Solar PV News

[mspohr]

A pocket chart to maximize solar power deployment

Researchers have built a matrix outlining how solar power in various deployment models generates benefits greater than just clean electricity. This will help policy makers maximize energy decisions with limited resources.

Researchers have developed a matrix (below chart) that shows 15 unique solar installation types and twenty potential “techno-ecological” benefits that arise from them. The matrix is coupled with descriptions of each of the 15 installation types, as well links to research which often times goes into deep technical and financial details on the techniques.

https://l0dl1j3lc42iebd82042pgl2-wp...enshot-2019-07-12-at-8.33.54-AM-1200x1065.png

 

[mspohr]

'Just a matter of when': the $20bn plan to power Singapore with Australian solar

'Just a matter of when': the $20bn plan to power Singapore with Australian solar

He says the project will use prefabricated solar cells to capture “one of the best solar radiance reserves on the planet”. But he says the major transformation that makes the farm possible is the advent of high-voltage, direct-current submarine cable, which he describes as the “greatest unsung technology development”. Sun Cable’s underwater link to Singapore will run 3,800km.

“It is extraordinary technology that is going to change the flow of energy between countries. It is going to have profound implications and the extent of those implications hasn’t been widely identified,” Griffin says.

 

[mspohr]

Duke wants to tax the sun
Those in power fight longer wars, on many fronts. For instance, monopoly protected utilities pay actors, attempt to impose discriminatory charges on political opponents, they dismantle federal programs once they start to become effective – and are so confident in their monopoly protection that they and their allies will publicly flaunt their actions “for the express purpose of undercutting the viability of solar power.” It’s the seeming nature of those who wish to sustain their position beyond its time.

 

[Merrill]

Duke wants to tax the sun
Those in power fight longer wars, on many fronts. For instance, monopoly protected utilities pay actors, attempt to impose discriminatory charges on political opponents, they dismantle federal programs once they start to become effective – and are so confident in their monopoly protection that they and their allies will publicly flaunt their actions “for the express purpose of undercutting the viability of solar power.” It’s the seeming nature of those who wish to sustain their position beyond its time.

Unfortunately this is going on in many states, the non profit called Solar Rights Alliance in California is trying to get legislation passed to prevent this from happening.

 

[mspohr]

Interesting initiative in the Florida solar battle

Floridians seeking energy freedom

Citizens for Energy Choices is pushing for a ballot amendment to create a competitive retail electricity market, the right to sell your own electricity, and to limit investor owned utilities to transmission and distribution.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

USA EIA Electric Power Monthly, July 2019 (to May 2019).

(2018 values in parentheses)

Utility solar:
May 2019: 7,292GWh (7,070GWh)
YTD 2019: 27,825GWh (26,042GWh)
Rolling 12mo: 68,387GWh (60,139GWh); 1.63% (1.45%)

Estimated Small Scale Solar:
May 2019: 3,582GWh (3,010GWh)
YTD 2019: 13,882GWh (11,550GWh)
Rolling 12mo: 31,875GWh (26,319GWh); 0.76% (0.64%)

Estimated Total Solar:
May 2019: 10,874GWh (10,863GWh)
YTD 2019: 41,707GWh (37,592GWh)
Rolling 12mo: 100,262GWh (86,458GWh); 2.40% (2.09%)

For the first time, estimated annual US solar generation has surpassed 100,000GWh.
Annual US wind generation reached 100,000GWh during 2011.

EDIT: corrected the May 2018 numbers. I had June 2018.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

House and Senate Introduce Legislation for 5-Year Extension of the Solar Investment Tax Credit | SEIA

 

[SageBrush]

House and Senate Introduce Legislation for 5-Year Extension of the Solar Investment Tax Credit | SEIA

A few days too late

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

‘Cheaper Than a Peaker’: NextEra Inks Massive Wind+Solar+Storage Deal in Oklahoma

Here come the hybrids.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

Capacity installs in China are down 53%. That's surprising to say the least.

Chinese solar production figures continue to ramp up

 

[mspohr]

Capacity installs in China are down 53%. That's surprising to say the least.

Chinese solar production figures continue to ramp up

Looks like the 5/31 changes had a big effect on installations but there will be a significant rebound in the second half.

 

[mspohr]

Solar gardens blooming: Minnesota has more than one-third of the total solar mini-gardens in the nation | Grand Forks Herald

A 2013 state law placed no limits on the amount of power solar gardens could generate. The law requires that utilities, including Xcel Energy, must buy whatever the gardens produce. Other regulations encourage multiple, smaller gardens.

Most states discourage solar gardens, because their electricity costs almost three times more than the power from industrial-grade mega-facilities. But in Minnesota, solar power is a cottage industry that spreads money, jobs and electricity more evenly.

“It is inherently democratizing,” said John Farrell, co-director of the Minneapolis office of the Institute for Local Self-reliance.

 

[mspohr]

Solar roof lives!

Tesla Solar Roof: What Elon Musk Means When He Predicts 1,000 Roofs a Week | Inverse

Looks like production problems are sorted. Ready to roll out.

For those skeptics, my favorite Elon quote:

“People should not ascribe to malice that which can easily be explained by stupidity,” Musk said, paraphrasing Hanlon’s Razor. “Just because I’m dumb at predicting dates, does not mean I am untruthful. I don’t know…we’ve never made a mass-produced car. How am I supposed to know with precision when it’s going to get done?”

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Capacity installs in China are down 53%. That's surprising to say the least.

Chinese solar production figures continue to ramp up

One nugget in there is that the production increases are largely for higher efficiency panels. Higher efficiency for commodity panels is a big deal for growth of PV in areas with moderate insolation.

 

[mspohr]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

A Deluge of Batteries Is About to Rewire the Power Grid
Breakthroughs in energy storage are turning cars and homes into electricity providers.

Still, optimism abounds. Battery storage technology is nearing a tipping point like the one that accompanied the “massive” adoption of solar power some years ago, says David Frankel, a partner at McKinsey & Co. in Los Angeles whose clients include energy and industrial companies

“I wouldn’t want to be a utility provider, particularly in the suburbs, in another 30 years,” says James Kennedy, chief technology officer at Brisbane-based Tritium Pty. The company, which manufactures some of the world’s fastest electric car charging stations two hours north of Byron Bay, is also studying the integration of vehicles into power grids. “What might sound like science fiction is in reality only two or three years away.”

 

[mspohr]

The ten-year, 73 gigawatt renewable energy business plan

The ten-year, 73 gigawatt renewable energy business plan
Renewable portfolio standards across 29 US states represent significant, legally required additions of wind and solar – including 15 states whose requirements will drive more than 11 GWac of solar power.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

EIA Electric Power Monthly - June 2019

Utility Solar:

Capacity:

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	31,233	357	31,590	1.14%
YTD	30,171	1,419	31,590	4.70%
Rolling	27,433	4,157	31,590	15.15%

Generation:

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2018	7,811	33,846	61,768	2.08%	1.67%	1.49%
2019	8,216	36,042	68,799	2.31%	1.81%	1.65%
Difference	405	2,196	7,031	.23%	.15%	.16%

Small Scale Solar:

Capacity:

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	21,019	267	21,286	1.27%
YTD	19,522	1,764	21,286	9.04%
Rolling	17,887	3,398	21,286	19.00%

Generation:

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2018	3,058	14,609	26,892	.81%	.72%	.65%
2019	3,638	17,520	32,454	1.02%	.88%	.78%
Difference	580	2,911	5,562	.21%	.16%	.13%

Total Solar:

Capacity:

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	54,010	624	54,634	1.15%
YTD	51,450	3,184	54,634	6.19%
Rolling	47,078	7,555	54,634	16.05%

Generation:

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2018	10,869	48,455	88,660	2.89%	2.39%	2.14%
2019	11,854	53,561	101,253	3.34%	2.70%	2.43%
Difference	985	5,106	12,593	0.44%	0.31%	0.30%

Solar continues its growth.

 

[mspohr]

pv magazine International: China Power figures show how much cheaper solar is than coal.
China Power figures show how much cheaper solar is than coal

A mix of higher operating costs and ageing coal assets – plus historically generous solar tariffs – meant the utility banked more profit from the 1.53 TWh of solar electricity it sold in the first half than it did from 25.9 TWh of coal-fired power.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

Meanwhile IBEW sabotages a massive solar project in California in favor of building new polluting and far more expensive gas plants.

Los Angeles has lined up record-cheap solar power. But there's a problem

 

[S'toon]

Meanwhile IBEW sabotages a massive solar project in California in favor of building new polluting and far more expensive gas plants.

Los Angeles has lined up record-cheap solar power. But there's a problem

Normally I support unions...but then there's the fact that unions will do the wrong thing in the name of jobs.