Samoa sets sights on largest solar array in the Pacific

Construction of the largest solar power array in the Pacific is expected to commence soon after New Zealand foreign minister Murray McCully announced this week details of a 2.2 MW plant for Samoa.

Commissioned as part of the European Union-New Zealand Energy Access Partnership, which was launched at the Pacific Energy Summit last year, the plant will be located in Samoa’s capital city, Apia, and will be financed via support from the Asia Development Bank.

"New Zealand is working in partnership with the government of Samoa, the European Union and the Asia Development Bank to increase the generation of renewable energy in Samoa," said McMully during a visit to the South Pacific island in which the minister toured further possible sites for renewable energy projects with EU Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

"The 2.2 MW array at the Apia Sports Complex will provide the highest electrical output from a single installation in the Pacific, and is a major part of a larger renewable energy program funded by New Zealand," added the minister. "Renewable energy is a strong focus of New Zealand’s support to developing countries. The investments in Samoa reflect commitments made at the Pacific Energy Summit in Auckland last year."

The Summit's chief goal is to assist Pacific nations' attempts to achieve 50% renewable energy generation, and has so far secured more than US$540 million in financing for projects in the region, which has already created a hydro power plant on Samoa.

In New Zealand, PV has begun to take hold, with solar installations increasing by 370% in the past two years. The market there is currently worth an estimated US$33.6 million, according to the Sustainable Electricity Association of New Zealand (SEANZ), which cites falling costs as the major driver behind solar’s uptake among homeowners and small businesses.

In February this year, the country’s Green party announced plans to introduce a policy designed to allow households to borrow up to NZ$15,000 (US$12,880) in public money to install residential solar arrays, with a borrowing rate of just 4.1% paid via tax rates on each property. In December, New Zealanders go to the polls in what could be one of the most hotly contested political races in recent times, with the Greens in a relatively strong position.

For Samoa, this latest annoucement will help swell the country's solar capacity ten-fold. Currently, the largest PV installation on the islands is a 546 kW array spread across three separate sites.

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PV demand in Middle East, Africa to grow by 50% in 2014

PV demand in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region is set to grow 50 percent year-over-year in 2014, according to a NPD Solarbuzz's Emerging PV Markets Report: Middle East and Africa.

It adds that between 2014 and 2018, annual PV demand will nearly triple as the MEA region becomes a key market for the global industry. By 2018, annual PV demand in the region is expected to reach 4.4 GW, with an upside potential of 10 GW.

PV demand from the MEA region in 2013 grew by 670 percent, compared to 2012 when the region added approximately 140 MW, the research group points out. Previously, the region had a substantial share of small off-grid PV systems; however, in 2013 the on-grid segment became the main factor driving growth to more than 1 GW, with 1.6 GW forecast for 2014. In 2018, ground-mount systems will account for over 70 percent of the market.

Until now, PV growth in the MEA region has been predominantly driven by a small number of economically prosperous countries, in particular South Africa and Israel. Along with Saudi Arabia, these three countries are expected to offer stable demand levels within the MEA region over the next few years.

"Solar PV represents an ideal renewable energy type across much of the Middle East and Africa," says NPD Solarbuzz analyst Susanne von Aichberger. "Even so, market drivers and constraints differ greatly between the two regions."

In most of the Middle East, renewable energy is seen as a means of preserving domestic oil and gas reserves, the report adds. Middle East PV demand is forecast to reach 2.2 GW in 2018, with an upside potential of 4 GW. Israel is projected to be the largest PV market in the Middle East in 2014 mainly through solar parks and rooftop systems based on net-metering.

Saudi Arabia’s ambitious renewables program will finally start to materialize this year, making it the largest PV market in the MEA region by 2016. Saudi Arabia is forecast to add 2.4 GW of new PV capacity between 2016 and 2018. Other key solar PV markets in the Middle East include the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Kuwait.

With a severe shortage of electricity within Africa in general, and large parts of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa having no access to electricity, solar PV is considered suitable for helping to stimulate social and economic development in the region. PV demand from Africa is forecast to reach 2.2 GW in 2018, with an upside potential of 6 GW.

In 2014, African PV demand will continue to be dominated by South Africa, due to the construction of large-scale PV projects resulting from the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPP).

"In the past 12 months, new plans for large PV projects have emerged across Africa, including the sub-Saharan countries of Cameroon, Swaziland and Uganda," von Aichberger adds. "Announcements of PV projects in the 100 megawatts range have now become common, as a means of expanding power generation capacity quickly."

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Oklahoma imposes grid fee on residential PV installations

New solar customers in the U.S. state of Oklahoma will have to pay a monthly grid connection fee after state legislators passed the S.B. 1456 bill through the House – a decision that caught many local organizations and businesses by complete surprise.

"We knew nothing about it and all of a sudden it's attached to some other bill," Sun City Oklahoma owner, Ctaci Gary, told local media. "It just appeared out of nowhere."

The bill will apply to homeowners who install residential PV or small wind turbines on their property. Residents with solar panels already installed will not be affected by the measure, which has been championed by state utilities and conservative groups. Local newspaper the Oklahoman reported: "Representatives of Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. and Public Services Co. of Oklahoma said the surcharge is needed to recover some of the infrastructure costs to send excess electricity safely from distributed generation back to the grid."

The surcharge amount is yet to be determined, but the House has confirmed that customers who sell excess clean energy back to the grid will have to pay a monthly fee.

Solar strife
Solar power in the U.S. has found itself embroiled in a number of battles from coast-to-coast in recent months. Currently, 43 states have net metering policies in place, but the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – a group backed by the ultra-conservative Koch brothers, powerful utility companies and a raft of fossil fuel corporations – has begun an aggressive campaign to have most net metering rules repealed.

From Kansas via Arizona and North Carolina, conservative heavyweights of the U.S. landscape have backed efforts to roll back solar-supportive state policies, with battle lines now being drawn in Ohio, South Carolina and Washington. Their argument is that without net metering, solar power would be prohibitively expensive, and thus the current status quo undermines the power industry, giving solar an unfair advantage.

"If you are using the grid and benefiting from the grid, you should pay for it," said the executive VP of Edison Electric Institute, David Owens. "If you don’t, other customers have to absorb those costs." For its part, ALEC has championed efforts to overturn a Kansas mandate that requires 20% of the state’s power comes from renewable sources. "State governments are starting to wake up," said Christine Harbin Hanson, a spokesperson for Americans for Prosperity – the Koch brothers-backed advocacy group. "These green energy mandates are bad policy."

Facing down the powerfully backed enemy, solar advocates and environmentalists across the U.S. have been unnerved, their confidence fed by support from the White House, which last week hosted a groundbreaking Solar Summit.

"I applaud the White House for highlighting the incredible success of the U.S. solar industry, and celebrating the hard work of the men and women who are driving our country’s clean energy revolution," said Jigar Shah, president of CASE – the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy.

"Since taking office, President Obama has been a champion for the solar industry, which has experienced rapid growth during his administration in large part because of the decreasing cost of solar technologies," added Shah. "The increasing affordability of solar energy is indeed driving our industry’s growth, but this progress is now threatened.

"As part of his 2014 'year of action', I urge President Obama to continue to work with all the interested parties to negotiate a solution that will lay the groundwork for growth in all sectors of the U.S. solar industry."

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Egypt embraces solar, announces $1 billion investment

The Egyptian government has announced plans to invest up to $1 billion to develop several major solar energy projects.

While details of the initiative remain scarce, pv magazine has learned that the investment is aimed at several solar projects.

Local and Administrative Development Minister Adel Labib revealed the plans on Saturday at a conference in Alexandria organized by the city’s Chamber of Commerce, saying Egypt was in need of establishing development projects in order to offer more job opportunities for young people. Labib added that Egypt had natural mineral resources that have yet to be exploited.

Egypt’s State Information Service reported the news on its website but provided no further details about the project.

In related news, Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development Mostafa Madbouly announced plans last week to install PV arrays on some government buildings in an effort to reduce stress on Egypt’s strained electrical grid, according to Daily News Egypt, which cited an official statement.

Madbouly has signed an agreement with the New Urban Communities Authority and the Information and Decision Support Center to provide technical and financial assistance for the project. As part of the Shamsak ya Masr (Egypt’s Sun) initiative, the project aims to increase the use of solar energy and lower the country’s reliance on fossil fuels.

As part of the project, solar panels will be installed on the roof of the New Urban Communities Authority building to help generate power for lighting as well as to increase the overall capacity of the electricity grid, according to the statement.

The country’s Minister of Electricity and Energy Mohamed Shaker said last month that the government would not be able to prevent electrical power shortages this summer but added that it would try to reduce energy consumption to the lowest level possible, Daily News Egypt reported. Egypt’s energy problems will take several years to be resolved, he added.

The government is looking to increase the country’s share of new and renewable energy to 20% by 2020, former electricity minister Ahmed Emam said during the Future Investment Opportunities in the New and Renewable Energy summit in February. Wind will likely account for 12%, with other renewable energy sources making up the remaining 8%.

Developments in Egypt’s solar sector have been on the rise in recent weeks. The country recently received a grant from Italy of more than $500,000 to develop solar power in the Wadi Al-Hitan region of El Fayoum Governorate's Wadi Al-Rayan wildlife reserve.

Earlier this month, Egypt's Arab Renewable Energy Company (ARECO) signed a contract with Disctech FZCO, an affiliate of Z-One Holding of the United Arab Emirates, to establish a solar PV production line in the country.

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Foundation Options for Ground Mount Solar

Large Scale Photovoltaic (PV) arrays deployed on ground mounted racking systems rely on the foundation method to support the modules, and the project itself. There are many factors to consider when determining the appropriate foundation design and solar panel installation. At Landpower Solar, we use the information in certified Geotechnical Reports and work with the customer to design the most economical foundation for the solar mounting systems. This includes any of the following foundations: concrete pier, driven post, screw piles, precast or cast-in-place concrete ballast and helical piles.

 

While various options exist, concrete pier and driven pile are the most common foundations found in the field. Each can claim advantages, but driven pile systems are often found to be the more favorable choice based on cost, installation time, materials, and environmental impact. Where soil conditions permit, driven pile systems can be implemented with lower costs because only the pile itself remains on site after completion. There are neither concrete setting times nor materials costs that must be incurred. As such, once the area is ready, the pile driving can go quickly without the need to wait for weather or concrete set up. The lack of the concrete saves on materials and logistics, since the concrete does not have to be ordered, trucked in, or poured. Lastly, when the time comes decommissioning, the PV array and racking can be disassembled, leaving only the piles to be removed without concrete piers that would otherwise have to be dealt with for potential land re-purposing.

 

Efficient solar mounting system and solar racking installation is our core competency. Landpower Solar is the leading turn-key solar racking manufacturer in USA that designs, engineers, manufactures and installs solar mounting systems. RBI Solar manufacture it’s solar mounting systems in state of the art manufacturing facility in Cincinnati, OH. 

NRG Energy, MidAmerican complete 290 MW PV facility

NRG Solar and MidAmerican Solar have completed their 290 MW Agua Caliente PV facility in Arizona.

Located on 2,400 (971.2 hectares) of land between Yuma and Phoenix, the plant, one of the biggest PV installations in the world, can power 230,000 homes at peak capacity. Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) will purchase electricity generated by the station under a 25-year power purchase agreement. 

Designed and constructed by First Solar, the installation uses the company’s advanced thin-film photovoltaic modules. First Solar will also operate and maintain the facility for NRG and MidAmerican Solar.

The project, which created 400 jobs during construction, received a $967 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office.

Agua Caliente is the largest of 10 operational utility-scale PV facilities in three states in which NRG Solar, a subsidiary of energy giant NRG Energy, holds a stake.

"Large-scale utility accomplishments, like our Agua Caliente project, raise the bar in terms of our clean-energy technology and production," said NRG Solar President Tom Doyle.

"Proving that we can build both the world’s largest solar thermal and now one of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic facilities advances NRG’s mission to reshape the energy landscape that is incredibly beneficial to both the economy and in how we produce and consume energy," Doyle added.

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GE invests $24 million in 151 MW PV project in India

U.S. conglomerate General Electric (GE) has made its first investment in India's burgeoning solar market with $24 million for a 151 MW PV installation. 

The investment is part of the group's GE Energy Financial Services new partnership with India's Welspun Renewables Energy Pvt. Ltd. (WREPL) aimed atg expanding solar energy generation in the country.

WREPL, one of India's leading clean energy generating companies, put the solar farm -- located in the state of Madhya Pradesh’s Neemuch District, into operation in August 2013, almost eight months ahead of schedule. The farm powers 624,000 homes and mitigates an estimated 216,372 tons of carbon emissions annually.

The Neemuch project, part of WREPL's 308 MW operational solar portfolio, is located on an 800-acre site in Neemuch, which sits on a 500-meter-high barren land ridge in Madhya Pradesh. The site receives among the highest levels of irradiation in India.

Power from the project is sold to the Madhya Pradesh state utility, helping the country meet its target of 20 percent energy generation from renewable sources by 2020.

Vineet Mittal, WREPL vice chairman, said, "The combination of our renewable project development expertise and GE's financial strength and risk management will help achieve the ambitious goals set by the government to expand the use of renewable energy in India."

Raghuveer Kurada, business leader for India and South East Asia at GE Energy Financial Services, added, "With its geography, strong economic growth and commitment from the highest levels of government, India has gained incredible potential for the development of solar power. Our investment in Welspun Renewables' solar project helps to realize that potential. WREPL's history of developing benchmark projects ahead of schedule and with high generation power output helps us expand globally across the energy spectrum and meet the world's energy needs."

With this transaction, GE Energy Financial Services has exceeded $10 billion in cumulative renewable energy investment commitments worldwide, including $1.8 billion in solar power commitments in seven countries.

GE Energy Financial Services it would continue to invest more than $1 billion annually in wind, solar and other renewable energy projects, its fastest-growing energy sector and one that boosts sales of GE's energy technology.

Since its formation in 2006, GE Energy Financial Services has invested in 17 GW of mostly wind and solar projects. Of the more than $10 billion in cumulative renewable energy equity and debt investment commitments, $8 billion are in more than 12 GW of wind farms and $1.7 billion in 1 GW of solar power installations, with the balance in other renewables. Geographically diversified, the projects span 16 countries and 28 states, helping 18 states meet their renewable portfolio standards.

"Our rapid growth in renewable energy investments benefits not only GE's customers and shareholders but society at large," said David Nason, GE Energy Financial Services president and CEO. "These benefits will increase as we execute on a robust pipeline of prospective new investments that provide excellent risk–adjusted returns, serve as a catalyst for the growth of GE's industrial energy business, and provide customer value."

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