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2015年3月15日星期日

US solar installations up 30% to 6.2 GW in 2014

Solar PV installations in the United States grew 30% to 6.2 GW last year, according to a new report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

In addition to newly installed PV, an additional 767 MW of concentrating solar power (CSP) came on-line in 2014, according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight 2014 Year in Review.

Solar accounted for 32% of new generating capacity in the U.S. last year, beating out both wind energy and coal for the second year in a row, the study found. Only natural gas constituted a greater share of new generating capacity.
For the first time in history, each of the three major U.S. market segments – utility, commercial and residential – installed more than a gigawatt of PV last year.

The U.S. utility-scale segment broke the gigawatt mark in 2011 and has since grown by nearly 1 GW annually. In 2014, 3.9 GW of utility-scale PV projects came on-line with another 14 GW of projects currently under contract.

The commercial segment also first installed more than 1 GW in 2011 but has not shared the same success as the utility-scale segment, according to the report. In 2014, the commercial segment installed just over 1 GW, down 6% from 2013.

“Many factors have contributed to this trend, ranging from tight economics to difficulty financing small commercial installations,” the report found. GTM Research nevertheless expects 2015 to be a bounce-back year for the commercial segment, highlighted by a resurgence in California.

The U.S. residential segment’s 1.2 GW in 2014 marks its first time surpassing 1 GW. SEIA pointed out that residential continued to be the fastest-growing market segment in the U.S., with 2014 marking three consecutive years of greater than 50% annual growth.

“Without question, the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) has helped to fuel our industry’s remarkable growth. Today the U.S. solar industry has more employees than tech giants Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter combined,” said SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch.

Making a case for the ITC, Resch added that since the tax credit was passed in 2006, the solar industry has created more than 150,000 jobs and investment in solar installations nationwide has reached $66 billion.

"We now have 20 GW of installed solar capacity – enough to power 4 million U.S. homes – and we’re helping to reduce harmful carbon emissions by 20 million metric tons a year," Resch pointed out. "By any measurement, the ITC has been a huge success for both our economy and environment.”

GTM Research forecasts the U.S. PV market to grow 31% in 2015. The utility segment is expected to account for 59% of the forecasted 8.1 GW of PV.

"Solar PV was a $13.4 billion market in the U.S. in 2014, up from just $3 billion in 2009," said Shayle Kann, senior vice president at GTM Research. "And this growth should continue throughout 2015 thanks to falling solar costs, business model innovation, an attractive political and regulatory environment and increased availability of low-cost capital."

Additional findings in the report included:

More than a third of all cumulative operating PV capacity in the U.S. came on-line in 2014
By the end of 2014, 20 states eclipsed the 100 MW mark for cumulative operating PV installations, with California alone boasting 8.7 GW
For the first time ever, more than half a gigawatt of residential solar installations came on line without any state incentive in 2014
The utility PV market, which installed 1.5 GW in Q4 2014 -- the largest quarterly total ever for any market segment -- remains the main growth driver
2014 was the largest year ever for concentrating solar power, with 767 MW brought on-line. Notable project completions include the 392 MW Ivanpah project. Genesis Solar project's second phase of 125 MW and Abengoa's 250 MW Mojave Solar, which achieved commercial operation in December 2014
All solar projects completed in 2014 represent $17.8 billion in investment ($13.4 billion in PV and $4.4 billion in CSP)
As of the end of 2014, cumulative operating PV in the U.S. totaled 18.3 GW and cumulative operating CSP totaled 1.7 GW.

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Construction begins on Australia's first floating PV array

Floating PV installations can deliver efficiency gains in warmer climes, with water cooling PV cells and decreasing heat-related losses. Australian-Singaporean company Infratech is set to begin construction on Australia’s first such array, located in Jamestown, South Australia.

Floating arrays have previously been installed in India, Singapore and the U.S. Kyocera has developed and supplied a 2.9 MW array in Japan - where land availability issues present major challenges to PV developers.

The Australian project will come in at 4 MW and will be spread across three water treatment ponds, with the electricity being produced supplying the wastewater facility itself and local businesses in the area. Infratech is funding the project itself and selling the power to the local council and businesses under a PPA. A tracking system has also been incorporated into the design.

“We’ve actually started construction for the project because it produces very efficient renewable energy on top of water and we get environmental benefits for treating the water,” Infratech’s Felicia Whiting told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “So it’s a water treatment system and a renewable energy system.”

An additional advantage of the system, Whiting claims, is that water losses through evaporation will be markedly reduced and blue-green algae problems in the ponds also reduced, as the sunlight hitting the ponds will also be minimized. Water will be filtered and cycled through the array’s structure, keeping the modules at a stable temperature.

“We’ve spent about two years taking the test plants [Infratech had previously developed] in Europe and creating a truly utility-grade system,” said Whiting.

The 900 PV modules deployed across the three arrays will be supported be a high-density polyethylene (HDP) pipe mounting system, which will provide the array with buoyancy. Steel mounting racks are then placed abreast the HDP structure, onto which the modules will be affixed.

Infratech worked with the local Northern Areas council in South Australia to realize the project and reports that the floating solar project has received strong community report. Infratech is based in Australia and is currently developing projects in the U.S. that it hopes to realize once construction of the South Australian power plant is complete.

Grid opens offering to more low-income households

Oakland-based non-profit solar installer Grid Alternatives has linked up with financing platform Clean Power Finance (CPF) to widen its residential solar leasing offer to low-income families.

Grid, the U.S.' largest non-profit solar installer yesterday (Thursday) announced it has become a channel partner of San Francisco-based CPF, which matches investors with third-party owned solar installations.

By joining forces with CPF, the third-party owned rooftop systems installed on low income households by GRID will qualify for federal tax credits, making them a more attractive investment for the households in question.

The rooftops will also benefit from maintenance and monitoring by CPF, which has raised more than $1 billion from investors for third-party systems since its foundation in 2006.

The deal will allow GRID to expand its service to hundreds more low-income households in California, Colorado, New Jersey and New York.

SolarCity in New Mexico

With solar leasing the fastest growing segment of the U.S. solar market, the nation's biggest third-party installer, SolarCity, on Wednesday announced its arrival in its 16th state – New Mexico.

Promising to create 50 new jobs with a planned solar operations center in Albuquerque, which is set to open this month, the San Mateo-based leasing company predicted on Wednesday its MyPower solar loan would immediately become "the most affordable residential solar power option in the state."

SolarCity installations will initially be made available to customers of utility the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) in Albuquerque and Santa Fe and of the El Paso Electric Company in Las Cruces.

India shows its PV prowess as solar plane lands in Ahmadabad

As the Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) aircraft landed in the Indian city of Ahmadabad on Wednesday, March 11, its two Swiss pilots urged the nation of 1.2 billion to continue its fight against climate change by backing the adoption of greater renewable energy.

Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg gave their backing to India’s ability to spread the message of clean technology adoption just hours before the government issued updated bidding guidelines for 3 GW of solar PV to be awarded under the country’s National Solar Mission.

According to the new guidelines, developers can bid for a minimum of 10 MW on a fixed, 25-year levelized tariff, confirmed the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). Contracts will be awarded to those developers that submit the lowest bids, and the process is set to be coordinated by state utility NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd.

The MNRE also issued a separate draft guideline setting out plans for an additional 2 GW of grid-connected PV capacity, which will also be rolled out under a bid process as India works towards achieving its ambitious goal of installing 100 GW of solar PV capacity by 2022.

The Si2 pilots are well aware of India’s ambitions, and used their stay in Ahmadabad – chosen because parts of the plane’s material were sourced from companies based near to the city – to extol the virtues of clean energy and urge greater adoption of solar technologies globally.

"Our goal is to spread the message of adopting clean technologies and improving the quality of life of India’s 1.2 billion people," said Piccard, adding that he hopes that the Si2 – the world’s first fully solar-powered aircraft – can capture the imagination of the Indian people.

The stopover in Ahmadabad was the second landing for Si2, having previously touched down 16 hours earlier in Muscat, Oman. While in India, both pilots met with government officials, environmental groups and students to discuss the opportunities of sustainable energy.

Trina supplies modules to ACME India
In further encouraging news for India's solar industry, Chinese solar manufacturer Trina Solar confirmed today that it had supplied 48 MW of solar modules to ACME India, the Indian subsidiary of ACME Solar, taking Trina’s total sales to the company to 70 MW of modules so far in 2015.

The shipment comprises 188,000 Pieces of Honey modules TSM-PC05A that will be installed on two ground-mount PV plants in India.

"We are seeing a significant pick-up in the adoption of solar power in India this year and we are delighted to be taking part in the growth with our efficient and high-quality modules," said Trina’s president of the module business unit and COO Zhiguo Zhu. "India is no doubt a robust and growing market for solar energy. We believe this agreement not only demonstrates our growing brand awareness in India, but also sets a solid foundation for our expanding business in the region."

Australia's largest PV plant to begin feeding grid

Australia’s Nyngan solar plant – a humongous 102 MW PV project set in the Outback of New South Wales – will begin feeding the grid this week as the first portion of the plant comes online.

Beginning at 25 MW, the First Solar-developed operation will be fully connected at 102 MW by July, making it the largest single PV installation in the Southern Hemisphere, at least until a 141 MW solar plant in Chile – also being developed by First Solar – is connected later this year.

First Solar has partnered on the Nyngan project with local renewable energy developer AGL Energy Ltd. Construction of the US$220 million project began last January, and the millionth solar panel was installed just last week – on budget and on schedule.

"What was really constraining the large-scale solar market was the fact that it just hadn’t been done before, so there was a lot of misconception around the execution and cost challenges," said First Solar’s Asia-Pacific manager Jack Curtis. "It can only get more efficient."

First Solar and AGL are also collaborating on another large-scale PV project in New South Wales – a 53 MW solar plant in Broken Hill, a little to the west of the Nyngan project. Combined, these two solar plants are expected to cost AUD$440 million ($337 million), of which around 50% funding is coming from the Australian and state government.

Once finalized, both projects will generate enough clean solar energy to power 50,000 New South Wales households, and will add to the projected 4.1 GW of large-scale solar PV capacity forecast for installation in Australia between now and 2021.

Environmentalists voice fears over Indian budget

Environmentalists have rounded on the Indian government after it coupled the announcement of a rise in its renewable energy generation target – to 175 GW by 2022 – with news the budget for its ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) will be slashed by more than two-thirds.

A report by the Reuters news agency yesterday (Thursday) in which environmental groups say Narendra Modi's departmental budget cuts are sublimating the green commitments of the previous, Congress party-dominated coalition government in the interests of economic growth, reinforces the three-out-of-ten verdict on the national budget delivered by analysts Bridge to India at the start of the month.

According to the Reuters report, the ministry of new and renewable energy will have just INR3 billion ($47.6 million) to spend in the new financial year, which starts, perhaps appropriately, on April 1.

With finance minister Arun Jaitley announcing in his budget speech, on February 28, that India's renewable power generation target would rise, Chandra Bushan, deputy director general of the Center for Science and Environment, told Reuters the budgets for rural solar and renewable energy R&D would both fall.

Although the levy, or cess, on coal will double from to INR200/tonne ($3.17/tonne), analysts Bridge to India pointed out the fossil fuel is sold at cost price to Indian utilities.

Duties changes are small beer

Although Bridge to India said a 5 per cent reduction in corporate tax over four years and a reduction in the import duties applied to the raw materials for PV panels would have a positive effect on solar, it labeled the latest Indian budget a lost opportunity for the sector.

Tax-free bonds to support investment in roads and rail will not be replicated for renewables, the minimum alternate tax rate of 18 per cent was not lifted for renewables projects, as was widely hoped, and there was no sign of higher power tariffs, grid access rules, smart grid investment, grid expansion, easier land acquisition policy or an opening up of the financial system, all of which analysts say are vital for the Indian solar sector.

There was no sign of a plan to reform the power market to rationalize prices and, although the government said it wants to electrify the 20,000 villages without grid power, it revealed no details of how it would do so with Bridge to India questioning how the desired transition from a 1 GW annual solar market to a 10 GW market can be achieved without any new grid investment.

Clean Energy Fund is unspent

On the financing front, pre-budget talk of help for solar through currency hedging support, subventing the interest rate or classifying renewables as a priority sector, all came to naught and Bridge to India was quick to point out the proceeds flowing into the National Clean Energy Fund, set up in 2010, from the doubling of the coal levy are likely to remain unspent, with Reuters reporting the fund has now amassed some INR300 billion ($4.75 billion) which sits unspent in its bank account.

The latest negative verdicts from the industry follow the revelation on Monday that power minister Piyush Goyal told the upper house of the Indian government that he is considering halving the subsidy for rooftop solar systems, from 30 to 15 per cent.

A report run by the DNA India website stated Goyal, who also holds the coal and MNRE portfolios, told the Rajya Sabha, in a parliamentary reply, that rooftop solar already benefits from import duty and tax holiday concessions as well as accelerated depreciation.

According to the report, a continuing fall in the price of solar panels, coupled with a lack of government funds, has prompted the proposal.

Raj Prabhu, CEO and co-founder of analyst Mercom Capital Group, told pv magazine any reduction would have a minimal impact.

"It is just a proposal at this point, nothing is finalized," said Prabhu. "That said, rooftop has been a very small portion of solar installations in India so far and late and non-payment of rooftop subsidies in the past has resulted in many vendors going out of business. Funding allocation and policy priorities seem to be constantly changing."

Although the levy, or cess, on coal will double from to INR200/tonne ($3.17/tonne), analysts Bridge to India pointed out the fossil fuel is sold at cost price to Indian utilities.

Duties changes are small beer

Clean Energy Fund is unspent

According to the report, a continuing fall in the price of solar panels, coupled with a lack of government funds, has prompted the proposal.

Raj Prabhu, CEO and co-founder of analyst Mercom Capital Group, told pv magazine any reduction would have a minimal impact.

Virginia lawmakers embrace solar

The Commonwealth of Virginia has passed a number of bills in its latest session to encourage solar in the U.S. state, according to a report today on the website of the Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper.

The state legislature listened to the public outcry against a number of bills attempting to thwart the Clean Power Plan launched by the federal government's environmental protection authority and instead embraced a number of solar initiatives, according to the report.

Pro-solar bills included a motion to double non-residential net metering to 1 MW and the establishment of the Virginia Solar Energy Development Authority to help utilities and relevant agencies develop 400 MW of solar projects by 2020.

State lawmakers also empowered local authorities to help finance clean energy and energy efficiency for businesses and to adjust tax rates on the hardware used in renewable power generation.

According to the report, by Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, the state legislature is expected to approve joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative program to lower carbon emissions and combat climate change, in its next session. A bipartisan motion to join the initiative fell short of the majority required in the present session.

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