- Email: [email protected]
IEA cautions UK
NEWS
TFT in the hot & humid The Midwest Research Institute, Battelle, and Bechtel, acting through NREL have not thrown in the towel on TFT technology. They are inviting proposals for the outdoor testing and monitoring of thin film modules in hot and humid climates. For more information contact: http://www.nrel.gov/contracts/solicitations.html Or, Jerome Hicks. Email: [email protected]
Shell targets Asia Shell Solar, which closed its solar cell and panel manufacturing facilities in Netherlands and Germany [PV Bulletin December] is clearly focusing away from Europe and into Asia. Large and scattered rural populations far away from electricity plants make Asia a prime market for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group to grow its solar power business, said Christophe Inglin, Asian MD of Shell's solar business. ‘Asia has a huge potential for growth and ultimately it will be in the rural segment. Asia has got one of the largest off-grid populations.’ Along with small solar panels powering lights and appliances in mountain villages, Shell expects Asia to use more solar power for infrastructure such as telecommunication towers and eventually meet peak residential demand. In the 1990’s Shell committed to $500m spending on renewable energy between 1998 and 2003. In 2001, it earmarked an a further $500m-$1bn to be spent over the next five years. It intends to have its $200m solar business yielding profits by 2005.
Australia’s Sliver Cell A joint venture between the Australian National University and Origin Energy has developed a new type of solar cell. The transparent Sliver Cell, uses just a tenth of silicon used in conventional solar panels while matching power, performance and efficiency. Professor Andrew Blakers, director of the ANU Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, said, ‘A solar panel using Sliver Cell technology needs the equivalent of two silicon wafers to produce 140W of power. A conventional solar panel needs about 60 silicon wafers to achieve this. By dramatically reducing the expensive pure silicon this technology represents a major advance in solar power technology.' Origin Energy's executive GM, (Generation) 4
Photovoltaics Bulletin
Andrew Stock said, ‘Origin Energy has worked with ANU’s Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems for several years, investing more than A$6m in research.’ The new approach cuts costs two ways, using less silicon for efficiency and power and needing less capital to build a similar capacity plant. For more information contact: Prof Andrew Blakers, Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, Australian National University. Tel:+61 2 6125 5905. Or Andrew Stock, Executive GM, Generation, Origin Energy Tel:+61 8 8217 5817
Nanotechnology solar Nanosys Inc, and Matsushita Electric Works have entered into a collaborative agreement for the development of nanotechnology-based solar cells for the Asian building materials market. The collaboration combines the proprietary inorganic nanocrystal and nanocomposite technologies from Nanosys, with Matsushita's high volume, low cost manufacture technologies to develop solar cells with cost and performance benefits. MEW will incorporate these devices into building materials for residential and commercial facilities in Asia. ‘This is an outstanding opportunity to deploy the compelling advantages of our expertise in nanotechnology into a major industry,’ said Nanosys founder and CEO, Larry Bock. ‘Matsushita looks forward to working with Nanosys, developing next generation solar cell technology,’ said Shungo Ozawa, executive VP of Matsushita Electric Works R&D Lab Inc,US. For more information contact: Matsusita Electric Works, 1048 Kadoma, Osaka 571-8686, Japan. Tel: (06) 6908-1131
Spain must help its own Spain, Europe’s largest solar manufacturer seems unwilling to promote the technology in its home market. The Spanish Solar PV Association (ASIF) has been urging Federal Government to provide premiums for renewable energy. ‘Without this,’ said president of ASIF Javier Anta, ‘only 30MW of solar PV will be installed by 2010, instead of predicted 110MW levels.’ Anta noted that individuals who want PV tile roofs of less than 5kW do not receive any electricity price premium, making expansion difficult in the residential sector. The application process for grants is also complex, taking months to receive approvals.
The ASIF has presented a plan that demands revisions to the Government Real Decree 1998/2818 electricity generation premiums and a range of changes related to financing. The industry has requested that premiums granted for PV equipment last for 20 years, rather than the current time limit of 2010 and is asking for changes to the premium structure, dependent upon the size of the installation. Spain’s PV manufacturing ranks third globally. It is 37% of European production and 9% of world production with 90% being exported. Now Basque alternative energy company, Gamesa, has opened a PV module assembly plant in the Seville municipality of Aznalcollar. Through subsidiary Gamesa Solar, it will invest 4.78m ($4.89m) in the plant to 2004 to meet production objectives. Gamesa’s move into solar energy is in cooperation with Andalusian Isofoton, creating more than 50 jobs in a mining sector crisis area. For more information contact: Gamesa, Parque Tecnologico de Alava, c/Leonardo da Vinci 13, 01510 Minano, Spain. Telephone: 945 185600.
Solar static in US Consumption of renewable energy in the US dropped 12% last year, according to the ‘Annual Energy Review 2001’ released by the US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. From 2000 to 2001, consumption of wind energy increased from 57 to 59trillion Btu, while solar dropped from 66 to 64t-Btu. Geothermal dropped from 317 to 315, hydroelectricity accounted for the majority of the loss as it dropped from 3,077 to 2,376, while the combined consumption of biomass, waste and alcohol fuels dropped from 2,948 to 2,869t-Btu. Total US energy consumption last year was 96,950t-Btu, of which 38,232 was oil, 23,224 was natural gas and 21,928t-Btu was coal. Estimates for the first six months of 2002 indicate that consumption of wind energy is growing at 13% from the same period last year, while solar remains static and geothermal continues to decline.
IEA cautions UK The British government must implement its renewable energy reforms and monitor the results, while reviewing the complex system of support mechanisms, streamlining those into a simpler system as soon as possible, says an International Energy Agency report.
January 2003
NEWS IEA executive director, Robert Priddle, commended last year’s introduction of New Electricity Trading Rules and the recent review by the Performance & Innovation Unit which will lead to a policy White Paper in 2003. But he urged that the UK consider introducing a form of household carbon taxation and again consider using either emissions trading or carbon taxation for industrial and power generation sectors. UK should also consider again a modification to the Climate Change Levy to reflect the carbon content of fuels. Britain's consumption of renewable energy is equivalent to 3mt of oil, the report notes, compared with 1.1m in 1990. Biomass is 503m, up from 174m a decade ago. Hydro is 439m from 448m. Active solar heating consumers 11mt, up from 6m in 1990. The largest increase is 81mt of oil equivalent from onshore wind, compared with less than 1mt in 1990. UK was also cautioned to be more proactive in a comprehensive national policy for the decommissioning of nuclear reactors and a clarification of how it intends to keep the nuclear option open.
Canada solar grows BIPV Canada’s installed capacity of solar PV rose by 23% last year, to 8,836 kW, the same rate of growth as the year before. Off-grid nondomestic applications account for 5,162kW. The off-grid domestic market is 3,322kW, with 341kW in grid distributed and 11kW in centralised grid applications. PV capacity in Canada rose to 0.28W per capita, a quarter the average of 20 other IEA nations. The potential capacity in British Columbia for building integrated solar PV is 280MW for residential and 160MW for commercial buildings, although a realistic uptake is 7MW and 4MW (respectively), says BC Hydro. Economics of using solar PV on the west coast are ‘unfavourable’ and only 2.5% of consumers would be expected to incorporate BIPV. Solar will compete with conventional power generation in the province by 2030, and the utility says promotion of BIPV will require complementary programs such as net metering and certification of equipment and practitioners, as well as education and marketing on the nonfinancial benefits of BIPV.
Belgium ditches nuclear The lower house of the Belgian parliament has voted to phase out nuclear energy by 2025, after months of debate on nuclear safety. The first reactors will be dismantled by February 2015, the last in 2025. The bill orders the shutting of seven reactors after 40 years of use and bans new construction. Four reactors are located at the Doel power plant near Antwerp, three in Tihange. Belgium joins Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden as committed to abandoning nuclear energy. Nuclear energy currently supplies 60% of Belgian electricity needs, making it the country most dependent on nuclear power after France. The government will invest in solar, wind and other renewable energy resources and more gas plants to compensate for nuclear power losses. The bill’s backers say it will eliminate the risk of a disastrous accident at the reactors and reduce the problem of dealing with radioactive waste. On average in Europe, nuclear energy meets about one third of consumers’ needs. But Electrabel, which owns the reactors, has urged the government to reconsider, ‘We deplore this decision because there is today not any single reason, be it technical, economic or ecological, to close the plants ahead of time,’ a spokeswoman said, adding the government should have conducted a study on viable alternatives before introducing such a bill.
January 2003
i-Stop-ping Carmanah gets grant and orders Carmanah, is one of eight successful companies from more than 500 Canadian applications to the Sustainable Development Technology Canada for research grants. In partnership with BC Hydro and British Columbia Institute of Technology, it has received approximately C$500,000 ($320.225) from SDTC to develop solar-powered LED edge-lit signs. Grants contribute approximately 33% of the total project cost. SDTC created in November 2001, is part of the Canadian government’s support for energy conserving technology companies. Carmanah founder, David Green said: ‘This grant enables our company to work on the development of solar-powered LED sign lighting technology that uses a tenth the power of conventional illuminated signs.’ In another sign of official approval for the Canadian manufacturer, which has developed solar-powered LED technology for marine navigation, road and rail hazard lights and other industrial applications, Carmanah’s hometown of Victoria, BC, plans to install 10 i-Stop units, representing the first order in Canada. But ten public transit authorities in North America have purchased the entire first production run of the company’s solar-powered
IN BRIEF Spain’s TTA Award for infrastructure The president of EUREC agency, Professor Luther, Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems, presented the third EUREC Technology Prize for 2001 to Spain's Trama Tecno Ambiental (TTA). This was for achievement in the field of rural electrification using renewable energy sources, in particular photovoltaics. TTA has developed state-ofthe-art components and systems that are adapted to the rural electrification needs, being modular, robust, easy to maintain, repair or to exchange in case of failure. What characterises TTA is it created structures that allowed a sustainable integration of autonomous energy systems in rural communities. This took into account the socio-economic realities and assured a real involvement of the PV end-users. When developing projects, this was mainly achieved through the user association SEBA, which TTA played a large part in creating ten years ago. TTA now operates, on behalf of SEBA, for over 200 PV stand-alone or hybrid PVdiesel systems in Spain, supplying electricity to 400 families. TTA has also realised numerous comparable projects in Europe, South America, Africa and the Pacific.
Plans for US solar factory halted US Spectrum Solar’s founder, Joel Davidson, has declared that plans for a new solar electric panel factory in Los Angeles have been stopped. Davidson, a solar advocate and industry expert, said: ‘Everyone likes the idea of a solar factory and more inner-city jobs, but we were unable to get the investment money needed for startup.’ Davidson added, ‘The solar market is booming, but some solar companies are automating production and laying off workers. How can people out of work buy solar panels?’
Solar bulls At a time when two of the major solar companies have cut back on their PV production in US and Europe, eclareon GmbH of Berlin, reports that the European solar industry is expecting tremendous growth in the next few years. It's ‘Sunrise 2002 European Solar Thermal and PV Markets’ offers an overview of 14 EU states plus Switzerland, providing market insight for hot water heating as well as solar electricity including information on policies, support, sales figures, installer qualification and the prices, as well as the players and products. A more recent report from eclarion covers current renew ables penetration in Ecuador. Contact: Email: [email protected]
Photovoltaics Bulletin
5
TFT in the hot & humid The Midwest Research Institute, Battelle, and Bechtel, acting through NREL have not thrown in the towel on TFT technology. They are inviting proposals for the outdoor testing and monitoring of thin film modules in hot and humid climates. For more information contact: http://www.nrel.gov/contracts/solicitations.html Or, Jerome Hicks. Email: [email protected]
Shell targets Asia Shell Solar, which closed its solar cell and panel manufacturing facilities in Netherlands and Germany [PV Bulletin December] is clearly focusing away from Europe and into Asia. Large and scattered rural populations far away from electricity plants make Asia a prime market for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group to grow its solar power business, said Christophe Inglin, Asian MD of Shell's solar business. ‘Asia has a huge potential for growth and ultimately it will be in the rural segment. Asia has got one of the largest off-grid populations.’ Along with small solar panels powering lights and appliances in mountain villages, Shell expects Asia to use more solar power for infrastructure such as telecommunication towers and eventually meet peak residential demand. In the 1990’s Shell committed to $500m spending on renewable energy between 1998 and 2003. In 2001, it earmarked an a further $500m-$1bn to be spent over the next five years. It intends to have its $200m solar business yielding profits by 2005.
Australia’s Sliver Cell A joint venture between the Australian National University and Origin Energy has developed a new type of solar cell. The transparent Sliver Cell, uses just a tenth of silicon used in conventional solar panels while matching power, performance and efficiency. Professor Andrew Blakers, director of the ANU Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, said, ‘A solar panel using Sliver Cell technology needs the equivalent of two silicon wafers to produce 140W of power. A conventional solar panel needs about 60 silicon wafers to achieve this. By dramatically reducing the expensive pure silicon this technology represents a major advance in solar power technology.' Origin Energy's executive GM, (Generation) 4
Photovoltaics Bulletin
Andrew Stock said, ‘Origin Energy has worked with ANU’s Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems for several years, investing more than A$6m in research.’ The new approach cuts costs two ways, using less silicon for efficiency and power and needing less capital to build a similar capacity plant. For more information contact: Prof Andrew Blakers, Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, Australian National University. Tel:+61 2 6125 5905. Or Andrew Stock, Executive GM, Generation, Origin Energy Tel:+61 8 8217 5817
Nanotechnology solar Nanosys Inc, and Matsushita Electric Works have entered into a collaborative agreement for the development of nanotechnology-based solar cells for the Asian building materials market. The collaboration combines the proprietary inorganic nanocrystal and nanocomposite technologies from Nanosys, with Matsushita's high volume, low cost manufacture technologies to develop solar cells with cost and performance benefits. MEW will incorporate these devices into building materials for residential and commercial facilities in Asia. ‘This is an outstanding opportunity to deploy the compelling advantages of our expertise in nanotechnology into a major industry,’ said Nanosys founder and CEO, Larry Bock. ‘Matsushita looks forward to working with Nanosys, developing next generation solar cell technology,’ said Shungo Ozawa, executive VP of Matsushita Electric Works R&D Lab Inc,US. For more information contact: Matsusita Electric Works, 1048 Kadoma, Osaka 571-8686, Japan. Tel: (06) 6908-1131
Spain must help its own Spain, Europe’s largest solar manufacturer seems unwilling to promote the technology in its home market. The Spanish Solar PV Association (ASIF) has been urging Federal Government to provide premiums for renewable energy. ‘Without this,’ said president of ASIF Javier Anta, ‘only 30MW of solar PV will be installed by 2010, instead of predicted 110MW levels.’ Anta noted that individuals who want PV tile roofs of less than 5kW do not receive any electricity price premium, making expansion difficult in the residential sector. The application process for grants is also complex, taking months to receive approvals.
The ASIF has presented a plan that demands revisions to the Government Real Decree 1998/2818 electricity generation premiums and a range of changes related to financing. The industry has requested that premiums granted for PV equipment last for 20 years, rather than the current time limit of 2010 and is asking for changes to the premium structure, dependent upon the size of the installation. Spain’s PV manufacturing ranks third globally. It is 37% of European production and 9% of world production with 90% being exported. Now Basque alternative energy company, Gamesa, has opened a PV module assembly plant in the Seville municipality of Aznalcollar. Through subsidiary Gamesa Solar, it will invest 4.78m ($4.89m) in the plant to 2004 to meet production objectives. Gamesa’s move into solar energy is in cooperation with Andalusian Isofoton, creating more than 50 jobs in a mining sector crisis area. For more information contact: Gamesa, Parque Tecnologico de Alava, c/Leonardo da Vinci 13, 01510 Minano, Spain. Telephone: 945 185600.
Solar static in US Consumption of renewable energy in the US dropped 12% last year, according to the ‘Annual Energy Review 2001’ released by the US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. From 2000 to 2001, consumption of wind energy increased from 57 to 59trillion Btu, while solar dropped from 66 to 64t-Btu. Geothermal dropped from 317 to 315, hydroelectricity accounted for the majority of the loss as it dropped from 3,077 to 2,376, while the combined consumption of biomass, waste and alcohol fuels dropped from 2,948 to 2,869t-Btu. Total US energy consumption last year was 96,950t-Btu, of which 38,232 was oil, 23,224 was natural gas and 21,928t-Btu was coal. Estimates for the first six months of 2002 indicate that consumption of wind energy is growing at 13% from the same period last year, while solar remains static and geothermal continues to decline.
IEA cautions UK The British government must implement its renewable energy reforms and monitor the results, while reviewing the complex system of support mechanisms, streamlining those into a simpler system as soon as possible, says an International Energy Agency report.
January 2003
NEWS IEA executive director, Robert Priddle, commended last year’s introduction of New Electricity Trading Rules and the recent review by the Performance & Innovation Unit which will lead to a policy White Paper in 2003. But he urged that the UK consider introducing a form of household carbon taxation and again consider using either emissions trading or carbon taxation for industrial and power generation sectors. UK should also consider again a modification to the Climate Change Levy to reflect the carbon content of fuels. Britain's consumption of renewable energy is equivalent to 3mt of oil, the report notes, compared with 1.1m in 1990. Biomass is 503m, up from 174m a decade ago. Hydro is 439m from 448m. Active solar heating consumers 11mt, up from 6m in 1990. The largest increase is 81mt of oil equivalent from onshore wind, compared with less than 1mt in 1990. UK was also cautioned to be more proactive in a comprehensive national policy for the decommissioning of nuclear reactors and a clarification of how it intends to keep the nuclear option open.
Canada solar grows BIPV Canada’s installed capacity of solar PV rose by 23% last year, to 8,836 kW, the same rate of growth as the year before. Off-grid nondomestic applications account for 5,162kW. The off-grid domestic market is 3,322kW, with 341kW in grid distributed and 11kW in centralised grid applications. PV capacity in Canada rose to 0.28W per capita, a quarter the average of 20 other IEA nations. The potential capacity in British Columbia for building integrated solar PV is 280MW for residential and 160MW for commercial buildings, although a realistic uptake is 7MW and 4MW (respectively), says BC Hydro. Economics of using solar PV on the west coast are ‘unfavourable’ and only 2.5% of consumers would be expected to incorporate BIPV. Solar will compete with conventional power generation in the province by 2030, and the utility says promotion of BIPV will require complementary programs such as net metering and certification of equipment and practitioners, as well as education and marketing on the nonfinancial benefits of BIPV.
Belgium ditches nuclear The lower house of the Belgian parliament has voted to phase out nuclear energy by 2025, after months of debate on nuclear safety. The first reactors will be dismantled by February 2015, the last in 2025. The bill orders the shutting of seven reactors after 40 years of use and bans new construction. Four reactors are located at the Doel power plant near Antwerp, three in Tihange. Belgium joins Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden as committed to abandoning nuclear energy. Nuclear energy currently supplies 60% of Belgian electricity needs, making it the country most dependent on nuclear power after France. The government will invest in solar, wind and other renewable energy resources and more gas plants to compensate for nuclear power losses. The bill’s backers say it will eliminate the risk of a disastrous accident at the reactors and reduce the problem of dealing with radioactive waste. On average in Europe, nuclear energy meets about one third of consumers’ needs. But Electrabel, which owns the reactors, has urged the government to reconsider, ‘We deplore this decision because there is today not any single reason, be it technical, economic or ecological, to close the plants ahead of time,’ a spokeswoman said, adding the government should have conducted a study on viable alternatives before introducing such a bill.
January 2003
i-Stop-ping Carmanah gets grant and orders Carmanah, is one of eight successful companies from more than 500 Canadian applications to the Sustainable Development Technology Canada for research grants. In partnership with BC Hydro and British Columbia Institute of Technology, it has received approximately C$500,000 ($320.225) from SDTC to develop solar-powered LED edge-lit signs. Grants contribute approximately 33% of the total project cost. SDTC created in November 2001, is part of the Canadian government’s support for energy conserving technology companies. Carmanah founder, David Green said: ‘This grant enables our company to work on the development of solar-powered LED sign lighting technology that uses a tenth the power of conventional illuminated signs.’ In another sign of official approval for the Canadian manufacturer, which has developed solar-powered LED technology for marine navigation, road and rail hazard lights and other industrial applications, Carmanah’s hometown of Victoria, BC, plans to install 10 i-Stop units, representing the first order in Canada. But ten public transit authorities in North America have purchased the entire first production run of the company’s solar-powered
IN BRIEF Spain’s TTA Award for infrastructure The president of EUREC agency, Professor Luther, Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems, presented the third EUREC Technology Prize for 2001 to Spain's Trama Tecno Ambiental (TTA). This was for achievement in the field of rural electrification using renewable energy sources, in particular photovoltaics. TTA has developed state-ofthe-art components and systems that are adapted to the rural electrification needs, being modular, robust, easy to maintain, repair or to exchange in case of failure. What characterises TTA is it created structures that allowed a sustainable integration of autonomous energy systems in rural communities. This took into account the socio-economic realities and assured a real involvement of the PV end-users. When developing projects, this was mainly achieved through the user association SEBA, which TTA played a large part in creating ten years ago. TTA now operates, on behalf of SEBA, for over 200 PV stand-alone or hybrid PVdiesel systems in Spain, supplying electricity to 400 families. TTA has also realised numerous comparable projects in Europe, South America, Africa and the Pacific.
Plans for US solar factory halted US Spectrum Solar’s founder, Joel Davidson, has declared that plans for a new solar electric panel factory in Los Angeles have been stopped. Davidson, a solar advocate and industry expert, said: ‘Everyone likes the idea of a solar factory and more inner-city jobs, but we were unable to get the investment money needed for startup.’ Davidson added, ‘The solar market is booming, but some solar companies are automating production and laying off workers. How can people out of work buy solar panels?’
Solar bulls At a time when two of the major solar companies have cut back on their PV production in US and Europe, eclareon GmbH of Berlin, reports that the European solar industry is expecting tremendous growth in the next few years. It's ‘Sunrise 2002 European Solar Thermal and PV Markets’ offers an overview of 14 EU states plus Switzerland, providing market insight for hot water heating as well as solar electricity including information on policies, support, sales figures, installer qualification and the prices, as well as the players and products. A more recent report from eclarion covers current renew ables penetration in Ecuador. Contact: Email: [email protected]
Photovoltaics Bulletin
5