Intersolar Highlights Innovations In U.S. Solar

Posted on July 1, 2012 by QuestPoint

Intersolar North America, the premier solar industry exhibition and conference in North America for solar professionals to exchange information and develop business opportunities in the U.S. solar market, returns July 9-12, 2012, marking its fifth year in San Francisco. This year’s conference program offers attendees a fresh perspective on the companies and technologies that promise to reduce cost, increase yields and further drive the competitiveness of solar power.Co-located with SEMICON West, Intersolar North America 2012 is expected to draw about 850 exhibitors and more than 22,000 registered visitors from more than 80 countries to provide a true global perspective of the solar industry. This year’s event will highlight the technology innovations that are contributing to the growth of the industry through interactive exhibits on the show floor and technical sessions during the Intersolar North America Conference in the Intercontinental Hotel. A full list of speakers and presentations is available online.

As panel prices have fallen, balance of system (BOS) advancements have emerged as a key way to reduce the overall cost per watt of solar. Mounting systems have been a crucial point of innovation, as their complexity greatly impacts the amount of time spent installing PV arrays. More than 130 companies will have the latest in mounting and tracking systems and BOS innovation on display, including Schletter, SolarBridge, SolarEdge, Shoals Technology Group, SMA America LLC and Unirac. A full list of Intersolar North America exhibitors is available online. The Intersolar smart phone app is available for download here, and includes a full list of exhibitors and an exhibition floor map and route planner.

The Innovation Exchange stage and the Practical Point stage will be home to presentations that highlight the groundbreaking technologies on display throughout the exhibition hall. Intersolar AWARD nominees will discuss their innovations in presentations that offer visitors a compact and informative overview of their latest developments at the Innovation Exchange, where the winner of the first-ever Intersolar AWARD for landmark solar projects will be announced during the Award Ceremony on Tuesday, July 10 at 4 PM. Additionally, stages in the PV Production & Technology Hall and PV Energy World will feature free presentations and practical workshops, bringing the total number of exhibition stages to four.

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Solar Energy Innovations In San Francisco

Posted on June 29, 2012 by QuestPoint

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s new environmentally sustainable headquarters building at 525 Golden Gate Avenue, designed in joint venture by KMD Architects and Stevens Architects, provides a poster-child of sustainability innovation for urban office buildings, and reflects the mission of the PUC as a provider and manager of water and energy for San Francisco. All told, 525 Golden Gate in comparison to similarly-sized office buildings features 50% less of a carbon footprint, uses 32% less energy, and consumes 60% less water.The 13-level, 277,511 gross-square-foot, $190 million SFPUC headquarters building is one of the greenest urban office buildings of its kind, bringing together in a modern, contextually-designed office tower some of the most innovative new technologies at the forefront of building design.

“What better organization than a major municipal power and water agency to create one of the most advanced buildings in green design in the U.S.,” said David Hobstetter, Principal of KMD.“Our intent from the beginning was to create the most energy-efficient office building developed in an urban setting in the United States to date,” said Ryan Stevens, KMD’s Director of Design. “Many of these features are uncommon in buildings today, but will be commonplace in years to come.”

A wind turbine tower on the north facade, solar panels on sunny exteriors, sun-shading and other techniques combine to make the building one of the most power-efficient anywhere, using 32% less energy than similarly-sized office buildings. The integrated, hybrid solar array and wind turbine installation can generate up to 227,000 kilowatt hours per year or 7% of the building’s energy needs. A state-of-the-art raised flooring system incorporates the building’s data and ventilation infrastructure and reduces heating, cooling and ventilation energy costs by 51%. Daylight harvesting that bounces sunlight at appropriate amounts into workspaces saves electricity and minimizes artificial lighting, and enhances worker productivity. Other techniques include automatic shut-off sensors after hours for lighting and work station equipment.

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Stanford Finds Future Of Solar Power Is Bright

Posted on June 17, 2012 by QuestPoint

Nearly everyone thinks that generating electricity via solar power is good for the environment, but there’s much less agreement on whether it makes sense from an economic point of view. At what point will solar power be competitive with electricity generated by conventional, fossil-fuel plants, and how long will subsidies need to remain in place before the solar industry can stand on its own? Those are some of the questions addressed in “The Prospects for Cost-Competitive Solar PV Power,” a new working paper by Stefan Reichelstein, William R. Timken Professor of Accounting at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Michael Yorston, graduate student in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Their paper breaks new ground in studying the life-cycle cost of electricity generated by solar photovoltaic, paying particular attention to key factors such as location, public subsidies, and the long-term learning effects in manufacturing solar panels.

Concerning the future, and this may sound like a pun, the future of solar PV looks rather bright. The industry has consistently been able to lower the cost of solar panels. If this trend can be maintained for the next 10 years, and if subsidies are continued for that period, there is a real prospect for solar to become cost competitive on its own (that is, without a subsidy), at least for commercial installations. Utility-scale installations will take longer to become competitive; possibly 15 years, though it obviously becomes murkier to make projections that far into the future.

Renewable energy and solar in particular remain rather controversial in the public debate about energy policy. Passions have been running high. What motivated me is the bewildering range of statements you have out there regarding the cost effectiveness of electricity based on solar PV. Given the range of opinions, I wanted to do my own analysis. I’m looking at it from the point of view of a business economist who is interested in measuring the life-cycle cost of this abundant energy source.

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Intersolar North America Focusing Energy Storage

Posted on May 30, 2012 by quest

Intersolar North America will feature a close look at advanced energy storage and its impact on renewable energy generation. Intersolar North America, the premier solar industry exhibition and conference in North America for solar professionals to exchange information and develop business opportunities in the U.S. solar market, returns to San Francisco July 9-12, 2012 for its fifth year. Co-located with SEMICON West, the event is expected to draw approximately 900 exhibitors and more than 22,000 registered visitors from more than 80 countries to provide a true global perspective of the solar industry.

This year, Intersolar North America features a new special exhibit that promotes innovative energy storage technologies. PV Energy World, located in the Moscone Center, North Hall will offer expert presentations on energy storage and grid integration. The informative exhibits and display boards will stimulate discussion among visitors. As the North American solar industry matures, energy storage has emerged as a key technology to optimize renewable energy generation. Storage enables greater flexibility for the power grid, thus accelerating the deployment of affordable solar energy. The successful commercialization and integration of new energy storage technologies promises to help boost the capacity of solar projects, ease concerns over grid strain and bring more large-scale plants online.

Janice Lin, Executive Director of the California Energy Storage Alliance said,”Energy storage offers the solar industry the opportunity to bring several goals to fruition, including faster grid interconnection, more precise timing of output, fewer curtailment and imbalance penalties, and the potential to secure valuable new revenue from wholesale ancillary services and capacity markets. Advanced  energy storage is poised to have a huge, positive impact on the solar industry in California and beyond, and the storage industry is very excited to see Intersolar North America cover this formative topic in such depth at this year’s conference and on the exhibition floor.”PV Energy World is supported in part by the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA), an advocacy coalition committed to expanding the role of energy storage to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy. CESA counts storage technology manufacturers, renewable energy component manufacturers, developers and system integrators among its members, and this year marks the first time Intersolar will partner with CESA.

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Solar Gets Net Metering Support In California

Posted on May 25, 2012 by quest

By Annie Carmichael We won! Thanks to the 60,000 of you who showed support for net metering, California will continue to be increasingly powered by the sun.

Yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) unanimously voted to give more Californians access to net metering credit for solar power. The 5-0 vote will protect this important solar consumer right for tens of thousands of California homes, schools, businesses and public buildings.
Net metering makes sure solar customers get fair credit on their utility bills for the valuable clean power they put on the grid for others to use (watch this video to see how net metering works). This important solar policy has already delivered tremendous benefits to California: supported 25,000 solar jobs, driven $10 billion in private investment in the state’s clean energy industry, given thousands of homeowners, schools, water districts, industrial users, and cities control over their electricity bills, and installed 2 natural gas plants worth of valuable peak solar power generation that our utilities won’t have to build and you won’t have to fund.

There is still work to be done to iron out the details of the long-term net metering program so that solar can continue to shine – and we hope you’ll continue to help us along the way.

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Solar Powered Train Stations On Track In China

Posted on May 23, 2012 by quest

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a developer of state-of-the-art, flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules, recently announced it has entered into a three way strategic joint development agreement with Shenzhen Radiant Enterprise Co., Ltd. (Radiant) and Third Railway Survey and Design Institute Group Corporation (TSDI) of China. Under the agreement, TSDI will promote the use of leading-edge solar technology in China’s rapidly growing public railway infrastructure by installing Ascent Solar modules on existing and future railway stations in China. Radiant has been responsible for installing the roofing component on multiple railway station projects throughout China and is well positioned to execute the PV retrofitting of existing railway stations, as well new installations. Total volume of solar installation on China’s public infrastructure is projected to reach 800MW over the next five years.

“We are honoured to be involved with TSDI through this very important partnership, which will promote Ascent Solar’s transformational technology in a high-profile sector of China’s public infrastructure. This year, we look forward to working closely with TSDI and Radiant to design and develop systems to be installed beginning in 2013,” stated Victor Lee, Ascent Solar President and CEO.TSDI, a subsidiary of the China Railway Group, is a large-scale comprehensive survey and design corporation that has been appointed to build a uniform technical platform for China’s state-of-the-art national railway system. TSDI consistently ranks among China’s Top 100 firms in terms of overall strength, and owns a Class-A Qualification certificate for Engineering Survey and Design from China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development. The organization has designed over 50,000km of railways in China, including the country’s first high-speed railway and first heavy-haul railway. In addition, TSDI designed China’s first modern, large-scale multi-modal transport hub, the Beijing South Railway Station.

Winston Xu, Founder of Shenzhen Radiant Enterprise Co., Ltd. and Ascent Solar Board Member, said “China’s state-of-the-art railway system is one of the largest and fastest growing in the world. Ascent Solar and Radiant Group feel privileged to work with TSDI towards the goal of incorporating green, renewable energy with this important piece of China’s infrastructure.”According to the terms of the agreement, the three parties will begin system design and engineering development in the near term, with initial project installations beginning in 2013.