California Focusing On 2020 Solar Vision

Posted on December 22, 2011 by quest

Governor Jerry Brown who just recently led the Climate Change Conference At The California Academy Of Science in San Francisco was also on hand for the dedication of Soitec’s new North American solar headquarters and manufacturing plant in San Diego at a ceremony held on Friday, December 16. The governor noted, “The expansion of clean energy businesses is a direct result of legislation mandating that one-third of California’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2020. That’s a goal and we’re going to meet it. In fact, we are going to do better.”The factory is located in San Diego to supply more than 300 megawatts (MW) in solar projects to provide electricity to SDG&E.

Also participating in the factory dedication were San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, Jessie J. Knight, chairman and CEO of San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) and California Public Utilities Commissioner (CPUC), Timothy Simon. They were joined by governmental officials and over 300 community and business leaders that attended the dedication event. “SDG&E has signed more contracts using CPV technology than any other utility in the world – a distinction we’re proud of,” said Jessie J. Knight, Jr., chairman and CEO of SDG&E. “At the time we began our talks with Soitec, we realized we had a unique opportunity to negotiate not only a good contract for solar energy at prices that competed head-to-head with other technologies, but also to solidify an agreement that would bear fruit for years to come in new local jobs and overall economic benefits. From a reliability and grid stability perspective, this technology is far superior to other typical ground-mounted arrays.”

“Soitec‘s new facility will create hundreds of well-paying jobs and build on San Diego’s growing reputation as one of the world’s leading clean-technology clusters,” commented San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders. “We are so honored and proud to welcome Soitec to the San Diego community, and I know that San Diego’s collaborative business community will continue to work with Soitec to ensure the company’s success and prosperity.”

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Beyond Solar Lighting Up The Developing World

Posted on December 19, 2011 by quest

The United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the Global Economic Symposium and others have all issued reports supporting – A rural family in Africa burns around 60 liters of kerosene a year to light their home. The average kerosene lamp in Africa spews a ton of CO2 in less than 10 years. Solar lighting can replace kerosene and wood, and improve the health of the people and the environment. Last year QuestPoint interviewed Jeff Olshesky, a cofounder of Beyond Solar a US based organization whose mission is to improve the educational, medical, and economic well being of individuals and communities in the developing world by providing solar powered electricity. He and co founder Trevor Knauf had just completed a project with D. Light Design, a solar lantern manufacturer in New Delhi with distribution capabilities throughout India, and South Orissa Voluntary Action, a registered non-government organization in the Indian state of Orissa.

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I recently spoke with Jeff Olshesky of Beyond Solar who completed its third project providing solar power in the eastern province of Zambia. Beyond Solar partnered with Dwankhozi Hope, to provide solar powered lighting in three separate rooms in a primary school. Their earlier projects involved the distribution of pre-assembled solar powered lanterns to hundreds of families in multiple villages, while utilizing a hybrid micro-finance model that required the beneficiaries to pay for a portion the products they received. In Zambia, they installed solar panels on the roof of a school building to power lights and three laptop computers. Financing was provided in a joint effort by Beyond Solar and Dwankhozi Hope. While the planning of this project began months in advance, the actual time required to complete the project, after arriving in Zambia, was five days. Jeff said while the benefits to the school is fairly apparent…the real reward is to me and the deep feeling I get from making a real difference in the world. They are in the midst of planning the next project in Zambia One potential project would be to install a small, roof-mounted solar lighting system in each of the neighboring villages. This would provide a “study room” for the students whose distant proximity from the central school prevents them from returning to the school in the evening. Another potential project that would bring income to the area would be a solar-powered water pump that could irrigate a cash crop such as cotton. These and many other potential projects would greatly improve the quality of life for the members of the Dwankhozi School District. The challenges to execute them will be difficult but equally rewarding as well.

A Green Door

Meanwhile, Empowered by Light a west coast non profit partnered with Lemnis who has supplied more than a thousand Pharox Solar Kits to schools in rural villages also in Zambia. Through its Solar: Zambia project, Empowered by Light hopes to donate a total of 5,000 solar-powered lights to communities in the rural parts of the country. Providing inexpensive electric lighting encourages nighttime activities such as studying and reading and can displace open-flame kerosene lamps and candles, saving money and eliminating the hazards of fire, burn and respiratory disease. “Our hope is that the educational benefits of our project will ultimately gain the attention of elected officials and encourage them to provide the same service to their own people,” said Marco Krapels, Co-Founder of Empowered by Light.

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U.S. Solar Industry Reaches New Heights

Posted on December 14, 2011 by quest

“The U.S. solar industry is on a roll, with unprecedented growth in 2011,” said Rhone Resch, President and CEO of SEIA. “Solar is now an economic force in dozens of states, creating jobs across America. But our industry needs stable policy on which to make business decisions, and unfortunately an underlying mechanism for financing solar projects is scheduled to expire on December 31. To keep the industry growing and creating jobs in the U.S. we need Congress to extend the 1603 program. The 1603 program has done more to expand the use of renewable energy than any other policy in U.S. history. Our country is not in a position to have Congress turn their back on American industries, and it is critical that Congress extend the 1603 program in the few days left before the end of the year.” More U.S. solar electric capacity came online in Q3 2011 than all of 2009 combined, and Q4 2011 is predicted to be even larger.

The residential PV market grew 21 percent over Q2 2011 to reach nearly 75 MW.California regained a substantial share of overall PV installation in Q3 2011 with 44 percent; the next six largest state markets combined comprised 45 percent of quarterly installations.While domestic solar markets are booming more than ever, the report also finds that U.S. solar is facing more uncertainty than at any point in recent history. On one hand, solar module prices are falling precipitously and system prices have never been lower; on the other hand, the market faces substantial risks in the form of legislative, financing, political, and market barriers.

“U.S. solar is entering 2012 with a sense of cautious optimism,” said Shayle Kann, Managing Director of the solar practice at GTM Research. “There are three questions on the mind of everyone in the market: one, what would be the impact of the 1603 Treasury Program’s expiration; two, can emerging commercial markets like Massachusetts, Colorado, Ohio, Tennessee, and Hawaii ramp up as major markets like California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania trend downward; and finally, how will the trade petition against Chinese solar imports impact market dynamics, both in the immediate term and if duties are ultimately levied?”

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Solar Embedded Fashions Energizing Mobile Devices

Posted on December 1, 2011 by quest

The solar industry is shining its light on just about every part of society.This time a company called Silvr Lining is impacting the solar and fashion industry. The Los Angeles based clothing designer has introduced a line of solar powered outerwear called the Go Collection, which is all hand made, individually cut & sewn garments. The garments are ethically made clothing from organic & recycled fibers and allow you to charge your phone with your pants, jacket or vest. The GO Collection is an urban sportswear line featuring integrated solar charging for personal mobile communication devices.

In addition to GO Collection Silvr Lining offers multi-functional, high-tech fashion and lifestyle brands. The Dugwear, Modbox lines are progressive and green, and pursue sustainability and renewability of materials and processes. Fully and independently functioning solar power supply panels are provided for the front pockets of the of the GO Director’s Jacket, GO Utility Vest, GO Myer’s Topper,and side cargo pockets of the GO Cargo Pant. Output power is highly precise and conditioned for automatic charging of personal devices. These panels can also be used as self‐contained, carry – anywhere chargers and are USB 2.0 compliant.

Sandra Garratt—Design Director of Silvr Lining describing Silvr Lining said,”Too many of us believe that a “rich, creative life” belongs to a chosen few select people who “do that sort of thing. Wrong, creativity is in everything we all do daily. Beauty is a choice, creating it for any circumstance is an initiative for designers. We all want a happy, healthy, well-balanced lifestyle, not just more clothes. SilvrLining is making a design statement about an emerging Green lifestyle that is techwise and embraces active living in the Sun. We try to integrate Nature & Technology with Style while breathing beauty into busy modern everyday life.The designers and “science guys” at SilvrLining believe that there is new Green inspiration, a focus on energy independence that is moving us forward with progressive, new ideas that help us know that it is time to leave the past behind.”

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Solar City Returns Solar Strong

Posted on November 30, 2011 by quest

It was in August that U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the offer of a conditional commitment for a partial guarantee of a $344 million loan to help secure financing for SolarCity’s “SolarStrong” project. The project, partnered SolarCity with the country’s leading military housing-privatization developers to install 160,000 rooftop solar installations on as many as 124 military housing developments across the US. Then after the Solyndra shutdown in September the DOE withdrew from the project. But today SolarCity and Bank of America Merrill Lynch have announced that they have agreed to terms on financing for SolarStrong, SolarCity’s ambitious five-year plan to invest more than $1 billion in the solar power project. As part of the project, SolarCity plans to partner with the country’s leading privatized military housing developers to install, own and operate rooftop solar installations and provide solar electricity at a lower cost than utility power. SolarStrong is ultimately expected to create up to 300 megawatts of solar generation capacity that could provide power to as many as 120,000 military housing units. SolarStrong would be the largest residential solar photovoltaic project in American history. Solar City is a leading national solar services company.

After the Solydra failure and the Department of Energy withdrew their commitment from the Solar Strong project, skeptics were predicting doom for the entire green sector however, Lyndon Rive, SolarCity’s chief executive officer said, “BofA Merrill never wavered when the loan guarantee wasn’t finalized and worked with us to create a financing structure that works without it.SolarStrong makes affordable clean energy available on a much greater scale. This is uncharted territory for residential solar. The fact that SolarStrong can move forward without a federal loan guarantee is a clear indication that long-term incentives such as the investment tax credit are working.”“This project demonstrates the long term viability of large-scale, distributed solar generation,” said Jonathan Plowe, head of New Energy and Infrastructure Solutions at BofA Merrill. “We are excited to see the project through with SolarCity and extend our expertise and financing capabilities to propel residential solar to the next level.”

SolarCity now expects SolarStrong to create thousands of full-time and temporary jobs. The company says it hopes to provide as many of those jobs as possible to U.S. veterans and military family members, which have been among those hardest hit by the economic downturn. SolarCity has added more than 1,200 new, full-time workers since the recession began in December 2007; creating more than one new job per workday in that timeframe. “This is a groundbreaking transaction that represents a key milestone for the U.S. solar industry,” said Tim Newell, managing director for USRG Renewable Finance, financial advisor for SolarStrong. “We’re proud to be part of this project that will invest in military communities across the United States.”

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Solar Energy To Power UN Climate Conference

Posted on November 29, 2011 by quest

A newly built 500 kW solar-energy facility will power the United Nations Climate Change COP17 global gathering, and will be officially inaugurated by South African President Dr. Jacob. G. Zuma on December 4. Soitec a world leader in generating and manufacturing for the electronics and energy industries, has built a concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) power plant next to Durban, South Africa, as the flagship project for the 17th annual Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), being held November 28 to December 9. More large scale commercial and utility scale projects are being started or switched on around the globe. Bloomberg New Energy Finance is reporting,”that for the first time in history, investments in renewable energy installations surpassed investments in fossil fuel plants. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, last year $187 billion was invested in renewable energy installations, which exceeded the $157 billion that was invested in new natural gas, oil and coal plants.”

“CPV offers South Africa huge potential for its natural resource and climate protection,” said André-Jacques Auberton-Hervé, president and CEO of Soitec. “After proving our Concentrix™ technology’s performance in the region with last year’s installation of a 60 kW power plant at the Aquila Private Game Reserve in Touwsrivier, we are proud to continue supporting the country’s young but growing renewable-energy sector. Sustainable energy, as we all know, is a prerequisite for a sustainable future.”

Soitec worked closely with the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs (DEA) of South Africa and the local eThekwini Municipality to build the CPV solar plant, which feeds into the area’s power-supply grid. The CPV plant was constructed in just one month using the combination of Soitec’s international expertise and the local work force. Group Five, an integrated construction services, materials and infrastructure investment group operating in Africa, was the local construction partner for the project.