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SFCE 12/1
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The Mercifully Short List of Fallen Solar Companies: 2015 Edition
Dec 1, 2015 | Greentech Media
By Eric Wesoff
Perhaps it's time to allow Herman, the solar obituary skull, to return to the catacombs from whence he came. He's witnessed the corporate demise of more than 100 solar firms that were knocked down by greed, delusion, bad luck or bad timing. -
California almond grower turns to solar
Dec 1, 2015 | The Packer
By Mike Hornick
Suniva Inc. and Nuance Energy Group Inc. will power Buttonwillow, Calif.-based almond grower Bushnell Farms and Three & One Farm with a new solar installation. -
Amid China slowdown, foreign creditors face bankruptcy riddle
Nov 30, 2015 | Reuters
By Umesh Desai and Michelle Price
..."In the case of Suntech there was radio silence from the company for four months and only when we applied sufficient pressure did they start to come up with a solution. Creditors are seen as a nuisance," said an investor who owned bonds in Suntech but declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. -
Power Reforms May Help Chinese Renewable Energy Firms
Nov 30, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Feifei Shen
Chinese renewable energy producers, including China Longyuan Power Group Corp., may benefit from reform of the country's electricity-distribution business as it seeks to prioritize power generation from wind and solar farms. -
U.S., China Leaders Make Last Push for Climate Deal
Dec 1, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dean Scott
Just a year after they jointly announced new pledges to cut carbon pollution under a global climate accord, President Barack Obama and China President Xi Jinping jetted to Paris in hopes of pushing negotiators across the finish line on the agreement at a two-week summit. -
The Falling Costs of Renewable Energy: No More Excuses
Nov 30, 2015 | Huffington Post
By Adnan Z. Amin
Historically, cost was cited as one of the primary barriers to switching from fossil-based energy sources like oil, coal and gas to renewable energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal. -
A Path Beyond the Paris Climate Change Conference
Dec 1, 2015 | The New York Times
By Justin Gillis
The pledges that countries have signaled they will make in Paris over the next two weeks to cut emissions will inevitably fall short of what is needed to solve the problem of climate change. -
Modi and Hollande to launch global Solar Alliance at COP21
Nov 30, 2015 | PV - Tech
By Tom Kenning
Indian prime minister and French president Francois Hollande will jointly launch the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at the COP21 climate conference in Paris today. -
India Seeks to Spur Solar Aid for Equator Nations
Dec 1, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an alliance of nations to spur investment in solar energy in the countries clustered around the Equator, one of the measures the United Nations backed at climate talks in Paris. -
Focus on Developing Countries as Paris Climate Talks Begin
Nov 30, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Eric J. Lyman
The Paris climate summit got under way Nov. 30 with high-level calls for strong climate action and a road map for final negotiations on the draft of what delegates hope will become the Paris agreement. -
Google Will Be First Duke Energy Customer To Buy Solar Electricity
Nov 30, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Glenn Meyers
Google has announced it will purchase renewable electricity from a 61 MW Duke Energy solar project that is under construction in North Carolina. The buy is meant to address some of the Google data center’s clean electricity demands. -
Apple & SunPower Collaborating On 170 MW Solar Power Project In Mongolia
Nov 30, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Jake Richardson
Three solar power projects with a combined capacity of 170 MW are being constructed by Zhonghuan Energy in the northern Chinese territory of Inner Mongolia. Apple Inc. is supplying 40% of the funds for the projects, which is about US $103 million.
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The Mercifully Short List of Fallen Solar Companies: 2015 Edition
Dec 1, 2015 | Greentech Media
By Eric Wesoff
Perhaps it's time to allow Herman, the solar obituary skull, to return to the catacombs from whence he came. He's witnessed the corporate demise of more than 100 solar firms that were knocked down by greed, delusion, bad luck or bad timing.
We're seeing far less of him lately.
Keeping track of failing solar companies in 2011 and 2012 bordered on full-time work. That was when solar manufacturing overcapacity and price pressure brutally culled the field. The 2014 dead pool was much smaller, while solar attrition in 2015 has subsided to mature market levels.
This is an updated list of (mostly U.S. and EU) solar companies that have closed, gone bankrupt, become insolvent, ended up in assignment for benefit of creditors, or have been acquired in less than positive circumstances. Although there is a macabre element to this list, it's actually positive news for the industry. The solar companies left standing in 2015 are the firms with effective business plans and value to add to the marketplace.
Here's the updated list of the solar firms that have fought the good fight but have moved on.
2015
Enecsys (microinverters) bankrupt -- Enecsys raised more than $55 million in VC from investors including Wellington Partners, NES Partners, Good Energies and Climate Change Capital Private Equity for its microinverter technology.
QBotix (trackers) closed -- QBotix had a two-axis solar tracker system where the motors, instead of being installed two per tracker, were moved around by a rail-mounted robot that adjusted each tracker every 40 minutes. But while QBotix was trying to gain traction, single-axis solar trackers were also evolving and driving down cost. QBotix raised more than $19.5 million from Firelake, NEA, DFJ JAIC, Siemens Ventures, E.ON and Iberdrola.
Solar-Fabrik (c-Si) bankrupt -- German module builderSoitec (CPV) closed -- France's Soitec, one of the last companies with a hope of commercializing concentrating photovoltaic technology, abandoned its solar business. Soitec had approximately 75 megawatts' worth of CPV projects in the ground.
TSMC (CIGS) closed -- TSMC Solar ceased manufacturing operations, as "TSMC believes that its solar business is no longer economically sustainable." Last year, TSMC Solar posted a champion module efficiency of 15.7 percent with its Stion-licensed technology.
SaleSkyFuel (parabolic troughs for CSP) -- China's Sunshine Kaidi New Energy Group acquired SkyFuel’s parabolic trough technology.
Watch list
Spire Corp. -- According to an SEC filing, on October 22, 2015, "Spire Corporation announced a small reduction in force and, due to insufficient financial support, the suspension of all non-essential operations until further notice. Certain employees will continue to work to maintain day-to-day activities. As previously announced, the Company has engaged an investment banking firm for the purpose of assessing strategic alternatives for the Company, including, but not limited to, a potential sale of the Company or certain of its assets."
Andalay Solar -- OTC stock price is currently $0.00.
Abengoa -- Seeking bankruptcy protection
Here's the collection from previous years.
2009 to 2010
Bankrupt, closed, acquired
Advent Solar (emitter wrap-through Si) acquired by Applied Materials
Applied Solar (solar roofing) acquired by Quercus Trust
OptiSolar (a-Si on a grand scale) -- OptiSolar’s utility projects were acquired by First Solar; its manufacturing line was sold to NovaSolar.
Ready Solar (PV installation) acquired by SunEdison
Solasta (nano-coaxial solar) closed
SV Solar (low-concentration PV) closed
Senergen (depositing silane onto free-form metallurgical-grade Si substrates) closed
Signet Solar (a-Si) bankrupt
Sunfilm (a-Si) bankrupt
Wakonda (GaAs) acquired by Siva
2011
Bankrupt, closed
EPV Solar (a-Si) bankrup
tEvergreen (drawn Si) bankrupt
Solyndra (CIGS) bankrupt
SpectraWatt (c-Si) bankrupt
Stirling Energy Systems (dish engine) bankruptAcquisition, saleAscent Solar (CIGS) acquired by TFG RadiantCalyxo (CdTe) acquired by Solar Fields from Q-Cells HelioVolt (CIGS) acquired by Korea's SK InnovationNational Semiconductor Solar Magic (panel optimizers) exited systems businessNetCrystal (silicon on flexible substrate) acquired by Solar SemiconductorSoliant (CPV) acquired by Emcore
2012Bankrupt, closedAbound Solar (CdTe) bankruptAQT (CIGS) closedAmpulse (thin silicon) closedArise Technology (PV modules) bankruptAzuray (microinverters) closedBP (c-Si panels) exits solar businessCentrotherm (PV manufacturing equipment) bankrupt and restructuredCSG (c-Si on glass) closed by SuntechDay4 Energy (cell interconnects) delisted from TSX exchangeECD (a-Si) bankruptEnergy Innovations (CPV) bankruptFlexcell (a-Si roll-roll BIPV) closedGadir Solar (a-Si PV) Spain-based customer of Oerlikon Solar closedGlobalWatt (solar) closedGreenVolts (CPV) closedG24i (DSCs) bankrupt in 2012, re-emerged as G24i Power with new investorsHoku (polysilicon) shut down its Idaho polysilicon production facilityInventux (a-Si) bankruptKonarka (OSCs) bankruptOdersun (CIGS) bankruptPramac (a-Si panels built with equipment from Oerlikon) insolventPairan (Germany, inverters) insolventRalos (developer) bankruptREC Wafer (c-Si) bankruptSatcon (BoS) bankruptSchott (c-Si) exits c-Si businessSchuco (a-Si) shutting down its a-Si businessSencera (a-Si) closedSiliken (c-Si modules) closedSkyline Solar (LCPV) closedSiemens (CSP, inverters, BOS) divestment from solarSolar Millennium (developer) insolventSolarhybrid (developer) insolventSovello (Q-Cells, Evergreen, REC JV) bankruptSolarDay (c-Si modules) insolventSolar Power Industries (PV modules) bankruptSoltecture (CIGS BIPV) bankruptSun Concept (developer) bankruptAcquisition, fire sale, restructuringOelmaier (Germany, inverters) insolvent, bought by agricultural supplier Lehner AgrarQ-Cells (c-Si) insolvent, acquired by South Korea's HanwhaSharp (a-Si) backing away from a-Si, retiring 160 of its 320 megawatts in JapanSolibro (CIGS) Q-Cells unit acquired by China's HanergySolon (c-Si) acquired by UAE's Microsol Scheuten Solar (BIPV) bankrupt, then acquired by AikosolarSunways (c-Si, inverters) bought by LDK, restructuring to focus on BIPV and storage
2013Bankrupt, closedArray Converter (Module-level power electronics) bankrupt, IP to VC investorAvancis (CIGS) discontinuing productionBosch (c-Si PV module) exited module businessConcentrator Optics (CPV) bankruptCyrium (CPV semiconductors) bankruptDirect Grid (microinverters) closedGreenRay (microinverters) closedHelios Solar (c-Si modules) bankruptHoku Solar (silicon) bankruptHonda Soltec (CIGS thin-film modules) closingInfinia (Stirling engine CSP) bankruptNanosolar (CIGS) closedPythagoras Solar (BIPV) closedSolarion (CIGS) went bankrupt but restructured and in limited productionSolFocus (CPV) bankruptSunsil (module level electronics) closedSuntech Wuxi (c-Si) bankruptTioga (project developer) closedWillard & Kelsey (CdTe panels) bankruptZenithSolar (CHP) bankruptAcquiredAgile Energy (project developer) acquired by RES AmericasBosch (c-Si PV module) acquired by SolarWorldDiehl (Germany inverters) inverter division sold to PE firm mutares AGGE-Primestar (CdTe technology acquired from PrimeStar) acquired by First SolarGlobal Solar Energy (CIGS) acquired by HanergyInfinia (Stirling engine CSP) assets acquired by Israel's QnergyMiaSolé (CIGS) acquired by China's Hanergy NuvoSun (CIGS) acquired by DowSuntech Wuxi (c-Si) acquired by Shunfeng Photovoltaic International for $492 millionTwin Creeks (kerfless Si) IP and other assets acquired by GT Advanced TechnologyWuerth Solar (installer) business turned over to BayWaWuerth Solar (CIGS line) taken over by ManzZenithSolar (CHP) acquired by Suncore2014Bankrupt, closedAreva's solar business (CSP) closed -- Suffering through a Fukushima-inspired slowdown in reactor sales, Areva exited its concentrated solar power business. Areva's solar unit consisted of the remains of the acquired startup Ausra. HelioVolt (CIGS thin-film PV) closed -- HelioVolt was founded in 2001 and aimed to fabricate CIGS solar panels. Thirteen years and more than $200 million in VC later, HelioVolt had shipped no commercial product and finally admitted defeat. A thin-film expert offered this take: "Founded on the idea of a transfer process (FAST) which never worked, HelioVolt went to a two-step process and finally adapted co-evaporation. However, the co-evaporation process the firm decided to copy was that of Solibro -- using point sources and an upward deposition orientation -- something with severe limitations in manufacturing."LDK (vertically integrated module builder) filed for bankruptcyMasdar PV (a-Si) closed its SunFab-based amorphous silicon PV factory in Germany.SolarMax (PV inverters) -- Swiss inverter maker SolarMax's parent firm, Sputnik Engineering, filed for insolvency.Sopogy (small-scale CSP) closed -- Sopogy promised smaller-size CSP for the distribution grid or even the rooftop. The startup collected more than $35 million in VC and strategic financing from investors including Southern California Gas Company, 3M, Mitsui & Co., Kolohala Ventures, Enerdigm Ventures, Black River Ventures, Pierre Omidyar and TWC.TEL (a-Si) withdrew from its a-Si solar business -- In 2012, the a-Si equipment division of Oerlikon was divested to Tokyo Electron (TEL) in a $275 million deal. In 2014, TEL withdrew from the PV panel production equipment business. Low efficiencies (below 11 percent), high costs, and cheap Chinese panels doomed a-Si and Oerlikon's effort.Xunlight (a-Si) went bankrupt -- Xunlight was adept at winning tax credits and government grants but never commercialized its roll-to-roll a-Si BIPV technology.Acquisition, saleEmcore's CPV business -- Suncore acquired the remaining interest in Emcore's CPV business. Its space business was purchased by SolAero Technologies (formerly known as Photon Acquisition), an affiliate of private equity firm Veritas Capital.RSI (CdTe PV panels) sold to Chinese strategic -- RSI, a VC-funded cadmium telluride thin-film solar module startup formerly known as Reel Solar, was acquired by an undisclosed "Chinese strategic," according to the company's CEO. RSI employs an electroplating process that works at a lower temperature than First Solar's and allows the use of larger glass sizes with an electrodeposition technology "inherited from Monosolar." According to the CEO's viewpoint, larger glass sizes drive down installed costs. Solar Junction (CPV semiconductors) sold to Saudi strategic -- Solar Junction raised more than $30 million from VC investors ATV, DFJ and NEA, but was sold to Saudi entity KACST and one of its investment arms, TAQNIA, according to sources close to the company. Solar Junction had developed record-setting triple-junction solar cells.SAG Solarstrom, a bankrupt PV project developer, was sold to Shunfeng Photovoltaic, the owner of PV panel builder Suntech, in an $85 million deal. Germany's SAG Solarstrom ranked among the top ten of PV O&M providers in the world in 2013. -
California almond grower turns to solar
Dec 1, 2015 | The Packer
By Mike Hornick
Suniva Inc. and Nuance Energy Group Inc. will power Buttonwillow, Calif.-based almond grower Bushnell Farms and Three & One Farm with a new solar installation.
Suniva OPTimus panels are being installed by Nuance Energy Group and its solar contracting division, AgWell Solar, to bring 824 kilowatts of solar power to the growing operations, both owned by the Bushnell family.
The technology is expected to offset cost increases for 2016 that the Bushnells and others will face as Pacific Gas & Electric moves AG-ICE — or agricultural internal combustion engine incentive — participants to a higher rate. The 10-year AG-ICE plan expires Dec. 31, to be succeeded by AG5.
“The rate change would cost the two Bushnell family ag operations more than $136,000 in 2016,” Brian Boguess, president of Nuance Energy, said in the release. “However, by going solar and converting to an AG4 rate plan, AgWell Solar will save the Bushnell family an estimated $208,000 next year.”
“We realized we would need an alternative plan to avoid a significant rate increase imposed by PG&E,” Julia Bushnell, owner of Bushnell Farms, said in the release. “Our decision to go solar was an easy one. After doing the math, we determined that our solar installations would reduce our utility costs by 71%.”
Suniva, Norcross, Ga., is promoting its OPTimus modules and Nuance Energy’s Osprey PowerPlatform solar racking structures for use by California agricultural companies.
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Amid China slowdown, foreign creditors face bankruptcy riddle
Nov 30, 2015 | Reuters
By Umesh Desai and Michelle Price
As China's economy slows and Beijing becomes more relaxed about letting its companies fail, a rising number of foreign bondholders risk being caught up in the country's unpredictable court system.
Last month, solar producer Baoding Tianwei Group became China's first ever state-owned company to default on a bond coupon payment, showing Beijing's increasing willingness to let companies go bust in a bid to reform its corporate market.
Also in April, Kaisa Group became the first Chinese property developer to fail to pay a coupon on its U.S. dollar bonds and Internet company Cloud Live Tech Group failed to repay nearly $40 million to bondholders.
Although onshore and offshore bondholders have equal standing in China's bankruptcy law, lawyers and investors who have experienced corporate failures in China, say bankruptcy proceedings are subject to interference from local government officials who rarely prioritise offshore bondholders.
"The courts can and do exercise wide discretion, and it's not always clear how that discretion is applied," said Mark Hyde, global head of the insolvency and restructuring practice at law firm Clifford Chance in Hong Kong, who advised creditors in the 2014 bankruptcy of solar producer Chaori, China's first domestic bond default.
"This is in contrast to other jurisdictions like the U.S., where the key question is whether the legal issues have been satisfied."
Courts also have wide discretion on whether to accept bankruptcy filings and must work closely with local government officials, who are generally more concerned about jobs, local tax revenues and social stability than creditors.
Foreign investors who experienced the bankruptcies of Chaori and Suntech, another early Chinese corporate failure, felt they were treated like a nuisance.
"In the case of Suntech there was radio silence from the company for four months and only when we applied sufficient pressure did they start to come up with a solution. Creditors are seen as a nuisance," said an investor who owned bonds in Suntech but declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
INCONSISTENCIES
Even though overseas investors represent a tiny fraction of China domestic bond ownership, their number is expected to increase as China moves to open up its corporate bond market, which is the largest in the world.
Foreign ownership in China's onshore bond market is expected to rise to 3-4 percent by the end of 2015, from 2.6 percent, according to Standard Chartered Bank, but the numbers could grow exponentially once China lifts current investment quotas.
China's Enterprise Bankruptcy Law, which came into effect only in 2007, incorporates elements of both the U.S. and UK insolvency regimes, allowing defaulting companies, or their creditors, to file for bankruptcy in order to restructure the corporate debt or force the company into liquidation.
But the law is still evolving, giving rise to inconsistencies in its application, said Daniel Anderson, a partner at law firm Ropes & Gray, who was involved in the onshore and offshore insolvency proceedings of Chinese steelmaker FerroChina, which defaulted on its debt in 2008.
The case of FerroChina, the first high-profile insolvency case involving a Chinese company, left offshore creditors divided as some recouped as much as 60 cents to the dollar and others nothing.
As China's slowdown continues, lawyers expect to see an uptick in bankruptcy filings, but warned that the outcome of these proceedings would continue to be distorted by political factors.
"We expect to see an increase in defaults and selective corporate failures," said Jonathan Leitch, a restructuring lawyer at DLA Piper in Hong Kong.
"Where purely domestic bankruptcies are concerned, the outcome will continue to be largely pre-arranged at the outset of a bankruptcy filing."
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Power Reforms May Help Chinese Renewable Energy Firms
Nov 30, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Feifei Shen
Chinese renewable energy producers, including China Longyuan Power Group Corp., may benefit from reform of the country's electricity-distribution business as it seeks to prioritize power generation from wind and solar farms.
China plans to end the monopoly of state-owned distributors over electricity sales by allowing end users to negotiate prices directly with generators, the country's top economic planning agency said in a statement on its website Nov. 30. The distributors, State Grid Corp., China Southern Power Grid Co. and the Inner Mongolia Power Group Co., will operate networks and carry electricity for a government-set fee.
China also plans to ask companies to replace electricity generated from their own coal-fired plants with renewable energy, the National Development and Reform Commission said.
“This is a good direction” as the nation considers clean power first in its planning for power generation, said Ray Lian, general manager of market development department in Kong Sun Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong-listed solar farm operator. “Theoretically, it will improve consumption of renewable power in China.”
Prioritizing renewable power may help address the problem of idled clean electricity capacity in China where grids have been unable to catch up with the pace of new installations. Authorities either delay hooking up new plants to the grid or idle facilities whose output can't be managed.
About 15 percent of the nation's wind capacity and 9 percent of solar sat idle in the first half as congestion in the electricity grid prevented renewable energy from reaching customers, according to data from National Energy Administration.
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U.S., China Leaders Make Last Push for Climate Deal
Dec 1, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dean Scott
Just a year after they jointly announced new pledges to cut carbon pollution under a global climate accord, President Barack Obama and China President Xi Jinping jetted to Paris in hopes of pushing negotiators across the finish line on the agreement at a two-week summit.
“Let's get to work,” Obama said after his remarks at the Nov. 30 opening of the two-week United Nations climate summit, where negotiators hope to conclude the first truly global agreement committing developed and developing nations alike to climate action.
Obama in his remarks touted his November 2014 pledge to cut U.S. emissions 26 percent to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025 and said the nation is on track to meet its 2009 pledge to curb emissions 17 percent from the same 2005 baseline by 2020 (219 DEN A-8, 11/13/14).
But Obama, who joined more than 150 leaders and other heads of state in speaking at the summit, pressed negotiators to include ways to strengthen the agreement, perhaps every five years or so, to make future emissions cuts without opening the deal to renegotiation.
“Let's secure an agreement that builds in ambition, where progress paves the way for regularly updated targets,” he said.
Obama Urges Transparency
The president also said negotiators should “agree to a strong system of transparency that gives each of us the confidence that all of us are meeting our commitments.” He added that countries “who don't yet have the full capacity to report on their targets [should] receive the support that they need” to ensure the actions they pledged to cut emissions can be verified.
China's president reiterated his nation's 2014 pledge to peak its carbon emissions, after which they would presumably decline, by around 2030. Xi said his rapidly developing nation, now the world's largest emitter, would “strive to achieve” peak emissions “as soon as possible” and echoed Obama's call for reaching an agreement in Paris.
“Tackling climate change is a shared mission for mankind,” Xi said, urging negotiators to establish “an equitable and effective global mechanism on climate change.”
“All eyes are now on Paris,” China's president said.
However, Xi offered fewer specifics than his U.S. counterpart on what the deal should include.
At Odds Over Legal Nature?
The two leaders' remarks masked in many ways the deep divisions that still exist as the Nov. 30-Dec. 11 climate talks got under way at the La Bourget airfield north of central Paris.
The debate over the legal nature of the Paris deal and whether it should be a legally binding treaty continued to simmer just below the surface on the opening day of the talks, formally known as the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-21).
The Obama administration opposes a legally binding deal that commits nations to specific emissions reductions because it would likely trigger a requirement that it be submitted to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it would be dead on arrival.
The administration favors instead a hybrid deal combining pledges nations voluntarily put on the table this year with other provisions that could be binding, such as transparency and measuring requirements to verify that nations make good on their emissions pledges.
But there are still many countries calling for the whole deal to be legally binding, including many developing nations hardest hit by climate impacts as well as negotiators from the European Union and the summit's host country, France.
Other Issues Still Unresolved
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his remarks that the new climate agreement should take into account different circumstances for countries that are still developing. But “it should be a legally binding agreement,” Putin said, one that is “comprehensive, effective and equitable.”
Putin also endorsed putting a global goal in the deal to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) this century compared to pre-industrial times to prevent the worst climate impacts.
In addition to resolving that issue, negotiators in Paris also have to resolve whether to address loss and damage linked to climate impacts from greenhouse gases already emitted by developed nations; and whether developed nations should provide more specifics on the $100-billion-a-year they pledged in climate aid for developing nations.
More for Climate Finance?
South African President Jacob Zuma said developing nations not only need more specifics in the Paris deal about the $100 billion annual pledge—they also, he said, need more money. Climate finance “must be scaled up significantly beyond the $100 billion mark for the post-2020 period,” Zuma said.
“A Paris agreement that is hollow and weak on the provision of means of implementation to support adaptation and mitigation efforts of developing countries will not be acceptable and will furthermore undermine our collective response” to the climate challenge, he said.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who presides over the COP-21 talks, said earlier in the day that negotiators must guard against simply claiming victory in Paris by getting a vague declaration in favor of climate action and instead push for the most ambitious agreement possible. His comments echoed a similar warning voiced last week by U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern (227 DEN A-9, 11/25/15).
“The stakes are too high,” Fabius said at the Nov. 30 opening of the COP-21 talks, “and the menace of climate change is too great for us to be content with a minimalistic agreement.”
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The Falling Costs of Renewable Energy: No More Excuses
Nov 30, 2015 | Huffington Post
By Adnan Z. Amin
Historically, cost was cited as one of the primary barriers to switching from fossil-based energy sources like oil, coal and gas to renewable energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal.
But the narrative has now changed. Plummeting costs for renewable energy technologies are making a global energy transition not only possible, but actually less expensive than the alternative.
We already know the world's renewable energy resources are abundant, eternal and have the potential to fully meet global energy needs while reducing emissions and mitigating climate change. What many do not yet realize however, is that renewable energy technologies are increasingly beating both fossil fuels and nuclear energy on costs. While some renewable energy sources -- hydropower, geothermal and some forms of modern biomass -- have been broadly competitive with fossil fuels and nuclear energy for some time, solar photovoltaics (PV) and onshore wind energy have also now emerged as cost-competitive options.
In Australia, a country with the world's fourth largest coal reserves, producing onshore wind energy was 14 percent cheaper than new coal and 18 per cent cheaper than new gas in 2013. In Egypt, a recent tender for onshore wind generated electricity resulted in bids as low as USD 4 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to USD 7-19 cents for fossil power plants, including externalities.
Solar module prices have dropped 75 percent since 2009, and the more we build the less expensive it gets. With every doubling of cumulative installed capacity, prices fall by some 20 per cent due to economies of scale and technology improvements. For example, a German PV rooftop system cost roughly €14,000/kW in 1990. At the end of last year the price was less than one tenth that amount at €1,300/kW.
As the cost of renewables continue to fall, the cost of producing power with nuclear and fossil fuels is on the rise.
While the average global cost of onshore wind and solar PV fell 2.4 percent and 5.4 percent respectively in the past six months, the cost of producing electricity in a new gas or coal-fired power plant increased in all regions of the world.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, nuclear power costs, on average, more than three times as much to produce as wind, solar PV and small hydro in the Americas. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), energy from a new coal fired plant is 15 percent more expensive and energy from a new gas-fired power plant is 30 percent more expensive than onshore wind. And the list goes on.
The cost argument is not lost on the private sector. More and more companies are opting for renewables, including some of the biggest in the world such as Apple, IKEA, Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Lego. They do so on the basis that it is that it is an economically prudent thing to do.
General Motors, for example, says its clean energy programme has saved the company more than USD 80 million.
We have reached the crucial tipping point where the renewable energy option not only makes sense environmentally and socially, but also economically. This is causing a dramatic shift towards renewable energy worldwide, with renewable power capacity accounting for more than half of capacity additions in the global power sector since 2011.
But renewable energy deployment must be accelerated, and quickly if we are to limit global temperature rise to 2°C. Governments must address the most severe disincentives and energy market distortions, by improving policies to level the playing field between fossil fuels and nuclear power on the one hand, and renewable energy on the other. The world currently subsidizes fossil fuels to the tune of more than US$500 billion a year, dwarfing support for renewable energy by a factor of five.
World leaders will arrive in Paris on November 30 for the final round of climate negotiations before adopting what is expected to be an historic climate agreement. They will do so emboldened by the knowledge that the massive deployment of renewable energy technologies is a solution whose time has come.
Renewable energy is now not just the most effective means, but also the most affordable means of addressing the climate crisis. Cost can no longer be used as an excuse to delay action.
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A Path Beyond the Paris Climate Change Conference
Dec 1, 2015 | The New York Times
By Justin Gillis
The pledges that countries have signaled they will make in Paris over the next two weeks to cut emissions will inevitably fall short of what is needed to solve the problem of climate change.
But many political leaders gathering there — including governors, mayors, and provincial cabinet secretaries — are pushing for more aggressive cuts. By the dozen, they are signing a voluntary agreement committing their jurisdictions to faster and deeper reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases than their national governments have promised.
“We are not moving fast enough,” Gov. Jerry Brown of California, who is helping to lead the effort, said in an interview. “We’ve got to do more.”
All of which raises a provocative question: What would a truly ambitious plan to tackle climate change look like?
Despite the intensity of the debate around global warming, the question has long been considered theoretical, and few people have spent much time studying potential steps to “deep decarbonization” — certainly not at the level of detail needed for a concrete plan.
Lately, that has started to change. But the recent analyses make clear just how difficult a worldwide transition to a clean energy system is likely to be.
“The arithmetic is really brutal,” said Jeffrey D. Sachs, a prominent Columbia University economist. “We’re in such a dreadful situation that every country has to make this transformation, or else this isn’t going to work.”
Dr. Sachs helped start what is perhaps the most serious effort to draw up a detailed road map for the energy transition: the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project, based in Paris and New York. Over the past couple of years, the effort enlisted teams from 16 countries, which account for the large majority of global emissions, to devise such plans.
The analysts used conservative assumptions about current technologies and their costs. They also presumed that developed countries would not be willing to make big changes in their way of life — that people would continue to insist on transportation, refrigerators, electric lights and so forth — and that poor countries would keep striving to reach higher standards of living, requiring more energy.
The experts also made a point of ruling out energy miracles, such as technologies like nuclear fusion that could help enormously if they became available but are still largely on the drawing board. “If we couldn’t put on a hard hat and go visit a technology in the field, at least in pilot stage, then we didn’t include it in our analysis,” said Ben Haley, a senior consultant at Energy and Environmental Economics, a consulting firm involved in the work.
With those assumptions, the experts focused on a specific question: Can emissions be cut enough from now to 2050 to meet an international target designed to head off the worst effects of climate change?
“It can still be done — barely,” said Guido Schmidt-Traub, the executive director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which helped organize the effort.Technologies Fall Short
Perhaps the single most crucial finding of the project is that the technologies available today, while good enough to get a running start on the transition, are probably not good enough to finish it.
That means experts who have long argued for a more intensive research program on clean energy have a point. The 16-country analysis suggests that many technologies, like electric cars and offshore wind turbines, have to become cheaper and better.Paris Climate Change Conference 2015Complete coverage of the United Nations meeting in Paris, where officials will gather Nov. 30-Dec. 11 to try to reach an emissions deal.Narendra Modi Could Make or Break Obama’s Climate LegacyNOV 30Needed for Paris Climate Talks: Handwarmers, Sleeping Bag, StaminaNOV 30Full Results of New York Times/CBS News Poll on the EnvironmentNOV 30Two-Thirds of Americans Want U.S. to Join Climate Change PactNOV 30Citing Urgency, World Leaders Converge on France for Climate TalksNOV 30
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Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and philanthropist, has long argued for a more intensive focus in energy innovation, and on Monday he announced in Paris that he had corralled a group of billionaires to invest huge sums in developing new technologies. Twenty countries, including the United States, also pledged to double their own investment in basic energy research.
In an interview, Mr. Gates said that poor countries would be reluctant to switch to clean energy technology unless it becomes better and cheaper, “and the only answer to that is innovation.”
Yet the new research on decarbonization also suggests that the environmentalists who have long called for a rapid expansion of existing clean-energy technologies also have a point: The very process of rolling them out helps to spur innovation, and as they spread beyond niche markets, economies of scale drive down the costs.
Solar power offers a stunning example, with costs of the panels plunging 80 percent in the last decade, a direct result of subsidies and other policies meant to create a larger market. In many places, solar power is still more expensive than power produced from fossil fuels, but the difference has narrowed considerably.
Wind turbines have been a big winner, too, in recent years. They supply almost 5 percent of the electric power in the United States, and in a handful of American states and some smaller countries, that figure has moved into double digits. Wind power is so abundant in Texas that one company there is giving away electricity at night.
The good news about wind and solar power has inspired claims that they could carry the entire load of the energy transition. Mark Z. Jacobson, an engineer at Stanford University, has drawn attention with a finding that the entire world could operate on 100 percent renewable power by 2050.
Yet such scenarios would involve an extraordinary push. Dr. Jacobson’s plans would require, among many other actions, that 156,000 wind turbines be built off American coasts in the next 35 years, and twice as many on land. In 20 years of effort, European countries have managed to build about 3,000 offshore turbines.
In an interview, Dr. Jacobson cited a scientific paper that calculated the oiland gas industry has been building 50,000 new wells a year in North America since 2000. Each of those, he said, is as complicated as erecting a wind turbine, and building tens of thousands of turbines a year would be well within the nation’s industrial capability.
“We think it’s technically and economically feasible,” Dr. Jacobson said. “It ultimately does come down to political will. If people don’t want to do it, it’s not going to happen by itself.”
Dr. Jacobson has often cited the United States’ mobilization during World War II as an example of what can be done by a determined society. But to some other experts, that very argument speaks to the political and economic impracticality of his plans.
“I just don’t see a World War II-style mobilization happening for anything other than a world war,” said Jesse Jenkins, an energy analyst at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We’re not going to do that. So the question is, what are we going to do?”
The scenarios laid out by the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project echo Dr. Jacobson’s plans to a degree, in that they call for substantial amounts of renewable power. But these scenarios also suggest that the energy transition would be easier and cheaper with additional technology options, including some that are disliked by the environmental movement.
For instance, in some countries with growing power demands, like China, the research found that nuclear power would be essential for staying within a strict emissions budget. Mr. Jenkins said that new nuclear plants would also be needed in some American states that had few other options.
And many experts believe the United States, even if it does not build many new nuclear plants, would be foolish to shut down the ones it has, given that they supply 19 percent of the country’s electric power with minimal emissions. Yet some of them have shut down lately, occasionally because of safety fears but mainly because of low power prices prompted by the abundance of natural gas.
The research also suggests that to meet strict targets, some countries might need to keep burning coal or natural gas to generate power while capturing the carbon dioxide emerging from smokestacks, compressing it and injecting it deep underground.
Governments have discussed the need for this technology, known as carbon capture and storage, for decades. But they have putlittle effort into developing it, and it has not advanced much beyond the demonstration scale, though a few projects are starting to come online. Environmental groups have been wary of the technology, and Germany,among the most determined countries in battling global warming, has largely decided not to pursue it.
Most fossil-fuel companies do not appear to be putting much effort into the approach, either, even though it may be the only way for some of them to stay in business over the long haul.
“It is a highly contested technology, but if they want to save their industry, they should be investing like crazy in proving the technology,” Dr. Sachs said.
Perhaps the most compelling finding of the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project is that governments could easily flub the energy transition by failing to plan far enough ahead. Most countries are setting 10- and 15-year targets that can be met with incremental changes.
Yet that almost guarantees that the toughest problems, like perfecting the carbon-capturing technology, will be tackled too late to meet the long-term goal of zero emissions, the researchers found.
“By the time you get to the hard things, you’ve lost too much time,” Mr. Schmidt-Traub said. Instead, governments have to figure out where they want to be in 2050, he said, and then work backward to plot the necessary technological path, while remaining open to new inventions.Shared Themes
While the best technology mix varies by state or country — wind is a good option in Iowa, solar power in Arizona or Australia — the researchers found some themes across all the countries they examined.
To achieve the emissions goals, the entire economy, including transportation, needs to be electrified as much as possible. That might mean cars’ running on batteries, but it could also mean cars’ running on hydrogen, created by using nighttime electricity from nuclear reactors or wind turbines to split water molecules.
Either way, the implication is that the internal-combustion engine that has powered cars since the 19th century is a technological dead end in the 21st. So countries like the United States that are spending a lot of effort trying to make gasoline cars more efficient may be going down a blind alley.
The scenarios for the United States, according to the Deep Decarbonization project, do not envision broad adoption of electric cars until the 2030s. But that is only 14 years away, suggesting an urgent need to make the cars better and cheaper, and to roll out charging stations by the millions.
Another potential dead end, the research suggests, would be an overreliance on natural gas. Gas is a lower-carbon fuel than coal, and switching power plants to run on gas can achieve big emission reductions in the short run. The Obama administration, with its Clean Power Plan, is trying to lock in such a switch in the United States.
But the deep-decarbonization research suggests that gas has to go away within a few decades, which means that heavy investment in natural gas pipelines and power plants now could wind up undermining the long-term goals.What Government Can Do
If it is mayors and city councilors and governors who are most determined to move forward — as the pledge they are signing before and during the Paris conference makes clear — what effect can they have on their own, without much support at the national level?
Some answers are fairly obvious, experts said. In some countries, including the United States, state and local governments control the building codes, many of which still do not include tough requirements for reducing energy demand in new buildings. Cities like Austin, Tex., have shown how to set strict codes and enforce them.
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Modi and Hollande to launch global Solar Alliance at COP21
Nov 30, 2015 | PV - Tech
By Tom Kenning
Indian prime minister and French president Francois Hollande will jointly launch the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at the COP21 climate conference in Paris today.
The proposed alliance, also named International Agency for Solar Technologies and Applications (IASTA), is aiming to have over 100 countries join, including US, China and France as well as countries situated between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
It will focus on giving momentum to solar energy policies, increasing cooperation over best and new technologies and bringing faster cost reductions.
As India will spearhead the Alliance, it marks a move from Modi to bring India forward on the world stage of renewable energy on top of his already highly ambitious targets of 175GW of renewable capacity by 2022.
Jai Sharda, managing partner, Equitorial Research, a financial research firm based in India, said that foreign loans are less costly that loans from domestic sources in India, however, high hedging costs make these foreign loans more expensive.
He added: “Innovative low cost hedging instruments can help foreign loans become cheaper. Cheaper loans would translate into further reduction in the cost of solar power in India.
“The proposed solar alliance may help by permitting effective exploitation of economies of scale and comparative advantages of different countries in research and development, manufacturing, innovation and finance, while also allowing them to access technology and best practices from each other.”
Tim Buckley, director of energy finance studies, Australasia at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), said: ‘’Till now, most of the foreign investments have come into India from private sources. Only around US$0.5 billion has come in through official channels, multi-lateral and bi-lateral financing agencies. Enhancement of flows from this channel will further boost the efforts of private enterprise, and the adoption of green power in India.”
Other commentators said the Solar Alliance would support developing countries in adopting renewable energy through knowledge sharing and a reduction in costs.
In the backdrop of these optimistic announcements at COP21, PV Tech also reported today that there are "severe delays" in the signing of PPAs for capacity awarded to many developers in the 2GW solar auction in Telangana.
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India Seeks to Spur Solar Aid for Equator Nations
Dec 1, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an alliance of nations to spur investment in solar energy in the countries clustered around the Equator, one of the measures the United Nations backed at climate talks in Paris. The program detailed at a Nov. 30 press conference with French President Francois Hollande and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would create an International Agency for Solar Technologies and Applications, which would help nations located in the tropics gain expertise and financing for solar energy. The initiative is part of Modi's efforts both to expand India's own solar industry and to solidify the country's position as a leader of the developing world. Industrial countries have pledged to boost funding for climate-related programs, including renewable energy to $100 billion a year by 2020, and Modi sees solar power as a way for nations to grow their economies without relying on fossil fuels. The measures are aimed at “helping developing nations skip the dirty part of development,” the prime minister said after meeting U.S. President Barack Obama at the climate talks. Modi said 300 million people in India live without power, and “we cannot forge a climate agreement that says they are permanently resigned” to not having electricity. More than 100 countries are located between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and are potential members of the alliance, according to a statement released by the UN.
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Focus on Developing Countries as Paris Climate Talks Begin
Nov 30, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Eric J. Lyman
The Paris climate summit got under way Nov. 30 with high-level calls for strong climate action and a road map for final negotiations on the draft of what delegates hope will become the Paris agreement.
The main event on the opening day of the Nov. 30–Dec. 11 United Nations summit centered around opening remarks from more than 150 heads of state who traveled to Paris, most of whom called for strong action to curb greenhouse gas emissions and tackle issues arising from climate change (see related story).
“The future of the planet is in our hands here in Paris,” said Francois Hollande, president of host country France.
The process of negotiating over the draft text—which started in February in Geneva—continued in the background, while the heads of state spoke.
Delegates actually restarted talks on the text Nov. 29, a day before the summit officially opened. The Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) negotiating track co-chairmen, Ahmed Djoghlaf and Daniel Reifsnyder, said they expect the ADP talks on the all-important terminology in the would-be Paris pact to conclude Dec. 4. That would set the stage for final negotiations in the main plenary next week.
According to delegates, talks on Nov. 30 focused on the issues of loss and damage, finance, and how best—in the coming years—to increase the strength of emissions reduction goals that countries submitted in recent months. All are important issues for developing countries, whose delegations want progress in the key areas before agreeing to wider discussions in the second and final week of the talks.
Temperature Goal
“Speculation is that in order for the developing countries to play a strong role in the second part of the talks, they will have to see concrete progress on issues important to them in the first few days,” a high-ranking European Union negotiator told Bloomberg BNA, asking not to be further identified.
In another nod to the desires of developing countries, Hollande said the talks should strive to keep global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels, in contrast to the formal goal of “less than 2.0 degrees Celsius” (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) adopted in 2009.
Developing countries have called for the lower temperature goal and, at least officially, both remain options in the negotiating text. According to most climate models, current pledges from the nations of the world, if fully implemented but not further strengthened, would result in warming of between 2.7 and 3.5 degrees Celsius (4.3 to 5.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
‘Bridging Language.'
Janos Pasztor, climate change adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, told Bloomberg BNA that it is now time for countries to put aside national agendas and start working on so-called “bridging language” that represents compromise between two or more of the 1,500 bracketed—or contentious—parts of the draft text.
If the talks are successful, they would concluded with the first-ever agreement from developing and developing countries to fight and respond to climate change. The Paris pact would enter into force in 2020.
Several delegates told Bloomberg BNA it was significant that heads of state gathered at the start of the talks, rather than at the end, as they have in some past UN summits.
Most heads of state will leave by midweek, handing things ov
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Google Will Be First Duke Energy Customer To Buy Solar Electricity
Nov 30, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Glenn Meyers
Google has announced it will purchase renewable electricity from a 61 MW Duke Energy solar project that is under construction in North Carolina. The buy is meant to address some of the Google data center’s clean electricity demands.
According to a press statement, Google will benefit from Duke Energy Carolinas’ Green Source Rider program, allowing companies to purchase large amounts of renewable energy without incurring extra costs.
Duke Energy’s 61-megawatt solar project is scheduled to be constructed in Rutherford County. Under a power purchase agreement with the Rutherford Farms, LLC solar project, Duke Energy will secure power to meet new energy demand from Google’s expanded Lenoir, North Carolina data center.
Rob Caldwell, Duke Energy senior vice president, Distributed Energy Resources, said, “Google was a driver behind Duke Energy seeking approval for the Green Source Rider. Having Google as the first company to publicly announce its participation is extremely satisfying. We believe this will lead to similar announcements in the future.”
Enrollment in the Green Source Rider means Google will use renewable energy sources for a portion of the energy supplied to its expanded data center. Under the program, Duke Energy and Google agreed on the specific project and additional costs associated with energy from the facility.
Of note, other Duke Energy customers will not pay for the project. Duke will buy the energy generated from the new North Carolina solar farm and Google will buy the clean power using energy credits it has purchased from Duke Energy.
On a global scale, Google has agreed to purchase 1.2 gigawatts of renewable power globally as it endeavors to power 100% of its operations with renewables. “As we pursue that goal, this is a really big moment for us and we’re thrilled to have created this program with Duke Energy,” said Gary Demasi, Google’s head of Data Center Energy and Location Strategy. “Not only does it enable us to purchase renewable energy for our North Carolina operations, it will empower others in the state to do the same.”
This pioneering renewable energy agreement is significant one for a company growing the global footprint for renewable electricity. It follows a 2013 $600 million investment targeting the expansion of its Lenoir data center, where it collaborated with Duke Energy to create the Green Source Rider program, an innovative program that targeted large customers seeking renewable energy supply in Duke Energy Carolinas territory.
“As the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world, we (and our partners) want to encourage the countries and states in which we operate our data centers to add more renewable energy to their grids,” Google has stated on its blog.
Kudos to the building of this renewable energy footprint.
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Apple & SunPower Collaborating On 170 MW Solar Power Project In Mongolia
Nov 30, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Jake Richardson
Three solar power projects with a combined capacity of 170 MW are being constructed by Zhonghuan Energy in the northern Chinese territory of Inner Mongolia. Apple Inc. is supplying 40% of the funds for the projects, which is about US $103 million. Zhonghuan Energy and SunPower are providing the other 60%. The solar power plants will be jointly owned by SunPower, Zhonghuan, and a third party that wasn’t identified, but SunPower CEO Tom Werner said Apple would have an equity stake.
The new solar plants will assist Apple inpowering its manufacturing and supply operations in the area, which gets most of its electricity from coal-burning plants.
Apple and SunPower have already collaborated on a 40 MW solar power plant in ABA Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefectures, Sichuan Province of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). CEO Tom Werner said of this smaller project, “This is a tremendous groundbreaking collaboration, bringing together a diverse group of experienced partners from different parts of the globe to build renewable solar energy ventures that contribute to the local economy and the environment. Our unique, existing partnerships in China allowed for these projects to come to fruition quickly.” Apple’s interest in renewable energy is not new, as it has been investing in this form of electricity for some time and running data centers with it.
Inner Mongolia is the location of mining operations for rare earth materials, which are used in smart phones, electric car motors, computer hard drives, and other consumer technologies. Baotou, the largest industrial city there, has grown from 97,000 in 1950 to about 2.5 million today, due to rapid economic growth. Inner Mongolia is also where some of the largest fossil fuel developments are located, “By 2015, the base will have a total planned annual coal mining capacity of 520 million tons and a planned coal-fired power generation capacity of 48,000 megawatts.”
Solar power is much better for human health and the environment, but coal is well-entrenched and clearly in a dominant position. Small victories eventually will add up as we transition away from fossil fuels.
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