Renewable Revolution

November 6th, 2017 by Steve Hanley

SNIPPET:

People assume that the booming economy in China over the past 30 years has made all Chinese citizens wealthy. Nothing could be further from the truth. In Zhangbei County, just 150 miles northwest of Beijing, there are 128 low income villages where residents struggle to get by. Now all those villages are in line to benefit from a 300 kilowatt solar power plant. The project will use 140,000 solar panels supplied by Yingli. They will be installed on ground mounted systems with sun tracking capability to maximize power output.   


Full article:

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/11/06/yingli-solar-panels-will-help-low-income-villages-china/

November 27, 2017

By Charles Thurston Freelance Writer
         
The latest round of solar auctions in Mexico yielded an unheard-of average price of US $20.57 per MW, including a $17.70 per MW bid by Enel, a coup for the government. However, as developers and EPCs scramble to under-bid one another in the current market, the price eventually will erode the quality that is deliverable. Indeed, this auction round may have hit the crossing point suggests Enrique Roig, the director of the Solar Steel business of Gonvarri Steel Services, based in Madrid.

"It is difficult to understand how bid prices can go lower. It can jeopardize quality and longevity. Low prices versus quality is at crossing point," Roig said.

Gonvarri is supplying the single-axis trackers for the 350-MW Solem solar project in in the municipality of El Llano, Aguascalientes state, with a planned startup of unit one in September 2018 and unit two in June 2019. The plant is being built on two sides of a road, using over 1 million solar panels and Gonvarri’s latest TracSmarT design.

The project was awarded to London-based Cubico Sustainable Investments, in Mexico’s second long-term electricity auction in September 2016. Cubico, which is developing the project with minority partner, Alten Renewable Energy, claimed at the time that Solem would be the largest solar plant to be built in Latin America.

Gonvarri will be supplying the steel for Solem from its Tijuana factory, helping to reduce the final cost of the project, since steel represents about half of the cost of a tracker. “We are still making money with Solem, but to meet the price in round three we would need to squeeze internal costs again,” said Roig. “When you squeeze price, the impact needs to be shared among the UPCs, the local contractors and the manufacturers,” he said.

“With these prices, what you will see over the next five years among small tracker manufacturers will be a strategic sharing of risk capital and cash flow,” Roig suggested. “Otherwise only large developers can bid.”

Financiers for the Solem project were a virtual who’s who of multilateral lenders, including: the Inter-American Investment Corporation, acting on behalf of the Inter-American Development Bank; the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in the Americas; the China Co-Financing Fund for Latin America & the Caribbean; the International Finance Corp., Bancomext, Banobras and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

Half of Cubico’s equity is owned by the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board fund. Cubico’s global renewables portfolio spans eight countries with an installed gross capacity of approximately 2.5 GW.

The TracSmarT design incorporates 60 panels per tracker, configured with a three module by 20 module row, which reduces the number of plies and motors per panel, compared with leading centralized tracker designs.

Gonvarri is a subsidiary of the industrial group ACEK, which has more than 140 industrial plants in 25 countries, with a presence in the European Union, Mercosur and NAFTA countries.

Lead image: Solar module close up. Credit: Depositphotos.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2017/11/as-mexican-solar-auction-prices-scrape-bottom-will-quality-be-threatened.htm

December 7, 2017

By Jennifer Runyon Chief Editor

SNIPPET:

Yung Wong, engineering manager with WorldWater and Solar Technologies explained that when disaster hits, the first thing that the Red Cross and the military do is fly in water bottles. He said that the cost to transport water comes out to about $1.85 per gallon whereas his company can provide drinking water for just a few cents per gallon though a mobile self-sustaining system that purifies water from any source. The system includes 3 kW of solar PV capacity and a 31-kWh deep cycle battery bank and transports as a 7-foot cube. 

Wong said Puerto Rico has about 11 systems in place right now. Systems are also in place in Iraq, Haiti, and Darfur.

Full article:

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2017/12/looking-for-new-solar-markets-think-water.html

January 4th, 2018 by Tina Casey

SNIPPET:

The US Solar Energy Industries Association is facing down a pair of near-existential threats with two mighty weapons of its own: a new model contract and white paper demonstrating the bottom line benefits of solar installations for commercial and industrial properties. The two documents alone are not likely to sway decision makers at the White House, but they could pile on the grief for the beleaguered Trump administration. 

Full article:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/01/04/face-looming-threats-us-solar-industry-rolls-big-guns/

January 27th, 2018 by The Beam


SNIPPET:

“If energy poverty were a person, it would be a woman ,” says Olasimbo Sojinrin, Country Manager of Solar Sister Nigeria.

In the bustle of a busy marketplace in southwestern Nigeria, Felicia Abiola-Ige sets up a stall with a wide array of solar lamps, torches, phone chargers, home systems and energy efficient stoves. She lays solar panels facing up towards the sun and places products on their boxes on the tabletop so people can pick them up and see how they work. She’s dressed in a bright orange Solar Sister t-shirt. Soon enough, several people have gathered around, leaning in to hear what these products can do.

Mrs. Abiola-Ige, 46, a science teacher from Oyo State, heard about pico solar products when a Solar Sister business associate came to demonstrate clean energy products at her school. She was surprised to learn about solar technology with a strong light and a reasonable price that could erase the need for kerosene or batteries.

“I wondered how something this useful is sold at this price? I decided to test it out.”

She bought a small d.light solar lamp for US$8 and gave it to her grandmother. Seeing how well it worked, Mrs. Abiola-Ige bought a larger solar lamp with a phone charger. From there, she signed up to be a Solar Sister entrepreneur and hasn’t looked back.

She and her teenage daughter Opeyemi go to schools, churches, cooperatives, hospitals and homes to advertise solar products and drum up business. As a teacher, she uses her networks in the education sector to talk about solar and sell products.

“We have even gone out to other parts of Oyo State. People are very interested.”

In the past several months, she has sold over 40 clean energy products.   🌟



For Africans living in rural areas, electricity is scarce and unlikely to arrive any time soon. In rural Tanzania, just 7% of people have access to power and approximately 70 million people outside of Nigeria’s cities are without electricity. Regular power cuts mean even those with grid access are often left in the dark.

Full article:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/01/27/putting-sister-solar-movement-bringing-women-energy-poverty/

FEB 18, 2018


By Juan Cole

Australia’s march to solar power is a reason for climate optimism because it is happening under adverse circumstances.

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/despite-coal-lobby-australia-double-solar-energy-2018/

February 16, 2018

By Pablo Otin Chief Editor
         
2018 should be the year that Southeast Asian solar hits its stride. That was the clear headline from the 35th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Ministers on Energy Meeting: “ASEAN calls for energy investment.”

At the opening of the ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM) towards the end of last year, Philippine Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi called on energy investors and policy officials to find new ways to meet the region’s monstrous energy needs.

“It is now imperative on us to draw in more investments and expertise to ensure that we are prepared for this new future."

How great is the need? According to the Institute for Energy Economics and the International Energy Association, ASEAN nations are projected to see their energy needs grow 80 percent to 2040 — the third biggest jump in the world, after China and India — as the region’s economy more than triples in size, and its population rises by almost a quarter to 760 million. ASEAN nations include Indonesia — the 4th most populous country in the world — as well as the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.

Electricity demand in particular is set to triple by 2040. Together, total demand growth will be equivalent to 14 percent of all global energy demand to 2040.

But not just any energy source will suffice, Cusi said, stressing the importance of clean energy in new outlays.

"ASEAN is committed to a future of renewables," he said. "From reduced carbon footprints to lower emissions to cleaner air, we know how important it is that we invest in the future of renewable energy sources," Cusi said, adding that the region must aim for the goal of grid parity.

The meeting comes at an opportune time for U.S. solar stakeholders, and for companies with deep experience of delivering low levelized-cost-of-energy (LCOE) utility-scale PV projects. Companies, like 8minutenergy, have been committed to developing projects in South Asia.  They understand how to leverage technology innovations, incorporate balance-of-system (BOS) cost reductions, and improve system design in order to achieve competitive clean electricity.

In fact, the price of solar PV is already lower than it’s ever been. Prices have declined 27 percent just in the past year, and the price of the average silicon solar module is now below $0.32 per watt. However, module price is just one factor in the dropping cost of solar. Earlier this year, a new study from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), showed future cost reductions are expected to be highly dependent on BOS (e.g. inverters, racking and mounting systems, civil works, etc.), rather than relying on the expected reductions in solar module prices. That same study estimated that the global average cost of electricity from solar PV would be roughly US$0.05/kWh to US$0.06/kWh by 2025.

U.S. solar developers have successfully driven down the costs of utility-scale solar by more than 77 percent since 2010 — a capability that is now ripe to be deployed overseas.

South and Southeast Asia need it, as they seek to expand access to electricity. There is particularly increasing demand for solar-plus-storage. As battery technology improves, these systems are proving again and again to be more reliable than traditional generators, as the fuel supply is one of the first things that gets disrupted in an emergency.

With solar and utility-scale batteries, no such disruption need be planned for. This is a lesson the U.S. military has learned, as it increasingly invests in solar-plus-storage and microgrid projects.  The Pew Charitable Trusts recently called microgrids a "triple play": they reduce costs, incorporate renewable energy, and enhance energy security.

There are several Southeast and South Asian nations that are gearing up for increased solar investment — with each taking a unique path.

This summer, Vietnam created a feed-in tariff of 9.35¢/kWh for 20 years to support utility scale PV projects.  Now, the country is partnering with the World Bank to implement a pilot auction program for solar projects. Set capacities will be announced, and developers will have the opportunity to bid on them. Both moves are designed to reach the goal of 3 GW of solar PV capacity installed (from 850 MW) by the end of the decade, and 12 GW by the end of the next.

As Tim Buckley, director at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said in May, “There is no financial investment to fund coal in the Indian market because they’re simply not competitive against solar energy prices right now.” It’s clear the future is bright ✨ for solar in Southeast Asia.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2018/02/southeast-asia-s-coming-solar-boom.html