A Solar House Divided

Posted on November 18, 2011 by quest

What would Abraham Lincoln think about the internal divide within the US solar industry and its reaction into claims that China is using unfair trade practices to dump solar panels in the US market? A few days go the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE) representing dozens of U.S. solar companies and thousands of American jobs, have joined to urge policymakers to help find a resolution to SolarWorld’s harmful trade petition. The Coalition now represents 52 American solar companies from across the United States and throughout the solar value chain or nearly 10% of the U.S. solar industry workforce.”Every day, new American solar companies are stepping forward to oppose SolarWorld’s bid to block competition in the U.S. solar industry,” said Alan Epstein, President and COO of KDC Solar LLC, a new CASE member based in New Jersey. “Competition is good for the U.S. solar industry, good for solar jobs, and most importantly, good for creating and preserving long-term jobs for our electric customers and therefore the economy. The solar industry must remain united in its mission to make solar energy affordable for everyone.”

The Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy actions comes on the heals of the U.S. Department of Commerce‘s decision to initiate an intensive, year-long investigation into Chinese solar export practices. “The anti-competitive tactics of Chinese exporters have threatened to wipe out U.S. producers and jobs said,” Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld and a leader for the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) Brinser said. “Domestic producers look forward to returning to steady increases in efficiency and sustainable decreases in pricing that directly result from legal international competition – and to advances in America’s renewable-energy future.” CASE members represent a large cross section of the U.S. solar industry, both large and small companies, including silicon and module manufacturers, project developers, financial and real estate services and installers.

“We’ve hired 400 employees this year, including electricians, roofers, salespeople, call center professionals – affordable solar energy in the United States is the catalyst for this new economic opportunity and these jobs,” said Ken Button, co-founder and president, Verengo Solar Plus. “If SolarWorld is successful with its petition, it would hurt the broader U.S. solar industry. Are SolarWorld’s jobs more important than ours?” In a recent solar industry report, Jefferies analyst Jesse Pichel explained why SolarWorld’s anti-trade petition could hurt broader U.S. solar industry growth: “The U.S. solar industry, already suffering from a lack of financing, will experience higher panel prices and lower demand if countervailing duties are imposed as early 2012. SolarWorld may see backlash as U.S. developers and installers are hurt by this scorched Earth approach.”SolarWorld‘s trade action has been largely unpopular in the U.S. solar industry, given its potential to hurt thousands of jobs throughout the solar value chain.

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SkyFire Solar Powers Net Zero Tesla

Posted on November 14, 2011 by quest

It looks as if the solar and the electric vehicle industry and are on the something. Just last week Sunpower and Chevy Volt paired to provide in home solar solution powering up a Volt. On the storage side of things, NRG Energy, Inc. is partnering with the University of Delaware to take electric vehicles (EVs) to the next level with eV2gsm, a company commercializing new technology that will enable EV owners to sell electric storage services from the batteries of parked EVs to help stabilize the electricity grid. All of this is well, electrifying.

Now one of Canada’s largest solar contractors with photovoltaic systems operating throughout Western Canada, SkyFire Energy Inc. has announced today the installation of a solar system on a private residence south of Calgary to power a Tesla Roadster, the world’s first electric supercar. The array of 12 installed solar panels will deliver enough energy to offset 100 per cent of the car’s annual charging requirements.

David Kelly, partner, SkyFire Energy said, “With SkyFire’s extensive experience and qualifications of delivering solar solutions for commercial and residential properties, it was a welcome extension of our team’s expertise towards this innovative project that powers Alberta’s first net-zero energy car.” Prior to installation, SkyFire monitored the necessary energy usage during the first few months and sized a 2160-Watt photovoltaic system to generate the requisite amount of energy from the sun.

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California One Gigawatts of Solar And Growing

Posted on November 11, 2011 by quest

Environment California Research & Policy Center released a new report documenting that California’s innovative Million Solar Roofs Initiative, halfway through its legislatively mandated timeline, is on pace to meet its goal of installing 3 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2016, is helping to reduce the cost of solar energy, and is creating thousands of jobs throughout the state. These findings come just as California hits the milestone of installing more than 1 gigawatt of rooftop solar power across the state—a milestone that only five other countries in the world have reached.

“California can become the Saudi Arabia of the sun if it continues to get behind big, successful solar programs,” said Michelle Kinman, Clean Energy Advocate with Environment California Research & Policy Center and co-author of the report, Building a Brighter Future: California’s Progress Toward a Million Solar Roofs. “All signs point to a bright future for solar power in California, meaning cleaner air, cleaner energy, and more jobs.”

The 2006 Million Solar Roofs Bill (SB 1 – Murray) was historic in both scope and scale, representing the first unified state effort to turn solar power into a commonplace and affordable energy resource for average citizens. The law established a 10-year, statewide interagency effort, now called the Go Solar California campaign, which includes programs that fund solar projects on homes, commercial businesses, farms, and government and non-profit buildings. Read the Full Report

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Solar Power Wars

Posted on November 10, 2011 by quest

Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld and a leader for the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) said.“We are pleased that the facts have begun to speak for themselves. China’s plans for the U.S. market have been clear from its excessive and illegal subsidization of its export-heavy industry, its ever-escalating drive to dump product at artificially low prices on the U.S. marketplace and its contrived public-affairs tactics, including a new coalition for Chinese importers that purports to serve the interests of American consumers.” His comments came in response to the U.S. Department of Commerce‘s decision to initiate an intensive, year-long investigation into Chinese solar export practices. “The anti-competitive tactics of Chinese exporters have threatened to wipe out U.S. producers and jobs,” Brinser said. “Domestic producers look forward to returning to steady increases in efficiency and sustainable decreases in pricing that directly result from legal international competition – and to advances in America’s renewable-energy future.”

A recently published survey by the Solar Energy Industries Association is clear that the U.S. public cares deeply about the vitality of domestic manufacturing as it stands in China’s crosshairs. The survey shows overwhelming bipartisan support – 82 percent – for U.S. solar manufacturing. Chinese companies have almost no production on U.S. soil. CASM alleges that China’s state-sponsored industry has mounted an onslaught of dumping that has included a surge of imports in recent months. Chinese exports into the United States in July alone exceeded those of all of 2010, according to federal trade data. To counter this alleged surge ahead of the U.S. investigation, the SolarWorld-led coalition is seeking a federal determination of “critical circumstances,” requiring that any import duties required to offset alleged improper trade tactics be applied retroactively for three months.

In discussing China’s market share accomplishments Jifin Gao, President of China based Trina Solar said he, “attributed that success to better operational management that creates a “huge cost advantage” to competitors from Japan, Europe or the U.S., he said. “We have a faster reaction to the market because it’s being managed properly. This gives us a competitive advantage.”Assuming the International Trade Commission finds on Dec. 5 that Chinese exports have harmed the domestic industry, the first possible determination on “critical circumstances” could come as soon as Jan. 12, meaning importers of record could later be required to deposit estimated duties on imports back to this past Oct. 14, according to CASM.

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Solar Energy Leader SunPower Reorganizes

Posted on November 4, 2011 by quest

Silicon Valley solar manufacturer SunPower Corp. today announced a reorganization to align its businesses and cost structure with expected market conditions in 2012 and beyond. These changes will be effective immediately. Several of the company’s longest-tenured executives will adjust their areas of responsibility, including Howard Wenger, who will assume the title of President, Regions and Jack Peurach, who will assume the title Executive Vice President, Products, and Marty Neese, will remain Chief Operating Officer with expanded responsibilities. In addition, the company announced today on its earnings call that its Chief Financial Officer, Dennis Arriola, will be leaving the company in March of 2012 and that Jim Pape, its President, Residential and Commercial, will be leaving the company later this month. Earlier this year SunPower partnered with French oil producer, Total in a transaction that gives Total a $2.3 billion equity stake in SunPower. The companies announced that the broad strategic relationship would shape the future of the solar industry.

New Solar Global Power Makers

“SunPower’s differentiated technology and vertically integrated, diversified channel strategy has established our company as a leader in the industry and positioned us well to address the challenges of the current solar market environment,” said Tom Werner, SunPower CEO. “As we look to 2012, we plan to align our business structure “Everybody loves the sunshine”

to accelerate our product and technology innovation, increase the efficiency of our processes and reduce our costs. We are reorganizing the company to a regional business focus, a products group with product line profit and loss responsibility, and we will extend the responsibility of our upstream group to incorporate the research and development of our world-leading efficiency solar cell and panels.

“I thank Howard, Jack and Marty for stepping up to new or expanded roles at SunPower,” continued Werner. “Over the last three years, Dennis has established a culture of strong controls, continual process improvements and high quality standards in the finance and accounting teams, and built up a strong set of leaders around him. After the recent successful series of financings and credit facilities that he and his team have completed, I accepted his request to transition out of the company to pursue new opportunities and thank him for his leadership and contributions during tremendous growth at SunPower. Similarly, Jim Pape has grown the residential and commercial business in scale, footprint and efficiency during his tenure and we thank him for his contributions and leadership.”

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Trina Solar Opens Headquarters in Singapore

Posted on November 2, 2011 by quest

Trina Solar, a leading integrated manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) products announced today the establishment of its Asia Pacific operating headquarters in Singapore.The new Asia Pacific headquarters are expected to provide management functions covering administration, sales, project development, R&D, logistics and purchasing operations to further strengthen Trina Solar’s growing presence and customer base in the region. The new administrative region is expected to include Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, as well as Korea and will extend to the Middle East and South Africa.

Jifan Gao, Chairman and CEO of Trina Solar, commented, “Singapore’s excellent investment environment, combined with its skilled talent base and strong logistics infrastructure, makes it a strategically advantageous location for Trina Solar to establish our regional headquarters. Our new Singapore headquarters complements our recent Asia Pacific expansion into Japan, Australia and Korea, while opening up emerging PV markets such as Thailand and India. We are confident that these headquarters will serve as an ideal gateway to markets throughout the region for Trina Solar.” Gao has also recently responded to US solar panel makers claims that Chinese solar companies were dumping solar panels in the US. Reporting in Bloomberg Gao said,

“Chinese solar-panel makers borrow”

Dr. Haiyan Sun, Head of the Asia Pacific Headquarters added, “We believe that Trina Solar can help Singapore become more integrated with the emerging PV markets such as Japan, Thailand and India, which will help boost regional development. Trina Solar is highly optimistic about the Asia Pacific market and we believe that our new Singapore headquarters is expected to generate a growing portion of the company’s global sales over the next several years.”Dr. Sun added, “We are delighted by the opportunity to elevate our regional R&D strengths through Singapore’s strong local talent pool, and to develop strategic cooperative alliances with local research institutes and universities.”