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SFCE Nov 12
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Suntech Integrates Tigo Platform for PV Optimization
Nov 11, 2015 | iTech Post
By Paul Pajarillo
China-based Wuxi Suntech Power Co., Ltd. and American photovoltaic company Tigo joins forces with solar power outputs. Suntech will be integrating its smart solar direct current module to the American's TS4 modular platform to optimize solar renewable energy. -
Glut of Coal-Fired Plants Casts Doubts on China’s Energy Priorities
Nov 11, 2015 | The New York Times
By Edward Wong
Just outside the southwest border of Beijing, a new coal-fired power and heating plant is rising in Dongxianpo, a rural town in Hebei Province. Cement mixers roll onto the site. Cranes tower above a landscape of metal girders. -
Gore confident Paris talks will lead to climate deal
Nov 11, 2015 | The Hill
By Devin Henry
Former Vice President Al Gore says he is optimistic world leaders will reach a climate change deal at a United Nations conference next month. -
Large offshore wind farm planned off Massachusetts
Nov 11, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
A Danish company is planning a massive wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts that would be North America’s largest offshore wind farm. Dong Energy is planning an installation in federal water just south of Martha’s Vineyard that would have 100 turbines and be capable of generating 1,000 megawatts, the Boston Globe reports. -
Solar Cheapest Electricity Option In Chile
Nov 11, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Jake Richardson
According to a report from Deutsche Bank, electricity generated by solar power is the cheapest in Chile now. In fact, both solar and wind power there make electricity more cheaply than fossil fuels do. -
ANALYSIS: Solar-friendly Chile may go even lower on price
Nov 11, 2015 | Recharge
By Alexandre Spatuzza
Although already near the lowest level in the world, the price of solar PV power in Chile could fall further amid strong competition and contractual rules that allow developers to sell electricity at peak irradiation hours. -
Thailand aiming for 6 GW of solar by 2036
Nov 11, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Edgar Mexa
As part of its efforts to increase its share of renewables, the Thai government is attracting major developers for the first phase of a 600 MW solar rollout. -
Bangladesh targets 3.2GW of renewables capacity by 2021 — report
Nov 12, 2015 | Recharge
By Brian Publicover
Bangladesh has set a renewable-energy capacity target of roughly 3.2GW by 2021, including 1.74GW of solar and 1.37GW of wind power, according to local media reports.
Suntech News
Industry News
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Suntech Integrates Tigo Platform for PV Optimization
Nov 11, 2015 | iTech Post
By Paul Pajarillo
China-based Wuxi Suntech Power Co., Ltd. and American photovoltaic company Tigo joins forces with solar power outputs. Suntech will be integrating its smart solar direct current module to the American's TS4 modular platform to optimize solar renewable energy.
Suntech Power has developed a new smart solar direct current module, which the company will integrate into Tigo's TS4 modular platform. The Chinese will be using the American technology to optimize energy output in addition to real-time monitoring. It will also make wireless communications much accessible and the integration will reduce maintenance expenses.
The Suntech smart modules have better output and efficiency. To be precise, it can increase energy outputs in constricted areas where the modules are installed and may even be able to offer cheap system charges as well.
On the other hand, Tigo is known in the business as the sole corporation that offers modular platforms where customers can provide photovoltaic module actions according to its needs by a simple concealment trade. Tigo Chief Executive Officer Zvi Alon acknowledges that by combining the companies' technologies, they will be able to provide the market with the best solar power-generated products along with its management.
"Tigo's platform is already the most flexible in the world, working with all the major inverter and module manufacturers globally," Mr. Alon said. "The introduction of TS4 gives installers an even greater degree of control over what they want and need for any given project. Whether an installer wants safety and monitoring to meet NEC 2014 Rapid Shutdown requirements or optimization, or simply a traditional module that can be easily upgraded later in life, the TS4 platform can support them."
The Chinese solar company has already sold 30 million solar panels and it makes out nine gigawatts of installed volume. This is an impressive partnership with the Americans because both companies will be combining their existing PV expertise to create something that is new and improved.
Another fascinating thing is that although of different cultures, they were able to work together across international restrictions, and not all companies are flexible or open-minded enough to reach beneficial and mutual agreements.
International trade and industry gambles are a challenge due to cultural and language barriers. Although, this might be an advantage as both companies are young in the business and might be less bureaucratic as compared to others who are already established in the industry. In addition, young companies like Tigo and Suntech are open to innovations, which may allow them to share their knowledge easier.
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Glut of Coal-Fired Plants Casts Doubts on China’s Energy Priorities
Nov 11, 2015 | The New York Times
By Edward Wong
Just outside the southwest border of Beijing, a new coal-fired power and heating plant is rising in Dongxianpo, a rural town in Hebei Province. Cement mixers roll onto the site. Cranes tower above a landscape of metal girders.
When finished, the plant, run by a company owned by the Beijing government, is expected to have a generating capacity of 700 megawatts of power, more than the total of similar plants in Ohio. But whether it will actually be used to its fullest is questionable, despite the investment of $580 million.
That is because the plant is scheduled to come online in three years amid a glut of coal-fired power plants — an astounding 155 planned projects received a permit this year alone, with total capacity equal to nearly 40 percent of operational coal power plants in the United States.
China’s economic slowdown and the government’s pledges to use more renewable and nuclear energy make some of the country’s existing plants and most or all of the 155 new ones unnecessary, according to interviews with officials and scholars, a review of public statistics and a reportreleased Wednesday about the “coal power bubble” by Greenpeace East Asia. There are already too many plants, as shown by a steady decline in the plants’ average operating hours since 2013.
China’s state-controlled economy creates strong incentives for provinces to manage their own energy sources to generate jobs and revenue. Coal plants have long been the easiest, fastest way for provinces to meet their own energy needs and stimulate local economic growth.
That system has created what appears to be a disconnect between the provincial building boom and the country’s overall energy requirements, making it harder for China to convert to a system that is not dominated by dirty fuel.
“China already has more coal capacity than it will ever need,” Zhang Boting, vice chairman of the China Society for Hydropower Engineering, said in an interview. “A few years down the road, we’ll see what a waste the plants are. We have seen this happen to the steel and cement industries.”
In the first nine months of this year, state-owned companies received preliminary or full approval to build the 155 coal power plants that have a total capacity of 123 gigawatts, the report said. That capacity is equal to 15 percent of China’s coal-fired power capacity at the end of 2014.
The construction boom — with capital costs estimated by Greenpeace at $74 billion — is a clear sign that China remains entrenched in investment-driven growth, despite promises by leaders to transform the economic model to one based on consumer spending.
It also raises questions about whether China is weaning itself from coal as quickly as it can and whether officials are sufficiently supporting nonfossil fuel sources over coal, which is championed by some state-owned enterprises. China is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world and the main driver of climate change, and it has some of the worst air pollution.
Conflict within the system is rising. Renewable-energy interests — wind, solar and hydropower — are pushing back against coal-fired power plants, which have 40-year life spans. They say the rising number of coal plants prevents other energy sources from selling electricity on the grid and attracting more investment. They want the government to move faster with its promised “green dispatch,” giving priority to low-carbon electricity sources.
“Why do we see so much discarded water, wind and solar resources everywhere?” Mr. Zhang said. “Because all those coal plants need market share. Local governments need to maintain stability and employment, and to do so they need to give all the coal plants just enough market share to survive.”
Utility contracts guarantee that coal-fired plants operate a minimum number of hours to sell power to the grid, while renewable sources have no such guarantee. Wind power capacity has been growing in China, but so has the amount of wasted wind power, called curtailment, according toNational Energy Administration statistics. In the first half of 2015, the rate of curtailment was 15 percent, almost twice that of the same period in 2014.
The State Grid Corporation of China, the country’s largest power distributor, did not respond to a request for comment. It is also one of China’s biggest owners of coal-fired power plants.
Qin Haiyan, secretary general of the Chinese Wind Energy Association, told the China Electric Power News, an official industry newspaper, that if the country’s appetite for new coal plants was not curbed, “the conflict between coal and wind will become even more fierce in the next few years.”
Mr. Zhang said the dominance of coal power had led to “a sharp decline in investments in renewable energy.”
Hydropower is generated by provincial or central state-owned enterprises. The China Electricity Council, a power industry association, said in a report this year that investment in hydropower had dropped for three straight years and that the amount in the first quarter of 2015 was half that of the same period in 2012.
Nevertheless, China is building more renewable and nuclear energy capacity. The government has said that by 2020, 15 percent of energy consumption will be met by sources beyond fossil fuel. The growth in renewables and nuclear power is expected to meet an estimated 3 to 4 percent annual growth in electricity demand in the coming years, which makes new coal-fired plants unnecessary, said Lauri Myllyvirta, a main author of the Greenpeace East Asia report.
Despite the construction boom, Mr. Myllyvirta and some scholars say there is little danger that China’s coal consumption will rise significantly, since a slower economy and flattening coal use appear to be the new norm. President Xi Jinping said China was aiming for 6.5 percent economic growth from 2016 to 2020. The construction boom means that China is not investing in alternative fuel sources as quickly as it could, critics say, and coal use may stay at or near the current high level for years.
“You’re wasting a massive amount of capital that could be spent on renewable energy to generate green power that is needed,” Mr. Myllyvirta said. “And there’s a longer-term question of whether you will keep investing in renewables when you have all these coal plants lying around.”
Coal plants now operate well below full capacity, with the average number of operating hours on the decline, the Greenpeace report said. Last year, thermal power plants, mostly coal-fired, operated 4,706 hours on average, 314 hours less than in 2013, according to the National Energy Administration. “At any given moment, more than half of capacity is idle,” Mr. Myllyvirta said.
The report recommended that officials cancel many projects and that the central government “urgently institute a ban on issuing new permits for coal-fired power plants.”
Though the total amount of coal-fired power capacity has grown annually, China is shutting down some older and smaller plants, especially in more populated eastern regions. By 2020, the central government aims to have coal-fired power generated mainly in western provinces and transmitted to the east via ultra-high-voltage lines. But Greenpeace researchers found that eastern provinces were still handing out large numbers of permits to build new coal plants.
Jiangsu Province has issued permits for 17 plants this year, while Shandong Province has issued permits for 16 — the second and third most plant approvals in the country, behind Shanxi Province. That goes against central policy, since regulations require those provinces to curb coal use.
Mr. Myllyvirta said that even the western provinces did not need so many new coal-fired plants because the current overcapacity and planned expansion of renewable and nuclear energy sources could meet the expected rise in demand for transmitted electricity.
Greenpeace estimated that if the 155 plants operated at typical levels for new projects, they would emit 560 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, equal to Brazil’s total energy emissions. They would also spew huge amounts of toxic pollutants, and 60 percent would operate in arid areas or ones with chronic water shortages, exacerbating those problems.
The increase in permit approvals followed the enactment of a policy in March that allows provincial environmental officials rather than the central Ministry of Environmental Protection to approve projects, in the interest of streamlining bureaucracy.
Provinces have an economic interest in keeping coal-fired power generation close to home, despite concerns over air pollution. Provincial state-owned enterprises running the plants have a guaranteed source of revenue. Also, officials can tax coal power plants but not renewable-energy projects. And plant construction improves economic growth, an important measure in evaluations of provincial officials.
The Beijing Jingneng Power Company, which is building the Zhuozhou plant here in Dongxianpo township, is owned by the Beijing government. This year, the company was forced to shut down a plant in Beijing because of an air pollution control regulation that calls for the elimination of all coal-fired plants in the city by 2017. But Jingneng had begun building the plant right across this border. The company declined an interview request.
“It takes a lot of time to switch the economic growth model from investment-driven to consumption-driven,” said Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University. “Now the only way to drive up economic growth is still to rely on investment.”
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Gore confident Paris talks will lead to climate deal
Nov 11, 2015 | The Hill
By Devin Henry
Former Vice President Al Gore says he is optimistic world leaders will reach a climate change deal at a United Nations conference next month.
“We’re going to win this,” Gore told The Associated Press in an interview. “We need to win it faster because a lot of damage is being done day by day. We continue to put 110 million tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere every 24 hours, as if it’s an open sewer."
World leaders will meet in Paris starting on Nov. 30 to work toward a deal cutting carbon emissions around the globe. President Obama will travel to France for the first two days of the conference.
Each country is going to the Paris with a set reduction target — the United States’s is a 26 percent to 28 percent cut from 2005 levels by 2025 — and climate advocates have been hearted by the participation of high-polluting countries like the U.S., China and India.
In the interview, Gore said officials are more likely to work together now than in the past because the impacts of global warming are beginning to show up around the world.
He said corporate action in the United States has signaled a willingness by the private sector to take climate change seriously.
“Increasingly people are connecting those dots,” he said. “And even if they don’t use the phrase climate crisis or global warming, more and more people are feeling that this is going to have to be addressed.”
Gore, the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee, has spent much of his post-politics life advocating for action on climate change.
His climate change documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” came out in 2006 and he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his activism the following year. He has spoken highly of Obama’s climate change agenda.
Gore will head to Paris this weekend to hold a climate change rally, the AP reports.
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Large offshore wind farm planned off Massachusetts
Nov 11, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
A Danish company is planning a massive wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts that would be North America’s largest offshore wind farm.
Dong Energy is planning an installation in federal water just south of Martha’s Vineyard that would have 100 turbines and be capable of generating 1,000 megawatts, the Boston Globe reports.Dong, the world’s largest offshore wind developer, faces lengthy permitting and other approval steps from both Massachusetts and the federal government. It hasn’t taken any action on the project beyond leasing rights to the area from the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management.
“We have the experience and we have the expertise,” Thomas Brostrom, the company’s North American general manager, told the Globe.
The project would be near the ill-fated Cape Wind, which was canceled this year after years of fighting and opposition.
The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the most vocal group against Cape Wind, told the Globe that the Dong project is much less objectionable than the canceled one.
It is also near Deepwater Wind, off Rhode Island’s coast, which started construction this year and will likely be the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in the United States.
Link: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/259835-large-offshore-wind-farm-planned-off-massachusetts
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Solar Cheapest Electricity Option In Chile
Nov 11, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Jake Richardson
According to a report from Deutsche Bank, electricity generated by solar power is the cheapest in Chile now. In fact, both solar and wind power there make electricity more cheaply than fossil fuels do.
Deutsche Bank Equity Research North America conducted an analysis by examining PV solar projects in Chile. The research showed solar had become the cheapest form of electricity generation. For example, coal power had rates of US$85/MWh but for recent solar PV farms the rate was $65 to $68/MWh. Obviously, this is quite a difference.
A concentrating solar power project came in at $97/MWh, but it also had storage. It would have been interesting to see what the rate was for one without storage, for the sake of comparison, and what form of storage is being used.
$0.52/W is the price for PV modules, but that cost drops to less than 50 cents for larger projects. Still, Chile could experience one gigawatt of solar installations this year and has about 2 GW under construction. It has been said that Chile doesn’t have a renewable energy problem, it has a transmission problem, because the grid was not built in parallel to the new renewable energy installations.
The thing is, technology projects often have snags that crop up and seem like deal-breakers, until they are they dealt with. Why would Chile’s transition to renewable energy be completely smooth?
It’s not realistic to expect that it would be – first renewables were considered by some to be far too expensive, then there was no energy storage – but now that’s being addressed. Grids are outdated, but they can be revamped or expanded too. In point of fact, one might argue that the momentum generated by the various succcess of renewable energy is driving technological change in related industries.
If solar power electricity is already cheaper than fossil fuel electricity, how much cheaper will it be in five years there? Chile hasn’t even been at it that long, and already has surpassed grid parity. This achievement is an example to us all.
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ANALYSIS: Solar-friendly Chile may go even lower on price
Nov 11, 2015 | Recharge
By Alexandre Spatuzza
Although already near the lowest level in the world, the price of solar PV power in Chile could fall further amid strong competition and contractual rules that allow developers to sell electricity at peak irradiation hours.On 26 October Amunche Solar, the local unit of Spanish developer Solarpack, agreed to sell power at $64.84 per MWh under a 20-year contract it won at an auction, considered to be one of the lowest unsubsidised prices for PV in the world.
But it wasn't alone in setting an aggressive strategy for solar in Chile: First Solar's SCB II offered $67-$68/MWh.
Together with wind power developers Aela Generación (a JV between Mainstream and Actis with a 600MW solar and wind pipeline), Ibereolica Cabo Leones I (a 170MW wind farm in northern Chile which is already being built by Spain's Ibereolica group) and solar PV/CSP specialist Abengoa Solar, they crowded out conventional hydro and thermoelectric projects, which traditionally dominate Chile's power supply.
According to local Chilean press, powerful AES Gener and Endesa Chile – which placed bids for all blocks – didn't secure any contracts, despite bidding $84 to $85/MWh, which was considered aggressive.
“They divided the tender in different blocks which allows solar to compete during the day,” said Josefin Berg, solar analyst at IHS consulting firm.
Solarpack, for example, was contracted to deliver 110GWh of power a year but only between 8am and 6pm, allowing the company to only deliver power when the sun is shining.
Solarpack said the contract will result in a revenue of $7m a year between 2017 and 2036, which will allow it to raise financing for the construction of the 55MW La Constituición solar plant, its fourth solar PV plant in Chile.
The backdrop for such aggressiveness in solar power is irradiation levels that can easily top 3000kW per square metre a year, but that doesn't paint the whole picture. Aside from the auction rules, other factors allow solar PV developers to reach low prices at the auctions.
According to Adam James, senior solar analyst at GTM Research, the cheap and available financing in Chile and lack of restrictions on imports of equipment reduces capital cost significantly.
A 20-year contract that is adjusted for inflation and a price in US dollars make financing easier from both commercial and development banks.
James also calculates that Solarpack and other bid winners are pricing-in the continued decline in the prices of solar panels.
“It seems a very low price and I would be very sceptical if it wasn't a company whose track record I know,” he said.
In a recent report, Deutsche Bank Equity Research also hailed the low solar prices and said that the projects contracted must include a reduction in the price of solar PV modules from the current $0.52/W level to $0.50/W.
This gives an advantage to First Solar, which sold 88GWh annually, also at very low prices.
“Since First Solar uses their own modules, it allows them to play around with the prices,” said Berg.
These aggressive bidding strategies may have opened the way for some 14GW of projects seeking licensing in Chile and an existing pipeline of 2GW.
But why should companies reduce prices in the regulated market if spot market prices are often higher?
Analysts said that the auction allows companies to avoid the volatility of the non-regulated market – which currently has been going down from a recent $100/MWh level – because it gives some kind of guarantee of future cash-flow for 20 years at least.
“I believe that Solarpack may have accepted such low prices because they can be compensated by higher prices in the spot market or in the non-regulated market,” said Berg.
Chile's renewable drive is backed not only by the tender rules that guarantee investor returns, but also by a target of 20% renewables by 2025 that is written in law, showing that in the longer term the government will continue to contract solar.
So as companies are expected to fight for a piece of this renewable energy pie, prices could continue to drop at future auctions.
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Thailand aiming for 6 GW of solar by 2036
Nov 11, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Edgar Mexa
As part of its efforts to increase its share of renewables, the Thai government is attracting major developers for the first phase of a 600 MW solar rollout.
Thailand is embracing renewable energy with a recently announced goal to achieve a 30% share of renewable energy 2036, which will equal a total installed renewable energy capacity of 19,635 MW combined, including hydro power.
The country is aiming for 6,000 MW of installed solar PV capacity as part of that figure, according to a recent report by Germany’s German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and GIZ, the German government’s international development agency. Germany is assisting Thailand’s move towards increased renewable energy development through its Renewable Energy Development Program, which aims to support the market development of renewable energies in the region by fostering sustainable German-South East Asian business partnerships.
In September, the Thai government approved the latest Alternative Energy Development Plan, which outlines the country’s ambitious targets.
According to Thailand’s Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the country currently has a total of a total of 1,601.36 MW of installed solar, including 1,520 MW of solar farms and some 82 MW of rooftop installations.
Current programs
In September, the government launched the Governmental Agency and Agricultural Cooperatives Program (Agro-Solar) with a target of 800 MW. The program aims to realize solar farms of up to 5 MW in size in the form of public private partnerships with the governmental sector or agricultural cooperatives as public partners.
The program allows the purchase of power from solar farms located on land owned by the government and agricultural cooperatives with an installed capacity of 5 MW or less at a feed-in tariff of THB 5.66 per kilowatt hour ($0.158/kWh) under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
The application process for the Agro-Solar program consists of two phases. Phase 1 will have a total target of 600 MW for regions with transmission line currently available. Phase 1 projects will have to be online by Sept. 30, 2016. Phase 2 will target the remaining 200 MW, with projects due to begin operation by Jan. 1 and June 30, 2018.Overall, the Thai government is expected to invest some THB 36 billion ($1 billion) in the projects in 2016.
Thailand’s Energy Regulatory Commission has said it expects some 1,200 applicants in Phase 1, including both private developers and public agencies. According to a Reuters report, companies planning to take part include Thai Solar Energy, which plans to partner with cooperatives and state agencies for 49 MW, and Inter Far East Energy Corp, which is looking to develop 11 MW of projects with the Thai navy.
In addition, the government launched commercial and residential rooftop program in 2013 aimed at installing 200 MW of solar. Commercial installations quickly reached their 100 MW limit, while residential installations initially reached 21 MW with a further 93.21 MW of projects that applied with Metropolitan Electricity Authority and due to become operational by year’s end. -
Bangladesh targets 3.2GW of renewables capacity by 2021 — report
Nov 12, 2015 | Recharge
By Brian Publicover
Bangladesh has set a renewable-energy capacity target of roughly 3.2GW by 2021, including 1.74GW of solar and 1.37GW of wind power, according to local media reports.The target also includes 47MW of planned biomass capacity, said The Financial Express, a Dhaka-based daily newspaper.
The Bangladeshi government expects renewables to account for 5% of the national energy mix by the end of this year and 10% by 2021.
Statistics from the government’s Power Division indicate that 224MW of renewables capacity is scheduled for installation in 2016, followed by 681MW in 2017, 594MW in 2018, 552MW in 2019, 410MW in 2020 and 415MW in 2021.
The South Asian country’s installed renewables capacity had reached just 176MW by the end of October, with solar accounting for the lion’s share of the total. Installed wind capacity stands at just 2MW, according to Power Division figures.
The new target is slightly at odds with Canadian utility-scale PV developer SkyPower’s recently announced plan to invest $4.3bn in the construction of 2GW of solar capacity over the next four years.
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