Solar PV News

[mspohr]

The battle continues:
Gov't threatens to cut solar power subsidies

TOKYO


The Japanese government is threatening to cut existing solar power project subsidies angering the power producers and investors that say the cuts will undermine their profitability and violate earlier agreements.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) last month proposed that companies granted permits for solar projects between the fiscal years of 2012 to 2014 under so-called Feed-In-Tariffs that guarantee minimum power prices submit applications by March 2019 to connect to the grid.

 

[mspohr]

Looks like UK scammers have screwed a bunch of people with solar installations.
Homeowners trapped by 25-year solar panel contracts

Homeowners who wanted to do their bit for the environment but could not afford the outlay were promised up to 50% off their bills if they signed over the airspace above their roof for 25 years. For the startups it was a bonanza. Payouts would earn them an average of £23,000, more than triple their investment. But unscrupulous contracts obliged owners to seek permission if they wanted to extend or sell their home, or compensate them if the panels were temporarily removed for roof repairs.
Fiona Baker is similarly trapped after agreeing to leased solar panels in 2010. “I am retired with MS and myotonic dystrophy, and need to sell my house, but the buyer won’t go ahead unless I have the panels removed,” she says. “This is apparently not possible until the lease expires at the end of the 25 years.”

Meanwhile, Simon Norris is unable to remortgage because the firm that installed his leased panels appears to have breached building regulations. “The lender wanted a structural survey, which concluded that the roof should have been reinforced before the panels were fitted,” he says.

 

[mspohr]

‘Solar for the country’: Inside Southeast Asia’s largest micro-grid

a small town on the island of Mindoro is already enjoying round-the-clock electricity for the first time ever. The town of Paluan, situated in the northwest corner of Mindoro, the seventh largest island in the Philippines, dominated by an agricultural society and dubbed ‘the brownout capital of the Philippines’, is receiving power from Southeast Asia’s largest micro-grid combining solar PV, energy storage and diesel technology.

Operating under its solar-battery mini-grid focused entity named Solar Para Sa Bayan (SPSB) – ‘Solar for the country’ – Solar Philippines is supplying power to nearly 3,000 customers in Paluan while slashing the cost of power for commercial entities by half.

The micro-grid, overlooking paddy fields and set against the backdrop of Mount Calavite, a peak above 1,500 metres altitude, is fitted with 2MW of solar power, with inverters supplied by Fronius. It also has a 1.8MW / 1.5MWh storage system from US-based firm Tesla and there are three diesel generators with a combined capacity of 1,260kW.

NPC had been supplying electricity at PHP 8-10/kWh (US$0.15-0.19) for residences and PHP15-16/kWh for commercial consumers. Now Solar Philippines has slashed that rate to PHP8/kWh for both segments.

The project took just six months to build from October 2017 to March 2018. The pace of developing such projects is one of their key assets, since large-scale PV projects can take around two years, depending on location, and this is already faster than almost all other forms of energy technology.

 

[mspohr]

Change the rules, add powerlines to let renewables plus storage aim for 90% of the grid

The Wind Solar Alliance has proposed a set of broad market rule refinements to better take advantage of the technical capabilities of solar, wind and energy storage. They argue that these rule changes, plus transmission, can allow for much higher levels of renewables.

 

[mspohr]

Developing countries biggest installers of renewables BloombergNEF says

Look like developing countries are going to leapfrog to renewables just like they did with mobile phones.

 

[Lozza12]

Btw - thanks for these. I read them even if I don’t comment. Please keep them coming!

 

[mspohr]

Btw - thanks for these. I read them even if I don’t comment. Please keep them coming!

I think people might be interested but most don't require comment.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I hope this counts as news:
It's Electric Power Monthly day!

US solar generation (values in GWh):
Rolling 12 months to September

.	Utility	Est. Small	Total	% of Total
2017	50,048	22,943	72,992	1.79%
2018	65,906	28,470	94,375	2.21%

Net solar capacity additions, September 2018:

.	Current Month	Year to Date	12 mo
Utility	322.0	2,682.7	5,128.9
Est. Small	296.0	2,560.6	3,492.0
Total	618.0	5,243.3	8,620.9

Total utility capacity at end September 2018 is 1,087,638.7 MW

 

[mspohr]

EU approves France’s €600 million scheme to support innovative PV

“The commission found that the French scheme will encourage the development of innovative solar renewable energies and avoid overcompensation for the beneficiaries of the public support,” the EC said.

The €600 million scheme is expected to lead to the deployment of an additional 350 MW of PV capacity, and to support ground-mounted and rooftop projects relying on innovative technologies and ranging in size from 100 kW to 5 MW. “The beneficiaries will be selected through tenders organised until 2019,” the EC added.

 

[mspohr]

Solar power project pipeline partying like it’s 1999

Excited to see lots (34 GWac) solar PV coming to the US in the next two years.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

US solar generation (values in GWh):
Rolling 12 months to September

.	Utility	Est. Small	Total	% of Total
2017	50,048	22,943	72,992	1.79%
2018	65,906	28,470	94,375	2.21%

Implying 29.3% year-over-year production growth? That's insane.

Total utility capacity at end September 2018 is 1,087,638.7 MW

As in all electricity generation capacity? Considering that's to cover summer peak, I wonder how much solar we need to install to end non-renewable capacity growth? Probably not much more, then we speed up the early coal/gas/nuke plant retirements.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Implying 29.3% year-over-year production growth? That's insane.

It's all relative. This year didn't have much installation, but with the extension to the tax credit, 2019 and 2020 should be better.

As in all electricity generation capacity? Considering that's to cover summer peak, I wonder how much solar we need to install to end non-renewable capacity growth? Probably not much more, then we speed up the early coal/gas/nuke plant retirements.

Yes, that's everything. "Summer capacity". Just wanted to put it in perspective.

 

[mspohr]

A New Record Breaking, Flexible Solar Cell Could Power Cities of the Future | Inverse

People keep working on new alternatives to silicon for PV. Here's a promising alternative (which will be flexible).

 

[mspohr]

A New Record Breaking, Flexible Solar Cell Could Power Cities of the Future | Inverse

People keep working on new alternatives to silicon for PV. Here's a promising alternative (which will be flexible).

This news item includes a video which is a good basic primer or how solar cells work... (although slow... recommend double speed).

 

[mspohr]

FEMA recommendations for solar in hurricane areas
In case of hurricane, apply Enphase, tighten bolts and mind your wind codes!

It's not expensive to build solar systems that will withstand hurricanes. Just keep the bolts tight on a good design.

 

[mspohr]

More evidence developing countries are skipping over fossil fuel power to go to solar pv.

Kenya prepares the ground for utility-scale PV projects

 

[mspohr]

Interesting that the Balkans run mainly on lignite coal aging plants. Cheaper now to build new solar PV than run old plants.

EBRD urges Western Balkans to replace 18 GW of coal with renewables

 

[mspohr]

DIY solar is much cheaper. Wholesale Solar has a calculator to show how much you save
Solar Panel Cost Calculator | How much does it cost to install solar?

At my house I have some panels installed by a commercial vendor and some DIY which were much cheaper.

 

[Merrill]

It seems like everyone in the world understands this except our dodo in charge.

 

[mspohr]

It seems like everyone in the world understands this except our dodo in charge.

It's the greed. It's not just the chief dodo.
As long as the capitalists are in charge of the government, we will continue to have policies which end up destroying the planet.