Renewable Energy Blog

The Japanese Embassy in South Africa has installed 410 solar panels to the value of R8-million in an effort to reduce its yearly carbon emissions.

It is estimated that around 90 t a year of carbon dioxide would be saved using the solar panels.

Japanese Ambassador Toshiro Ozawa said that the embassy had decided to switch to solar power generation, owing to South Africa’s solar friendly climate and to showcase its commitment in tackling the serious issues of climate change.

The new system is one of the largest solar power generation systems for office use in South Africa, and Ozawa noted that there were a number of other Japanese companies that were interested in contributing to the growth of the solar power industry in South Africa.

The panels, supplied by Sanyo, are able to produce 100 kW/h of electricity, which would cover between 80% and 90% of the Embassy’s power needs. Ozawa said that the Embassy would still be connected to State-utility Eskom’s power grid that would mainly be used at night.

Meanwhile, Ozawa commented that often the issues of economic development took precedence over climate change issues, especially in developing countries, which could lead to “disastrous consequences” in future.

At the Copenhagen conference in December 2009, the Japanese government committed $15-billion, over a three-year period, to assist developing countries with adaptation, mitigation and access to renewable energy.

Under the Copenhagen Accord, South Africa has committed to a 34% deviation below the ‘business as usual’ emission growth trajectory by 2020, but said that it would need financial assistance from developed countries to do so.

Ozawa said that Japan had recently signed a $5-million agreement with Lesotho for the adaptation and mitigation of the adverse effects of climate change. He noted that Japan was prepared to do more in the region, including in South Africa.

From: Creamer Media

The German Federal Network Agency has released preliminary photovoltaic (PV) installations in the country for 2009, which highlight the significant growth that took place between October and December 2009. In total, 3.8GW was installed in 2009, a 60% increase over 2008. 2.3GW was installed between October and December.

“According to the figures we have done in the past year, a significant build up of solar systems. The installed capacity has increased from 6.0 gigawatts in 2008 to 9.8 gigawatts in 2009,” noted Matthias Kurth, President of the Federal Network Agency, in a statement.

Figures released for the year through to September, 2009 showed that installations had reached 1.5GW.

Based on the Federal Network Agency data, installations in December reached 1,45GW alone.

In Hawaii, a power developer will soon find out if earth and sky mix.

Pacific Light & Power will build a 10-megawatt solar thermal plant that will combine a trough solar collector from Spain’s Albiasa with a turbine traditionally used in geothermal systems.

Why? Ten megawatts is unusually small for a solar thermal field. BrightSource Energy, by contrast, wants to build one in California that will produce 396 megawatts of power. Most solar thermal systems, however, collect heat from the sun to turn water into steam and then feed the steam into gigantic turbines. The heat requirements and the size of the solar thermal fields mean that solar thermal parks can only be built economically in places like North Africa or Arizona where the sun shines almost every day of the year, lots of empty land exists, and humidity remains almost nonexistent. Even the presence of a few clouds can depress the power output.

Geothermal turbines swap water and steam for organic fluids like butane, which turn to vapor at lower temperatures. Thus, geothermal turbines require less heat, which in turn allows for smaller solar fields in a wider range of climates and geographies. Like traditional solar thermal systems, excess heat can be stored and run through the system in the evening or when cloud cover descends.

Jesse Tippett, the managing director of Albiasa, likens it to thin-film solar panels. The underlying technology may not be as efficient but it can generate energy in a wider variety of circumstances.

When completed in 2011, the plant — located on the island of Kauai — will provide close to seven percent of the power needed on the island.

Alibasa and PLP describe it as a hybrid plant, but it’s more of an unusual concatenation. Generally, hybrid plants are power plants that combine renewable energy generation — like solar thermal systems or biogas burners — with gas turbines to provide more baseline-like power. Florida Power and Light and Abengoa are currently building hybrid plants.

Power from the plant will be “close to Hawaiian (grid) parity,” he said, which means expensive. Electric power in Hawaii costs around 25.78 cents a kilowatt hour, the highest rate in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration. Hawaii generates most of its power from diesel generators. But Albiasa will study ways to bring the cost down to make these systems feasible elsewhere.

As one of the highest energy consumers per capita, this is some interesting news about the input renewable energy can make in a relatively short time.

Europe could meet all its electricity needs from renewable sources by mid-century, according to a report released Monday by services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A “super-smart” grid powered by solar farms in North Africa, wind farms in northern Europe and the North Sea, hydro-electric from Scandinavia and the Alps and a complement of biomass and marine energy could render carbon-based fuels obsolete for electricity by 2050, said the report.

The goal is achievable even without the use of nuclear energy, the mainstay of electricity in France, it said.

Over all, about 50 percent of Europe’s energy demand is met with imported fuels.

Under so-called business-as-usual scenarios, that share could increase to 70 percent in coming decades, according to several projections.

The switch to renewables is more than a matter of energy security, said the report, backed by research from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the European Climate Forum, both based in Potsdam, Germany.

“Substantial and fairly rapid decarbonisation… will have to take place if the world is to have any chance of staying within the 2.0 degree Celsius (3.6 degree Fahrenheit) goal for limiting the effects of global warming,” the report said.

Many scientists have warned that if global temperatures rise more than 2.0 C (3.6 F) by century’s end, Earth’s climate system could spin out of control, unleashing human misery on an unprecedented scale.

Achieving all-renewables electricity will depend less on new technology than on revamping Europe’s legal and regulatory framework, the report argued: “Most of the technical components are available in principle already today.”

To become a reality, such a vision will require a regional power system based on a super-smart grid and the rapid scaling up of all forms of renewable power.

It also depends on a unification of the European power market, and its integration into the North African one, allowing for free trading of electricity between all countries, it said.

“Policies would also need to incorporate mechanisms to disincentivise construction of new fossil fuel power plants,” the report added.

The European Union is on track to meet its goal of supplying 20 percent of its total energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, the European Commission reported earlier this month.

Solar energy leader Spain, along with Germany and Austria, have forged ahead of their targets, more than compensating for Italy, which has lagged behind, the Commission said.

Story from AFP

We at Greencon would like to point out that we have done extensive research on our suppliers, and this is part of the reason we use suppliers with a audited track records.

“Green” solar panels can have their dirty side in terms of disposal and manufacturing.  And what happens to the millions of solar panels planted in solar farms and installed on roofs once they’ve reached the end of their useful life in 20 or 25 years?

You might recall the outcry in 2008 when theWashington Post reported on the alleged dumping of silicon tetrachloride, a toxic byproduct of polysilicon production on farmland in China.  Lax environmental enforcement and the drive to save money on expensive recycling and treatment drove the polysilicon supplier to this irresponsible act.

The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) has called on the solar industry to adopt environmentally friendly measures for manufacturing and disposing of solar panels. Sheila Davis, executive director of the non-profit SVTC, believes that solar companies should start investing in recycling efforts now rather than waiting for their products to clog up landfills before taking action.

“It’s an excellent time to do this considering that solar is an emerging industry,” said Davis. “It will be an environmental advantage if you have panels that not only contribute to sustainability and reduce carbon emissions, but also use renewable and sustainable materials.”

To encourage solar manufacturers to do the right thing, SVTC just released its 2010 Solar Company Scorecard, which ranks manufacturers of PV modules according to environmental health and safety, sustainability, workers’ rights, and social justice. The responding companies self-reported on these areas and the results can serve as a resource for institutional purchasers, investors and consumers.   SVTC is funded by individuals and foundations. The scorecard was partially funded by Henderson Global and Boston Common.

“Solar power is key to helping solve the world’s climate crisis,” offered Davis. “But the industry still faces serious issues that need to be addressed before it can be considered truly ‘clean and green’ and socially just.”

Fourteen companies representing 24 percent of the 2008 module market share and 31 percent of the cumulative market share responded to the inquiry. The top three scores were earned by German manufacturers Calyxo, SolarWorld and Sovello, which scored 90, 88 and 73 respectively. (Calyxo and Sovello, both funded by Q-Cells, likely have larger problems to worry about).

Two U.S.-based cadmium telluride manufacturers responded and scored in the mid-range: First Solar in Arizona received a score of 67 and Colorado-based startup Abound received a 63.

What really needs to occur to drive a recycling culture is the adoption of a takeback program by every solar module manufacturer.  Firms can go it alone like First Solar or they can get together, as in the PV Cycle Association, which is developing a voluntary solar panel recycling program in Europe.

SVTC is calling for mandatory takeback and responsible recycling by solar companies as a step toward reducing the solar industry’s environmental footprint.  Larger institutional customers and city or school districts can drive this process by insisting that there be takeback programs as well.

In Davis’ words, “That’s why we created the scorecard — to see which makers are taking the panels back.”

First Solar (FSLR), the largest maker of cadmium telluride solar panels, runs a recycling program and explains what it does with unwanted panels here.  There is a toxicity risk associated with cadmium telluride that First Solar has confronted with a 100 percent takeback program bonded by Swiss Re in the event that First Solar is not around in 20 to 30 years.

The SVTC got started more than 25 years ago in response to water contamination caused by the semiconductor industry.  Their focus has been on electronics, but the rapid growth of the solar PV industry has spurred them into getting an early start on working with the solar panel manufacturers, and to avoid the late start that the semiconductor industry had. “We don’t want that to happen in the solar industry,” said Davis.

She added, “The waste stream is going to diversify and manufacturers need to be prepared.”

In the world of photovoltaics, inverters are the gateway through which the energy of the sun is delivered into a usable format. Discrete, unobtrusive and often fairly non-descript boxes, inverters may be low key, but ultimately their efforts are what make a project economically viable.

Indeed, a new report from French industry analysis firm Yole Developpement confirms that the rapid growth of the solar PV power industry in recent years has created a multi-billion euro market for inverter manufacturers. The company’s market analyst, Brice Le Gouic, suggests that the PV inverter market is set to more than double over the coming years, growing to an estimated €5.91 billion ($8.1 billion) in 2014.

There is certainly a growing market to aim for if the trends evidently emerging from both the latest 24th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PV-SEC) event in Hamburg and the Solar Power International event in California late last year are anything to go by. The shift towards larger installations and the growing interest of T&D technology companies more typically associated with the conventional power industry are key developments.

According to Yole, there are more than 40 inverter manufacturers currently, most of them established and specialized in solar inverters. But they also identify an evolving supply chain and the growing number of new entrants. With the manufacture of large-scale inverters as their core activity, these new entrants are moving into the sector as solar plant sizes typically increase from, say, 200 kW to megawatt-plus scale installations.

While such players, such as Siemens and ABB, have announced new solar inverter products of late, they remain focused on larger, grid-connected installations, and given this emerging trend, it is likely other major transmission and distribution and utility services companies will follow suit. And there is evidence to support this theory in the market. For example, in a move which may be perhaps seen as an early signpost to the growing interest in the solar PV inverter market, in late September 2008 Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, announced the acquisition of Xantrex, a top three global player in the solar and wind inverter market. Schneider said it expected to realize significant synergies with Xantrex’s technology and distribution channels combined with its own global sales, service and supply chain capabilities.

Even so, the current market leader, Germany-based SMA with a 34% share according to Yole, has seen its revenues grow. In its latest figures to 30 September 2009, SMA reports total sales increased to €560 million ($767 million) in the first nine months while sold inverter output rose from 0.2 GW in the first quarter to 1.2 GW in the third. Specific price was reduced to a claimed €0.25/W in the third quarter of 2009, the company said and as a result of these improved figures, the group estimates it has increased its market share to between 45% and 50% during the year.

Currently, the company has an annual production capacity of 5 GW, but in December 2009 it announced that in the medium term SMA is planning to develop additional production facilities at Sandershaeuser Berg near Niestetal in Germany. The company went on to say that against the ‘background of the current high demand for solar inverters, a further extension of the maximum yearly production capacity to 9–10 GW can be achieved stepwise through interim solutions over the next six months, provided the demand remains at a high level.’

‘The solar sector is a highly dynamic market characterized by strong volatility. Therefore, a lot of flexibility is required in order to quickly adapt to the different market developments’, explained CEO Günther Cramer. SMA is also planning to open an additional 1 GW of manufacturing capacity in the US at Denver, Colorado, for its Sunny Boy, Sunny Central and Sunny Island product lines. ‘In the medium term, we expect the US market to become the largest solar market globally’, noted Cramer.

Certainly, inverters are getting bigger and a centralized architecture is also emerging as a key trend, but there is also the emergence of potentially disruptive technologies, such as micro-inverters, to consider. Micro-inverters are particularly well suited for use in small systems of 1 kWp or less but in larger installations which use string inverters, individual module shading can significantly lower energy output of the entire system, an impact which may be avoided by using individual micro-inverters on each module, (see panel on page 58).

Perhaps recognizing the implications, SMA has also been acquisitive and in September 2009, the group, which is based in Niestetal and employs more than 3000 people, announced the acquisition of a micro-inverter technology platform from the Dutch company OKE-Services. In the coming years, SMA says, it intends to continue to develop the technology and launch its own product range. The acquisition makes it the only manufacturer in the world with a product portfolio which includes all existing inverter technologies for operating PV systems of any size and with optimal technical system configuration, says the company. Both parties have agreed to keep the exact purchase price confidential.

In terms of the inverter market, Yole names Austria’s Fronius as the next largest player in Europe, with 10.1% of market share, closely followed by Kaco with about 9.9%, while Siemens is already one of the top 10 suppliers with close to 2% of market share. The impact from the more recent entry of major companies such as ABB, with its global reach in terms of industrial-scale power, has yet to be realized, but clearly signals the development of a far more competitive market in the near future.

One overriding consideration in inverter design is baseline efficiency, given that any losses within are sliced from the output of the entire array. In a potential nod to the next generation of inverters, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) claimed a new world record in the summer of 2009 with a PV inverter of 99.03% efficiency based on junction field-effect SiC transistors, which the Institute says are significantly better than the conventional silicon Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) architecture currently in common use.

Alongside the push for ever greater efficiency and lowest cost of operation, another significant trend in inverter technology has been engendered by a tightening of the rules for grid connection in the EU. Under current directives, systems intending to connect to the grid must become progressively more sophisticated with the capability of supplying reactive power to support grid stability. In addition, the rules dictate that grid-connected inverters above a certain capacity must support remote operation from the transmission system operator. Starting in January 2009, this remote-controlled reduction in output has been required by both the Renewable Energy Act in Germany as well as the new guidelines for the connection and parallel operation of generation plants issued by Germany’s Federal Association of Energy Suppliers and Water Utilities (Bundesverband der Energie-und Wasserwirschaft).

Stakes are Raised in the US and Europe

When in October 2009, Mitsubishi Electric announced that it is to introduce two large-scale transformerless photovoltaic inverters to the North American market – a 100 kW model scheduled for launch in October 2010 and a 250 kW model scheduled in April 2011 – the news topped off a remarkable period of activity in the global PV inverter sector. With the development apparently making Mitsubishi the first Japanese manufacturer to enter the North American inverter sector, the company is already facing stiff competition from a host other European and US players vying for US market share.

Mitsubishi says its move has been prompted by policy change in the US, noting that a recent increase in government subsidies has witnessed the development of numerous large PV plants, built mainly for the purpose of receiving returns on investments. These large industrial PV systems of 100 kW and more cover approximately 70% of demand, Mitsubishi says, with the market expected to expand further with the Green New Deal and other federal incentives.

This trend towards larger, centralised systems, though perhaps less marked, has apparently repeated itself in Europe. And, among a swathe of announcements over the latter months of 2009, a series of large-scale transformerless inverter models were revealed by a number of established PV inverter manufacturers. Among them, a new central or grid-tied inverter was unveiled by Switzerland-based Sputnik Engineering, for example. Open land in Hemau, in the district of Regensburg, saw the commissioning of the first 1 MW installation using its new SolarMax 330C-SV. The device has a rated capacity of 330 kW and as many as three SolarMax 330C-SVs can be combined to create effectively a 1 MW station which, as in this case, can then be directly fed into the medium-voltage grid. The company says the use of transformerless technology in the new design has enabled it to cut both the size and the weight of the system by half compared with the previous models. At the same time, the company claims to have boosted efficiency by 1.5% to 98%.

With the growing demands of the regulatory environment influencing the inverter’s design, the system is monitored remotely using a proprietary internet-based data logger and is designed to automatically respond to grid operator requests for a reduction in output to support grid stability.

Kaco New Energy also continues to develop its product range and in 2009 launched its new transformerless large-scale inverter, the Powador XP350-HV TL, with a 350 kW rating and 97.8% maximum efficiency. It can also be supplied in a triple configuration as a megawatt unit.

Matthias Haag, Kaco’s technical director commented: ‘The Powador XP350-HV TL is also specifically designed for large-scale ground-mounted and roof-mounted PV systems. Large-scale PV systems are playing an increasingly important role in Germany and in particular, Italy’.

Similarly, there were several other examples of transformerless product launches in the small to medium commercial scale, for instance LTi REEnergy GmbH unveiled its new PVmaster Outdoor large-scale inverter. Available with 68 kW and 100 kW outputs, the system has a maximum efficiency of 97%. And transformerless technology has expanded its footprint on the domestic scale too, with the first transformerless inverter from Fronius presented at the 2009 Intersolar. The Fronius IG TL is expected to be available in early 2010, after the completion of final testing. Meanwhile, the new Conergy IPG transformerless string inverter system was unveiled in 2009, which, the company says, offers an efficiency level of up to 96.7%. Both ranges support an output of up to 5 kW.

Mainstream Players Catch the Inverter Bug

Looking towards the larger scale and the entry of companies more closely associated with the mainstream transmission and distribution (T&D) and industrial sector we see players such as Converteam, which launched its so-called ProSolar inverter in 2009, offered for power ranges of between 500 kW and several megawatts. Based on IGBT technology and with possible input voltages of more than 1000 V, efficiency of up to 98% is claimed. The system can also immediately communicate unexpected as well as pre-defined events via the internet or SMS and the inverters meet with the grid requirements laid down in the latest directives, the company says. The move marks the company’s entry to the solar sector, having previously been a significant supplier of electrical equipment to the wind industry, among other sectors.

Outside of Europe, US-firm Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (AE) also introduced its new transformerless, grid-tied PV inverter, the Solaron 250, at Solar Power International. The company says that with a 250 kW capacity, the device is ideal for applications such as commercial rooftop installations and it joins its stable of previously released 333 kW and 500 kW Solaron inverters.

Simultaneously, the company also announced a number of new tie-ins, marking another emerging trend that is seeing inverter and module manufacturers form closer ties to optimize design. For example, the group secured a strategic alliance with Shanghai Guangdian Electric Group (SGEG), which will market AE’s inverters in China, and Advanced Energy also entered into a multi-year agreement with major crystalline-silicon PV module manufacturer Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd. As a part of this agreement, a statement from the company says, AE will contribute to the development of a simplified, integrated platform for designing and building utility-scale PV plants.

And in a further notable development, September 2009 saw the company launch a European version of its 500 kW inverter, claiming a rated efficiency of 97.5% CEC-weighted or 98.1% European-weighted.

ABB chose the EU PVSEC event to launch its first foray into the solar inverter sector. Aimed at system integrators and end users which require inverters for large PV plants and industrial and commercial buildings, they are available in a range from 100 kW to 500 kW. Developed from its established industrial drives technology, among other features the transformerless inverter offers power factor compensation.

The inverters are optimized for cost-efficient, multi-megawatt solar power plants, ABB says, adding that its PVS800 inverter is modular, compact and fully integrated into the company’s global service network. ABB adds that, initially, it will start the marketing and sales of its new solar inverter series in the German, Italian and Spanish markets.

‘The path ABB is taking now was mapped out long ago’, said Dirk Leinweber, responsible for sales and marketing of PV products at ABB Automation Products in Germany. He added: ‘The company has much experience in the field of converter technology, and has been an acknowledged supplier to leading producers for many years. We are now drawing on this experience to enter the market ourselves.’ Leinweber concluded: ‘The positive feedback from our strong and well-established partners in the solar market puts us in a confident mood.’

Industrial powerhouse Siemens, meanwhile, says its newly launched Sinvert PVM range is ideally suited for large to medium-sized photovoltaic systems and solar power plants of up to 2 MW and is aimed squarely at both PV plant engineers and end users operating in the commercial segment. Using master/slave combinations, PV plant from 60 kVA to 2 MVA can be supplied, the company says, while the use of IGBT technology gives an efficiency of up to 98%. The new inverter family is also fully integrated into the Sinvert webmonitor tool which can be used for worldwide access and analysis of inverter and PV plant data.

Sinvert PVM inverters will initially be available in 10 kW, 13 kW, and 17 kW, while a 20 kW addition is in the pipeline and Siemens now offers PV inverters with a range of over 20 different power ratings up to 2 MW.

According to the company, its strategy is backed by a recent IMS Research study which concluded that the PV plant market is expected to grow by at least 30% annually until 2013, with the expectation that the growth rate will be disproportionately high in the commercial and power plant segment. Karlheinz Kaul, CEO of Siemens Systems Engineering Business Unit explained: ‘To address this growth market we are extending our product portfolio to include the new powerful Sinvert PVM inverter for medium-sized commercial plants.’ Initially, the company says, the devices will be available in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain.

Competition, Co-operation and Consolidation

Higher efficiency, better communications and more sophisticated management systems, improved reliability, lower costs and a reduction in materials, all these factors map out a clear direction within the PV inverter sector that leads, inevitably, to the lowest cost of ownership. Certainly, as with the rest of the PV manufacturing sector, inverter companies are striving for grid parity and as a vital part in the PV value chain it is essential that they continue to do so. An equally strong market driver comes from the flood of interest in larger PV installations in Europe, the US, and elsewhere which has seen the rapid emergence of a new breed of player with large-scale manufacturing and commercial expertise. Evidently a more competitive inverter market will emerge in the coming years and potentially a wave of consolidation and industrial alliances as inverter companies forge stronger links with module manufacturers and system integrators in order to squeeze every last usable morsel from the sun’s harvest. In any event, advances in inverter technologies, architecture and manufacture signal a cost benefit to the consumer, and, ultimately, a far greater benefit to the environment.

David Appleyard is associate editor of Renewable Energy World. e-mail. rew@pennwell.com