Solar PV News

[mspohr]

Morgan Stanley: Duke, other utilities ignoring profit opportunity by failing to decarbonize rapidly: As the cost of clean energy has plummeted, energy analysts have reported with increasing frequency that a transition by utilities from coal to less costly clean energy would save the nation’s electricity customers billions of dollars. The latest, and perhaps more surprising, wave of reporting comes from Wall Street analysts, who now say that in addition to saving customers money, a rapid coal-to-clean energy transition would also be highly profitable for utilities’ investors...the analysts found that the switch to lower-cost renewables creates an opportunity for the utilities to invest $64 billion in capital expenditures through 2025, creating profit opportunities while saving customers money. Source: Energy and Policy Institute

 

[mspohr]

Now Would Be A Good Time To Appreciate Solar Power, Amirite?

The Solar Power Advantage
Black start! Now we’re getting somewhere. Until recent years, the conventional wisdom was that only a conventional power plant could get the grid up and running again after a system wide failure.

By 2018, though, the Energy Department was performing real-world research demonstrating that utility-scale solar power plants could provide the same — or better — grid services than conventional power plants.

In one field study, a new 300-megawatt solar power plant reacted just as quickly to load changes as other power plants, while achieving a regulation accuracy that was almost 30% higher.

Energy Department researchers have also found that solar power can fill the need for reserve power that is pre-synchronized to drop into the grid at a moment’s notice.

 

[S'toon]

Two new records were announced for perovskite-silicon solar cell efficiency last Thursday. The news didn't get much attention, perhaps because solar power records are being broken so fast no one sticks out. The sheer speed with which advances are being made in the solar sector hides the rate of change from anyone not paying close attention, leading to a lack of recognition of how fast energy generation could be about to change.


Silicon cells dominate the solar industry, but the high temperatures required to produce them mean their stunning fall in price can't go on forever. Perovskite cells have almost unlimited potential but with some challenges still to address. Tandem cells, where a perovskite layer captures blue light and silicon the longer wavelengths, could be a bridge.


"Adding a layer of perovskite crystals on top of textured silicon to create a tandem solar cell is a great way to enhance its performance," Dr Yi Hou, of Toronto University, said in a statement. "But the current industry standard is based on wafers... that were not designed with this approach in mind."


Where others have polished the silicon smooth, adding costs, Hou made the perovskite thicker so it can ride over the silicon's bumps. Hou announced in Science this approach has been validated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Research, which provides independent verification of solar engineers' claims. Hou's tandem cell achieved 25.7 percent efficiency and maintained almost all of this after prolonged exposure to temperatures of up to 85ºC (185ºF).

<snip>
Full article at:
Solar Power Breakthroughs Are Coming So Fast We've Stopped Paying Attention

 

[mspohr]

Americans buy toilet paper, Australians buy solar

Forget toilet paper, consumers are panic buying solar

In uncertain times people rush to certainties. It is said that the only certainties are death and taxes, but what about pasta, toilet paper and solar PV? We certainly need to eat, to use the toilet, and just as certainly as the tax bill comes, so too does the electricity bill, so why not do whatever we can to lessen the impact?

Our growth is a by-product of economic uncertainty that is driving both residential consumers and businesses to look for ways to future-proof their savings, homes, and businesses,” continued Hayes. “People are also more worried about the state of the planet than they have been before, and rightly so. They’re looking for ways they can make a difference like conserving energy, being aware of the products they buy, and their means of transportation.”

I think of my own solar as a prepaid purchase of a 25 year supply of electricity at 7 cents a kWh (free after that). Plus it will be reliable. I can even go off grid with my storage.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

EIA Electric Power Monthly - March 2020 (to January 2020)

Solar lags wind by a lot, but continues to grow.

1,042.0MW of new utility scale solar was added, taking the total to 36,613.2MW. Planned 12-month solar capacity additions increased by 365.5MW to 13,342.1MW.

Including estimated small-scale generation, in January solar was 2.00% of US generation compared to 1.54% a year ago. That brought the rolling share to 2.63%, up from 2.24% a year ago.

Utility Solar:

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	37,329.1	1,042.2	38,371.3	2.79%
YTD	37,329.1	1,042.2	38,371.3	2.79%
Rolling	32,682.7	5,688.6	38,371.3	17.41%
Plan +12mo	14,018.8	365.5	13,342.1	.

Generation (GWh):

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2019	3,641	3,655	64,162	1.01%	1.02%	1.53%
2020	4,555	4,555	73,134	1.33%	1.33%	1.77%
Difference	914	900	8,972	0.32%	0.32%	0.24%

Small Scale Solar:

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	23,210.8	372.0	23,582.8	1.60%
YTD	23,210.8	372.0	23,582.8	1.60%
Rolling	19,727.0	3,855.8	23,582.8	19.55%

Generation (GWh):

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2019	1,910	1,906	29,826	0.53%	0.53%	0.71%
2020	2,293	2,293	35,428	0.67%	0.67%	0.86%
Difference	383	387	5,602	0.14%	0.14%	0.15%

Total Solar:

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	60,539.9	1,414.2	61,954.1	2.34%
YTD	60,539.9	1,414.2	61,954.1	2.34%
Rolling	52,409.7	9,544.4	61,954.1	18.21%

Generation (GWh):

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2019	5,551	5,561	93,987	1.54%	1.55%	2.24%
2020	6,848	6,848	108,562	2.00%	2.00%	2.63%
Difference	1,297	1,287	14,575	0.46%	0.46%	0.38%

 

[mspohr]

Reasons to be cheerful: US utility solar pipeline is ‘stronger than ever’

Colin Smith, senior analyst at the fossil fuel and renewables research firm, gave some reasons to be cheerful. He said, ‘Even going into a pandemic, the market is well-positioned.”

When humanity makes it through this episode

When humanity makes it through this episode, there’s still 30.4 GW of new solar contracted. This is voluntary procurement driven by price, rather than mandate. Solar growth is driven by merchant projects in ERCOT with no off-take agreement — just selling into the power markets. And it’s driven by corporate procurement. These conditions are in place now and will be in place as we recover.

 

[mspohr]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

GCL System Integration Technology Co. plans to build the world’s biggest solar-panel manufacturing plant, with capacity to meet half of global demand.

The plant’s maximum output is double the 30 gigawatts of capacity installed in China in 2019, and would be able to supply to almost 51% of solar installations worldwide. The project will boost GCL System’s ability to produce panels more than nine-fold from 7.2 gigawatts, according to data from BloombergNEF. The world’s biggest solar-panel maker, JinkoSolar Holding Co,. has 16 gigawatts of capacity.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

GCL System Integration Technology Co. plans to build the world’s biggest solar-panel manufacturing plant, with capacity to meet half of global demand.

The plant’s maximum output is double the 30 gigawatts of capacity installed in China in 2019, and would be able to supply to almost 51% of solar installations worldwide. The project will boost GCL System’s ability to produce panels more than nine-fold from 7.2 gigawatts, according to data from BloombergNEF. The world’s biggest solar-panel maker, JinkoSolar Holding Co,. has 16 gigawatts of capacity.

So, no, it wouldn't. _Eventually_ it _could_ have capacity matching half of this year's manufacturing capacity, but global manufacturing capacity has been growing rapidly.

 

[mspohr]

So, no, it wouldn't. _Eventually_ it _could_ have capacity matching half of this year's manufacturing capacity, but global manufacturing capacity has been growing rapidly.

You get an A for reading comprehension.
What's your point?

 

[dhrivnak]

Morgan Stanley: Duke, other utilities ignoring profit opportunity by failing to decarbonize rapidly: As the cost of clean energy has plummeted, energy analysts have reported with increasing frequency that a transition by utilities from coal to less costly clean energy would save the nation’s electricity customers billions of dollars. The latest, and perhaps more surprising, wave of reporting comes from Wall Street analysts, who now say that in addition to saving customers money, a rapid coal-to-clean energy transition would also be highly profitable for utilities’ investors...the analysts found that the switch to lower-cost renewables creates an opportunity for the utilities to invest $64 billion in capital expenditures through 2025, creating profit opportunities while saving customers money. Source: Energy and Policy Institute

I think they may be seeing the light as last year coal dropped to a record low of 23% of our electricity a drop of 16% from the previous record low in 2018. Solar is growing strongly at 10% according to the EIA.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

More on the GCL 60(sixty!)GW plant....

GCL System plans to build world’s biggest solar-panel plant

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

You get an A for reading comprehension.
What's your point?

That the article is extremely misleading.

The company has concrete plans to add 15GW of manufacturing capacity.
That's something like 1/9 of the previously forecast total for Chinese PV manufacturing capacity at the end of 2020. Total capacity expansion for 2020 was already forecast to be relatively high.

 

[mspohr]

Assessing the sustainability of existing photovoltaic technologies

Solar PV technologies are expected to play a massive role in the world’s battle against climate change; headed for a global deployment of 7.5 TW by the year 2050. However, a number of PV chemistries exist in the market and PV modules get better in performance and durability by the year. This analysis looks at various PV technologies and develops a technological and ecological rationale for the best PV technology mix to combat global warming

 

[mspohr]

Cooling down PV panels with water

10% increase in output.
Designed for large installations but I might try this at home.

 

[Merrill]

I do not think those numbers are accurate, 25c is only 77f I have washed my panels in the summer when temps are in the 80’s and 90’s and did not see a significant increase in production. If you can use recycled water that is more efficient but I’m on a well and would waste lots of power doing this.

 

[mspohr]

I do not think those numbers are accurate, 25c is only 77f I have washed my panels in the summer when temps are in the 80’s and 90’s and did not see a significant increase in production. If you can use recycled water that is more efficient but I’m on a well and would waste lots of power doing this.

I think they start the water flow at 25C ambient. I've noticed my panels are very hot in the sun even with a low ambient temperature so the water should cool them. I've noticed that the power output of my panels jumps sharply when I hose off the pollen that accumulates in the Spring. It drops back down after 10-15 minutes.
The commercial system uses recycled rainwater and that is probably the best method although it introduces complexity. I'm thinking of a closed loop system with a gutter at the bottom to collect runoff (we don't have rain in the summer so it would need to be primed with tap water).

 

[TheTalkingMule]

I've noticed mine a clip a lot more when there are intermittent clouds, but it's also only March so I was hesitant to apply blame to temperature rather than dirt or something else.

 

[mspohr]

I've noticed mine a clip a lot more when there are intermittent clouds, but it's also only March so I was hesitant to apply blame to temperature rather than dirt or something else.

I get some of my best production in the Spring and Fall when it's cool.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Solar power, even at night: These giant space mirrors could send sunlight back to Earth after dark

Rather speculative at the moment, to put it mildly, but I thought it was interesting that people are thinking about this. The idea is to keep solar panels generating at dawn and dusk, when electricity demand often peaks.

 

[mspohr]

Commentary: California’s next renewable energy goal: A million solar batteries | CalMatters

A new decade calls for a new goal: 1 million solar batteries by 2028.

An estimated $2 billion price tag on the economic loss during PG&E’s blackouts suggests increasing local storage capacity is a smart move for economic stability as well as energy reliability.

Today’s batteries help homeowners and businesses store solar energy for use in the evening or during a blackout. This smooths out prices, relieves the electric grid, reduces air pollution and grants consumers self-reliance that is far better and cleaner than a generator.