays, with around 19,000 added last year. The vast majority of the nation’s PV installations are no bigger than 20 kW, with projects with a capacity of more than 1 MW relatively uncommon, the agency said without providing a breakdown.

In September, the Swedish government raised the budget for this year’s residential and commercial solar rebate program from SEK736 million ($73 million) to SEK1.2 billion. With solar modules continuing to fall in price and the original 2019 rebate budget of SEK915 million bolstered, 2020 could prove another record year for solar in Sweden, provided the nation’s relative impregnability to Covid-19 continues.

BYD launches Blade Battery for improved fire safety in electric vehicles

During an online launch event, a Blade Battery pack was pierced with a nail without becoming unstable or experiencing dangerous high temperatures. The company says the device will be safer during car accidents.

With electrical vehicles (EVs) gaining more market share by the day, fire safety is an increasingly important concern as the lithium-ion batteries which power them can potentially become unstable and even ignite in certain circumstances.

Chinese EV manufacturer BYD has presented a new battery it says addresses the issue. The Blade Battery withstood the nail test its developer said is among the most rigorous examinations a battery can sustain. The device is pierced by a nail in a process which causes conventional lithium-ion batteries to become dramatically unstable.

The online launch event for the Blade featured video of the nail test taking place. The device withstood being pierced without visible smoke or flames. The surface temperature of the battery reportedly remained at 30-60 degrees Celsius. When BYD performed the same test with a nickel manganese cobalt battery it immediately began emitting fire and smoke and reached temperatures beyond 500 degrees Celsius. The manufacturer tested a lithium iron phosphate block battery which also became highly unstable and, although there was no visible fire or smoke, the surface temperature reportedly reached 200-400 degrees Celsius.

The Blade was also subjected to crushing and bending and was heated in a furnace to more than 300 degrees Celsius and overcharged 260%. None of the tests prompted an explosion, according to BYD.

The company said the space inside the Blade battery pack has been optimized so it can be used 50% more efficiently than that of a conventional lithium iron phosphate block device.

He Long, vice president of BYD and chairman of sub-brand FinDreams Battery Co Ltd, said the Blade requires a particularly high ignition temperature to set off thermal runaway – which occurs when higher temperature causes a destructive feedback loop to raise heat still further. He said the device releases heat comparatively slowly, generates little heat during operation and can prevent oxygen release during breakdowns. The latter feature would mean the battery could prevent itself igniting quickly.

BYD said multiple vehicle brands have approached it with a view to forming technology partnerships.

7 ways to improve your project economics with software

By Claudia Eyzaguirre, co-founder and CEO, PVComplete When it comes to utility-scale solar project development, careful analysis to ensure project economics pencil out has never been more critical to mitigating risk, ensuring project bankability and realizing returns. The good news is, as solar design software is becoming more sophisticated, developers have powerful new tools at…

The post 7 ways to improve your project economics with software appeared first on Solar Power World.

Swedish installer acquires residential operation of Solarcentury

As part of the deal, buyer Svea Solar will expand its installation of panels bought at furniture giant Ikea from its homeland to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Offloading the residential business will enable London-based Solarcentury to focus on its global project ambitions.

British PV project developer Solarcentury will tomorrow complete the sale of its residential solar business to Swedish installer Svea Solar for an undisclosed sum.

The Engine MHP communications company employed by Solarcentury told pv magazine Svea Solar did pay for the acquisition but that the amount would not be announced.

The deal will expand Svea’s Swedish and Spanish residential operation to include the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, where Solarcentury’s residential market is. London-based Solarcentury does not operate its residential business in the U.K. and a spokesman for Engine MHP confirmed the exit of the U.K. from the EU at the end of this year had nothing to do with the decision to sell.

Global pipeline

The divestment of the residential business will enable Solarcentury to focus on a 5 GWp project pipeline in Europe, Latin America and Africa and the communications agency said the project business had expanded 119% in 2018-19 and grew again in the current financial year.

Svea, which already installs home solar kits bought at furniture retailer Ikea in Sweden, will take on the Ikea-related business carried out by Solarcentury in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium as part of the acquisition.

A Solarcentury statement about the deal said 40 staff would transfer to Svea Solar.

With the British company stating the residential business supplied less than 10% of its revenue in the last financial year, the Engine MHP spokesman said the only impact on Solarcentury’s SolarAid charity – which supplies pay-as-you-go solar installations to African homes – would come from any slight dip in profits as a result of the transaction. SolarAid is funded by a 5% slice of Solarcentury profits.

Jordan switches off all large scale solar

The Middle Eastern kingdom has ordered the shutdown of solar facilities in response to tumbling electricity demand. The fall off in load has come after the nation halted all non-essential industries as it tries to limit the spread of Covid-19.

pv magazine has learnt the Jordanian authorities have ordered through a circular the disconnection of all the nation’s solar power plants because electricity demand has fallen off a cliff thanks to Covid-19 containment measures.

A source said yesterday the kingdom’s Energy and Mineral Resources Commission (EMRC) instructed power distribution companies to disconnect all solar facilities due to low electrical loads.

The move could mean as much as 1.2 GW of solar generation capacity will be affected as Jordanian electric load currently ranges from around 1.7 GW in the morning to 3.4 GW at peak time.

pv magazine has contacted the EMRC to try to verify whether the news is accurate and to ask whether solar investors will be able to claim compensation for lost revenue.

Jordan has imposed extensive measures to attempt to combat the spread of Covid-19, including border closures, quarantine in resorts paid for by the government and the closure of a slew of non-essential industries. The kingdom has also imposed a curfew on movement since March 21.

The kingdom relies on fossil fuel imports for 80% of its energy mix and will benefit from a rock-bottom oil price at the moment as regional neighbor Saudi Arabia tries to stare down petrochemical rivals the U.S. and Russia by refusing to reduce production levels despite demand tumbling around the world.

Covid-19

Read pv magazine’s coverage of Covid-19; and tell us how it is affecting your solar and energy storage operations. Email editors@pv-magazine.com to share your experiences.

Chinese developer buys back three-year senior notes issued three months ago

The board of bailed-out Singyes Solar has bought back $18.4 million worth of notes issued in Singapore in late December and also hoovered up $240,000 worth which were unclaimed in the fundraising round.

Bailed-out Chinese solar project developer and building-integrated PV manufacturer Singyes Solar has acquired more than US$18.6 million worth of senior notes issued in a US$415 million fundraising exercise in December.

The Guangdong-based company issued the notes on the Singapore stock exchange on December 19, announcing the move a day later. The fundraising exercise came after the heavily-indebted Hong Kong-listed business received a HK$1.55 billion (US$200 million) bail-out from Beijing-owned Water Development (HK) Holding Co Ltd in early November.

The Singyes board announced yesterday it had repurchased US$18.4 million of the notes and had also recovered US$240,125 of notes which were unclaimed in the fundraising exercise.

The company said it would cancel and write off the value of the US$18.6 million worth of notes and did not indicate the reason for the repurchase or whether it planned to acquire more of the issued notes, which are due to mature on December 19, 2022.

This is your SolarWakeup for March 31st, 2020

Tracking Survey. This morning I am joining Roth Capital on a conference call with investors to discuss the results of the past two week’s tracking survey. If you’re interested in the results from this week, fill out your responses today. This takes 60 seconds and provides feedback about the market and legislators looking to see what to focus on. Link.

Trouble In Texas. Oil companies are having issues keeping their businesses afloat. This comes due to a double dilemma of Coronavirus and OPEC’s price slashing. Oil prices are down dramatically and oil companies want a bailout in the form of a major purchase by the federal government and likely more.

Setting The Stage. The problem with the bailout, a $3billion purchase adding to the strategic petroleum reserve, is that Congress needs to approve it and didn’t include it in the last stimulus bill. Much like the 2016 ITC extension which was traded for the oil embargo lifting, democrats in Congress are calling for solar to also get support alongside oil.

Op-Ed Battles. Kevin McCarthy and Newt Gingrich are trying to counter the negotiation from a position of political minority. They are claiming that industry support is being held up by radical requests for a green new deal in time of crisis. Don’t fall for this, just last week the EPA is using the pandemic as an excuse to relax environmental standards and rollback of regulations that protect the environment.

Political Reality. Now is the time to stay in touch with your member of Congress and give them the details of the issues facing your business. Tell them what an ITC extension, grant in lieu and inclusion of storage means to you as a solar professional. You want them to make solar support a non-negotiable, especially in this time of crisis, not in spite of it. I don’t doubt that oil will get their handout and more, solar is doing good work and keeping folks working.

Be Aware. CISA, a federal agency, released a memo that clearly states that solar is a critical sector. See it here.

Opinion

Los Angeles Times: California coastal gas plant slated for 2023 shutdown

Best, Yann

The post This is your SolarWakeup for March 31st, 2020 appeared first on SolarWakeup.com.

Trina announces its first shipment of 500 W modules

The Chinese manufacturer says the first products exited the factory 11 days after mass production started. The panels were launched by the company late last month.

Chinese solar panel maker Trina Solar says it has shipped its first lot of the 500 Vertex modules it launched late last month. The panels, which have a reported 500 W power output, will be supplied to an unnamed developer which is building a 10 MW solar project in Sri Lanka. The financial terms of the supply deal were not revealed by the manufacturer.

Jiangsu-based Trina had announced the start of commercial production of the module series two weeks ago. “Incorporating 210mm cells, the Vertex series modules integrate advanced three-piece, non-destructive cutting and high-density packaging technologies,” the company said in a statement.

Trina executive VP Yin Rongfang said, “Our customers worldwide have shown a strong interest in [the] 500 W-plus Vertex series modules, which are not only suitable for utility scale solar plants but also for commercial and industrial scale solar projects seeking to raise their level of efficiency.”

Last month, the Chinese manufacturer said it would begin taking orders for the modules in the second quarter. Production capacity for the panels is expected to reach 5 GW this year with output set to start in the third quarter.

Chinese competitor Risen claimed to have made the world’s first shipment of 500 W modules a fortnight ago. In December, Risen announced its new 5 GW module production base in Yiwu, in Zhejiang province, would be ready to start cranking out M12 panels from early this year. The company said it expected gigawatt-level shipment volumes this year.

Cooling down PV panels with water

France's Sunbooster has developed a technology to cool down solar modules when their ambient temperature exceeds 25 C. The solution features a set of pipes that spread a thin film of water onto the glass surface of the panels in rooftop PV systems and ground-mounted plants. The cooling systems collect the water from rainwater tanks and then recycle, filter and store it again. The company claims the technology can facilitate an annual increase in power generation of between 8% and 12%.

French PV system installer Sunbooster has developed a cooling technology for solar panels based on water. It claims its solution can ramp up the power generation of a PV installation by between 8% and 12% per year.

The solution consists of a set of pipes that can surround a rooftop PV system or ground-mounted plant. The pipes are used to spray a thin film of water onto the glass surface of the modules.

*Sunbooster’s technology uses stored rainwater to cool down PV installations.*
Image: Sunbooster

“The company had originally experimented with a water-vaporizing solution, but this produced thermal shocks for the PV system,” Sunbooster CEO Grégory Boutteau told pv magazine. “Furthermore, the drops produced by this cooling system had a negative impact on solar light absorption.”

Water flow

The company’s solution is a patented pipe with a number of very small holes, so special installation skills are required. Stored rainwater is pushed into a ramp at the edge of the panels. Water then flows onto the surface of the modules and immediately lowers the temperature.

“The materials used to build the pipes have been chosen based on their quality, reliability and durability,” Boutteau said, without providing additional details about the patented technology. “Pipes are UV-resistant and drilled with holes – their number and size are defined by our design and engineering office in respect of our patents.”

The water only spreads across the glass surface of the panels and does not touch any plastic parts, such as the backsheets or other components. “It can be considered in the same way as rain, and for this reason it does not affect the warranty of the modules,” Boutteau said.

*The Sunbooster technology can also be applied to large rooftop PV projects.*
Image: Sunbooster

The system is set in motion by a temperature sensor which triggers the water spread when ambient temperatures exceed 25 C. Although the water may have some influence on the modules’ light absorption, this is fully compensated by the increase in power yield that can be achieved by preventing temperatures from surpassing 30 C, Boutteau said.

The cooling systems collect the water from a rainwater tank. And after the water is used, it can be recycled, filtered, and stored again. “Our Sunbooster solution works in closed circuit and doesn’t need additional water,” Boutteau explained.

Cost considerations

The technology, which can be applied to PV systems and solar plants built at all kinds of tilted angles, currently costs almost €250,000/MW. But Sunbooster expects to more than halve that to between €100,000/MW and €150,000/MW within the next two years.

“We are now developing new partnerships with big players,” said Boutteau. “And this, combined with the economies of scale of large ground-mounted projects, will help us reduce our costs significantly.”

*Although the water on the modules has a slight influence on light absorption, this is fully balanced by an increase in power yield, the Sunbooster claims.*
Image: Sunbooster

So far, the technology has only been adopted in projects backed by cost-offsetting incentives. However, the company claims that it has started to sharply lower the cost structure of its systems to support unsubsidized projects in the near future.

For a 10 MW PV plant, around 25 km in pipes would be needed, which complicates logistics and installation, Boutteau said. “But the system is easy to deploy with the necessary skills,” he added.

Sunbooster currently needs to send teams out to install its systems. However, the company plans to train partners who are capable of deploying its technologies at a global level, in line with its standards. “Our partners will be referenced in our network validated by an internal certificate delivered by Sunbooster,” Boutteau said.

He added that the adoption of a similar cooling system could increase the complexities of projects and the number of possible variables. “Installing our system in Spain or Germany is not exactly the same thing,” Boutteau stated. “Furthermore, there many other water-related factors that must be taken into account, such as water vaporization rates, humidity and available water resources.”

MYSUN Solar calculator Says: Businesses in Rajasthan have a Tremendous Saving Potential!

Solar in Rajasthan

Rajasthan, one of the largest states of India is one of the most popular industrial hubs of the country. With such an affluent economy, power becomes an uncompromised necessity for businesses in the state. While most businesses depend on traditional sources of electricity to fulfill their power requirements, some enterprises are smartly switching to solar and saving millions in the process. For example :

The below textile manufacturing unit in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, which is saving approximately INR 190 Lacs every year on their power bills after going solar with MYSUN. The details of which you can check here.
The below cement packaging manufacturing unit in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, which is saving INR 49 Lacs every year after going solar with MYSUN. The details are here.

Similar to these businesses, any business in Rajasthan can increase their financial capabilities by harnessing the abundantly available solar energy in the state. So what does it look like for your business? How much could you save? The MYSUN Solar calculator explains this, precisely.

Your Business’s Solar Potential as per the MYSUN Solar Calculator

The MYSUN Solar Calculator is an inhouse developed technologically advanced tool which helps power consumers evaluate their solar savings potential before going solar. It does so by furnishing a detailed report on the savings a business can make on power bills by going solar, the investment that the business will need to make in order to go solar, the most optimum solar system size that the business should consider to meet all its power requirements and the economics of going solar under different financing options and models of solar. Let’s check the case for Rajasthan.

Suppose you are a Prime Packaging Industry in Jaipur, Rajasthan and incur a monthly expenditure of INR 10L on your power bills which leads to an annual expenditure of INR 1.2Cr. Within ten seconds, using this input the MYSUN Solar Calculator tells you that your business can bring its power bills down from INR 10 Lacs a month to INR 3.8 Lacs a month:

That’s a savings of INR 71 Lacs every year and a lifetime savings of INR 21 Crores. Saving this capital can give your business a surplus cash flow which could be invested in more important areas of business, such as upgrading your operational technologies in the future to improve your business processes and excel in the market.

Solar systems have a lifetime of at least 25 years. Investing in it basically assures businesses of free power once they break even in 3~4 years time. This goes to show that solar is not just necessary for businesses to save money, but also to improve their profits and boost long-term growth. Therefore, run the MYSUN Solar Calculator now, check your business’s true solar potential in Rajasthan and go solar today.

To know the things that every business and industry should take care of before starting their solar journey, check out our article – 6 Things that Every Industry Should Consider Before Going Solar.

The post MYSUN Solar calculator Says: Businesses in Rajasthan have a Tremendous Saving Potential! appeared first on Rediscover the Sun with MYSUN - Solar Power Company in India.

Policy, policy, policy: BloombergNEF’s path to hydrogen uptake

A hot energy topic with little coordinated analysis, green hydrogen has finally attracted the number crunchers of BloombergNEF.

From pv magazine Australia

The main message of BloombergNEF’s new Hydrogen Economy Outlook report is “mind the policy gap.”

Hydrogen could absolutely become the clean-burning, zero-carbon molecule to replace fossil fuels in hard-to-abate sectors of the economy, and has the potential to erase one-third of today’s global emissions from fossil fuels and industry if it is deployed for steelmaking, while also providing dispatchable energy, producing ammonia, and powering trucks.

Meeting the related 24% of energy demand with green hydrogen by 2050 would require massive amounts of additional renewable generation. To power the electrolyzers, some 31,320 TWh of electricity will be needed, which is “more than is currently produced worldwide from all sources,” says BloombergNEF.

And because this has to be added to the projected needs of the power sector — for which renewable generation will also need to expand — “total renewable energy generation excluding hydro need to top 60,000 TWh, compared to under 3,000 TWh today,” it estimates.

Opportunity knocks for solar generation, you might say, but consider that transporting and storing hydrogen at scale will require enormous investment in infrastructure – an estimated $637 billion throughout the world to 2050. And driving demand for green hydrogen will require $150 billion of cumulative subsidies by 2030.

“Clients over the past two years have increasingly been asking us about hydrogen,” says Kobad Bhavnagri, BloombergNEF’s global head of special projects. Here’s a nutshell view of the *Hydrogen Economy Outlook*.

Hydrogen writ large

BloombergNEF is talking big because demand for green hydrogen needs to become great enough to drive down production and storage costs. Bhavnagri says there are no viable small-scale stepping-stone applications for hydrogen as a result, which might be why it has failed to take hold in the past, and why the hydrogen bubble may again fizzle.

“The conclusion of our work in a nutshell is that hydrogen has a high potential if policymakers get serious about reducing emissions,” Bhavnagri told pv magazine on Friday.

It comes down to whether or not countries and the collective global economy want to get to net zero. “Once you set a net-zero target and are serious about putting policies and measures in place to achieve that, then hydrogen becomes a necessary option and has to play a very substantial role,” says Bhavnagri.

But without that clarity of purpose, he tells pv magazine, there is no need for hydrogen. And BloombergNEF’s work shows that “it won’t stand up, because hydrogen is a higher-cost, less convenient fuel than fossil fuels. Its real advantage is that it can be zero emissions.”

Save on shipping

Hydrogen as an export to replace Australian coal exports? A misplaced narrative, says Bhavnagri. “Nothing gets Australians excited like the prospect of putting some raw commodity on a ship,” he argues.

In fact the economics of shipping hydrogen are fantastically bad. For a start, it’s less dense than natural gas, and its liquefaction point is lower, requiring more effort, energy and churning shipping lanes to serve distant destinations. Bhavnagri says countries with high generation costs, like Japan and Korea, would be better off producing hydrogen onshore from expensive renewable energy than they would be importing green hydrogen by sea.

But Australia can indeed be a hydrogen superpower by using homemade green hydrogen onshore and exporting value-added products – green steel, green ammonia, green glass, green cement, and green aluminum, for example.

Potential powerhouse

With Australia’s outstanding renewable energy resource and a small population – modest local demand for land and energy – it has the ability to come near the bottom of the cost curve for hydrogen production.

BloombergNEF’s analysis suggests that a delivered cost (including production, storage and transport) of green hydrogen of around $2 per kilogram could be achievable in places like China, India and Western Europe by around 2030. By 2050, most parts of the world should be able to achieve a delivered cost of hydrogen of $1/kg ($7.4/MMBtu).

“Costs could be 20-25% lower in countries with the best renewable and hydrogen storage resources, such as the US, Brazil, Australia, Scandinavia and the Middle East,” says BloombergNEF.

That’s the Australian advantage and the value in going early and going hard to capitalize on potentially low costs, to drive manufacturing of green products.

Future fallout

“If hydrogen becomes widely used globally and Australia does not restructure its exports to use it, it presents a significant risk,” says Bhavnagri. “A transition to hydrogen-based green steel internationally would decimate demand for metallurgical coal, one of Australia’s most valuable exports.”

Reality knocks for slow movers, and leaders are reminded to mind the policy gap.

The BloombergNEF study also found that a carbon price of $50 per tonne of CO2 would be needed for green hydrogen to bump coal from steel manufacture by 2050. Make that $78/tCO2 to make it the molecule of choice for manufacturing chemicals such as ammonia, and $145/tCO2 and a delivered cost of green hydrogen of $1/kg would see it powering shipping.

Bhavnagri estimates that heavy vehicles could be cheaper to run on hydrogen than diesel by 2031. But says hydrogen-powered passenger vehicles are another pipe dream, because batteries will be a cheaper solution for cars, buses and light trucks for the foreseeable future.

Infrastructure investment

Infrastructure investment, a universal carbon price, pumped-up renewable energy zones with integrated manufacturing – it all takes vision and the will to act.

Australia can’t do it alone, says Bhavnagri, even if its leaders were to show an appetite for carbon pricing and investment towards net-zero emissions. “This needs to be a global effort,” he adds, noting that the money and policy to match the broad-based enthusiasm for hydrogen are not yet on the table.

For its clients, who have been knocking down its doors for guidance on the potential for investing in hydrogen, BloombergNEF has compiled a list of seven signs that hydrogen is scaling up.

Edges of the pipeline

The costs of hydrogen may currently be high, but there are encouraging signs that they will fall. The price of Western-made alkaline electrolyzers fell 40% between 2014 and 2019, and Chinese-made systems are up to 80% cheaper than those produced in the West.

If production of electrolyzers can scale up and the cost of splitting water into its atomic parts continues to decline, BloombergNEF calculates that renewable hydrogen could be produced for $0.8 to $1.6/kg in most parts of the world before 2050. That would make it competitive with today’s natural gas prices in major markets such as China, India, Brazil and Germany on an energy-equivalent basis, and cheaper than hydrogen produced from natural gas or coal with carbon capture and storage costs included.

The subsidies required to kickstart large-scale production sound enormous, and could go as high as $150 billion, says Bhavnagri. But that’s less than half of what governments around the world currently spend on fossil-fuel subsidies. That is not a punchline.