Electrek green energy brief: Saudi oil company $5B into green energy, top 10 solar cell manufacturers, and more

World’s largest oil producer is putting $5B into renewables – Saudi Arabia has known for a long time that the oil revenue would not flow indefinitely. There have been many conversations about diversification – including going public with the Saudi state oil company, Saudi Aramco, and using large amounts of that money to push into tomorrow’s industries. Hard numbers though – Saudi Aramco is pumping about 10M barrels of oil per day right now, at a price of about $50-60/barrel which means $500-600M a day. This $5B investment would take 9-10 days to cover (they pump on weekends), and will probably be spread out over the next couple of years. Small drop in a big bucket, but solar power is now being funded from a very big and well funded bucket.

Top 10 solar cell producers from 2016 – Just so you can get the brand names in your head (though this article isn’t just a list, its a nice read). Maybe afterwards read up on the companies a bit more – find out why they’re there and see if that aligns with what you value. Even better – some stock tips on these companies in the comment section. Thanks!

More freshwater from the sun – If anything, we won’t run out of fresh water for a while. Across the world solar powered desalination is being built – of course, the Middle East is an area that has great sun and less water so its being built there first. San Diego has a lot of desalination experience – and I once saw an idea for a pipeline, much like an oil pipeline, covered with solar panels and slowly desalinating the water as it travels inland. Imagine that – an all in one water process facility that can dump straight into our infrastructure.

Indian power company balking on 1.1¢/kWh solar markup – Solar power is giving me the opportunity to learn about the economics and politics of the Indian power grid. State power grid companies seem to be running at a loss right now, and the federal government putting mandates down to force purchases of solar will create greater financial stress. The power plants noted in this article are about 1.2GW and at an additional tariff would cost about $22.4M per year. The article notes a cumulative annual debt of $57B a year among these state power companies – so, this $22M is small, however I am sure it is important to make noise in order to get the politicians to pay attention and fund things correctly. Wow India.

Solar powered television – First I’ve heard of it (per one of our readers – it isn’t the first ever though). First solar power lighting, phone charging and refrigeration. And now – television. African villages are going to reinvent our global hardware market with uber efficient versions of everything.

NYPSC OKs New Rules to Break Solar Interconnection Logjam – The State of New York has signed a lot of laws supporting solar power, however, the Community Solar Market – and larger project market in general – has had challenges moving forward due to a slow (or methodical) review process combined with large numbers of applications. The thought here is that there will be tools added to the review process to increase the rate at which the weaker projects can be weeded out. My gut says, a lot of these projects have a higher probability of going through than some are allowing for – and this logjam will continue to a degree. I don’t know though – not in the NY market myself, just watching from a couple hundred miles to the east.

Canal topped solar power in India – Continuing on my Infrastructure Integrated Photovoltaic article on Sunday, and also talking a lot about India this morning, we get to see canals covered by solar panels. Such a great idea for a few reasons – 1. The racking structure that holds solar panels to the roof of a structure can easily be modified to lay it over a 10-50 foot wide river. 2. It lowers evaporation. 3. It is atop already developed infrastructure. 4. There are a LOT of canals in India.

State renewable targets will be vital to meet emission goals – I bet you thought this article was about the USA in response to Trump, so did I. Australia has also got a Fox News issue. What I really like more than anything – there is depth, across the globe, on the green energy push. This is because green energy is economically powerful with jobs and savings. It seems doing the hippie thing is a central tenet to a healthy state.

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