Welcome to the Electrek Green Energy Brief. Put together by our Electrek authors, the Energy Brief is a daily technical, financial, and political review of important green energy news.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
How Local Utilities Gamed the Natural-Gas Market – On 37 cold days, when demand was high, unused pipeline space resulting from the scheduling changes represented about 28% of the daily capacity typically used by gas-fired generators. Eversource and Avangrid, routinely booked large gas deliveries, then cut orders sharply at the last minute. Yet nine other gas utility companies taking gas from Algonquin didn’t cancel at the last minute. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is reviewing the findings, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to open an investigation on the matter, and both the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and the Massachusetts Public Utilities Department are launching inquiries of their own. Here’s the key – the utilities are now using these peak periods of demand, when the pipeline was 29% empty, to lobby for a new pipeline that will be paid for by consumers and guaranteed to be used. Research from around the country will probably show us the truth of the situation.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
40% of U.S. Homeowners Interested in Bundling Solar Power With Electric Utility Bill – “Bundling solar with energy services received the most consumer interest—40% of U.S. homeowners in broadband households are interested in bundling solar power purchasing with their electricity bill.” Over 50% of U.S. broadband households would purchase a smart device to manage energy consumption during TOU peak hours. The first quote here – 40% of broadband households wanting solar is a huge opportunity for the electric utilities to make money off of a lot of people. A chance to stay relevant. That second item could be a home battery system – lots of people wouldn’t mind throttling house hardware to take advantage of pricing disparities. Maybe batteries at home and solar on the grid is a big subset of buyers.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
Chinese Solar Maker LONGi Mulling U.S. Plant as Tariffs Loom – Longi began evaluating the move before a U.S. trade case was filed in April. The company is evaluating multiple sites for a cell and module plant, and potential state incentives would play an important role in any decision. “Our analysis has become more complex. We can’t make an investment decision without knowing the 201 tariff rate, and know how long it would be implemented for.” The tariffs have been suggested for last for four years. A solar panel manufacturing panel seems to be able to come online within a year once negotiations are complete (with an existing structure in place). Solar cell factories I’ve been told – but not seen direct analysis – take 2-4 years. The silicon would likely come from US manufacturers.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
Cheese and Bourbon Face Risk of Backlash From U.S. Solar Tariff – The dispute hinges on an obscure trade law that bankrupt panel manufacturer Suniva Inc. has invoked to ask Trump for protection against imports. The measure gives the president broad authority to levy tariffs, but the U.S. has lost every time the law has been challenged at the WTO. “If we tell the WTO to shove it, China may target Kentucky bourbon and Wisconsin dairy, creating natural opponents to the tariffs in Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan,” Clark Packard, a trade policy analyst for the Washington free-market think tank R Street Institute. Ahhh, I love the smell of fresh politics with my coffee! The article notes it could take up to 18 months for the case to hit the courts after the tariff is imposed, and then the US could appeal.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
California may reach 50% renewable power goal by 2020 — 10 years early – In 2016, 32.9 percent of the electricity PG&E sold to its customers came from renewable sources, according to the report. Edison reached 28.2 percent renewable power in 2016, while SDG&E — the state’s smallest investor-owned utility — hit 43.2 percent. Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. — are collectively on track to reach the 50 percent milestone by 2020, although individual companies could exceed the mark or fall just short of it. Now, we’re in the phase of the machine where we have to figure out how to extend the renewables to 24 hours, 365 days and above a certain level. Regional coordination will probably be required, energy storage also.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
What are these solar panels doing in the middle of nowhere? Solving low-voltage issues on a remote power line – “We didn’t want a lot of backflow, we just wanted enough to solve the low voltage,” Perry said. “The name of the game isn’t to power the whole area.” – I’m showing an example of how solar power on rooftops lowers the cost of grid upgrades, giving strength to the argument that residential customers have a pathway toward full retail net metering credit. This situation, per what I’ve read, seems to exist through 10% of grid needs, and begins to evolve up – but is still the case – through 30% penetration. There is a reason ConEdison will pay you extra for installing solar and batteries at strategic locations within NYC – much easier than building a fossil plant.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
India plans 20GW solar tender, eyes domestic manufacturing boost – “The tender is being conceptualized by the Minister of Renewable Energy. These contracts will be awarded in one go with developers to construct projects in phases. Once people see visibility of such projects, then manufacturing can kick in.” India has goals of 175GW of renewables by 2022, with 100GW of it being solar power. They’d prefer to jump-start their own manufacturing industry instead of feeding China their hard cash. Doing the 20GW in phases and you give local business people a chance to believe. After seeing contracts cancelled in India because later contracts were lower, it’s understandable that there might be unease in the business world.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
AEP of Ohio to invest $1.8 billion in renewables over the next three years – The most interesting part of this analysis was a breakdown of volume to be contracted/built through 2030 – 75% new generation wind/solar and 25% generation gas. We’re just at the front edge of energy storage starting to scale, so I don’t expect to see utility-scale plants considering batteries for actual energy storage and later redistribution in their quarterly calls. With that, seeing a ratio of 75-25 of intermittent to dispatchable generation for a decade of growth – that’s a shift. As noted in the article, the company does own a large amount of coal still – 47% of its portfolio – but if you don’t plan on building any for the next decade plus of time, that’s not trivial.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
High Lithium-Ion Battery Demand Prompts Japanese Manufacturers to Speed up and Expand Capacity – TDK plans to increase the annual capacity by around 15% in 2018; Murata Manufacturing, which acquired Sony’s battery business in September, plans to invest approximately 50 billion yen by the end of March, 2020 to expand capacity. Already we know there are 10-20 Gigafactory equivalents around the world being built. And, due to demand growing at rates faster than projected, and costs falling greater than anticipated we’re now seeing those expansion plans – expanding. Interesting list from article: Current lithium-ion battery leading manufacturer in the world is Japan’s Panasonic, with market share 23%, followed by Korea’s Samsung SDI, with market share 21%. The rests are South Korea’s LG Chem (market share is 14%), TDK (11%), Murata (8%), China’s Tianjin Lishen Battery (6%), China’s BAK (4%), China’s BYD (4%) and Maxell (1%).
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
HSBC pledges $100 billion of finance by 2025 to combat climate change – “This will involve direct lending, bonds and project finance, alongside new products in asset management,” an HSBC spokesman said. The company has huge resources that it loans out on an annual basis. This $12.5B/year is a new tranche for them to become experts at. They’re going to have to hire experts skilled at analyzing the projects they’ll fund. They’re going to get to know a whole new group of service providers in the clean energy arena to get deals from. This number will grow. Goldman Sachs recently announced they’d be pushing $150B in the same time period.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
I love that they call it highlights – Highlights of the Findings of the U.S. Global Change Research Program Climate Science Special Report – Global average sea levels are expected to continue to rise—by at least several inches in the next 15 years and by 1–4 feet by 2100. A rise of as much as 8 feet by 2100 cannot be ruled out. Sea level has risen by about 7–8 inches since 1900, with almost half (about 3 inches) of that rise occurring since 1993. The report, by the Congressional Budget Office, says that for about 10 million people, cutting back on CO2 will do nothing to fix the flooding that will already occur due to current emission levels. The Federal Government recommends 10 million people be forced to bear the consequences of Climate Change on their own, as the economics of covering them via taxpayer money would be too much and might create uncertainty.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
PV module imports soar in US – Imports of PV modules to the US market have soared since the beginning of third-quarter 2017 due to concerns about price hikes, and as of the end of October, 5GWp of PV modules had arrived in the US waiting for customs clearance, according to industry sources in China. I was under the impression that any panels imported after the ITC accepted the Suniva back in May would be retroactively tariffed by default. Actions like this by people in the know, at a minimum, suggest that the judgment isn’t determined yet. Maybe this retroactive tax, much like the overall structure of the tariff, is part of Trump’s leeway.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
10,000 jobs to be created with SC solar power project – Cypress Creek Renewables will announce a plan to invest $1.5 billion to build 2 gigawatts of solar power in South Carolina, according to Adams and Reese LLP. The more than 80 projects will create 10,000 construction jobs and power more than 600,000 homes. The clickbaity title totally got me. I was wondering, ‘What solar project is big enough for 10,000 jobs?!’ Then I read the article and saw it was 80 projects! However, I’m glad the clickbait grabbed me. The 2GW number is huge – and it turns out, as of the end of 2016, the whole state in its history had installed 0.2GW. This series of projects will increase the state value by 10x!
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
Big giveaway of my main takeaway of the solar tariff yesterday – If you’re buying higher efficiency – more $$ – panels this ruling affects you. Get moving, maybe. After clearing my head and reading everyone else’s thoughts on the case I found I like this one – ITC Issues Recommended Remedies in Section 201 Solar Trade Case – a bit more than others because of heavy details it went into. If you’re going to read something on the topic – I’d suggest giving the Electrek’s Take in my article two minutes, and then if you want harder details visit the GTM article linked to here.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
U.S. trade panel set to recommend solar trade tariffs – In documents filed last month, Suniva asked for a tariff of 25 cents per watt on solar cells and 32 cents per watt on panels. It is also seeking a minimum price on panels of 74 cents a watt, nearly double their current cost. SolarWorld has asked for an import quota. Still though, these are only recommendations. And in our current political climate, one doesn’t know exactly how the decision makers will act. Krysti Shallenberger @klshall is going to be there today reporting via Twitter if you’re interested.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
The World’s Tiniest Power Market Will Leverage Big Data to Sell Solar – Local medical business campus has a collection of solar panels across many buildings, now with help from a local utility and some software – they’re selling their excess solar power into the local commercial market (mainly on campus it seems). The utility is getting paid some sort of fee for allowing this to go on. The internet started with universities and military bases connecting to each other. US Military talking solar microgrids all the time…universities as well, now we’re moving onto physically tight knit business communities selling among themselves.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
Photovoltaic withstood Caribbean hurricanes better than many buildings – The largest solar farm in the Caribbean with its 58 MW, which was only finished in August 2016, also proved that photovoltaics can be made storm-proof. Here, apart from occasionally torn away modules, almost no damage was caused. For projects done by a company in Antigua – The tests showed, according to Wolf, that the structures for ground-mounted open-site systems have to be anchored over 2 m into the ground, and sometimes additional concreting is required too. Furthermore, solar modules with a frame thickness of 50 mm and strengthened glass have been used. The angle of the solar modules has also been adjusted so that they provide the wind with as little vulnerable surface area as possible. So, we now have solid evidence – in a real category 5 hurricane – that solar can be built to withstand a hurricane. The articles note that the newest systems only lost ‘an occasional solar panel.’ If occasional panels are lost – then that means the solar system is still up, as strings can go down and a broader system still run.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
Italy proposes phasing out coal power plants by 2025 – “We have asked (grid company) Terna to identify the infrastructure needed,” Minister Carlo Calenda said in a parliamentary hearing on the document. They’re in the early stages of doing so, but someone – somewhere, thinks its possible. Italy’s got a population of around 60 million people. France, already so clean from an electricity standpoint, plans to be coal free by 2023. No coal Netherlands by 2030. Rock on Europe.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
JinkoSolar Breaks Multiple World Records of Silicon Solar Cell and Module Technology – JinkoSolar broke the existing world record by achieving conversion efficiency of 22.78% on P-type monocrystalline PERC solar cells. This marks the second time in 2017 that JinkoSolar has broken a world record in solar cell conversion efficiency after achieving the 22.04% conversion efficiency record on P-type polycrystalline PERC solar earlier in the year. This first record, the 22.78% bests LONGi’s announcement yesterday at 22.71% (lol) – both monoPERC P-type solar cells. First off, the Jinko’s record is a 0.31% increase in efficiency over LONGi’s. That means a homeowner with a ~10kW solar system making around 14,000kWh/year, and getting $0.15/kWh will make an extra $6/year. Nonetheless – I love that Jinko feels the need to stand right next to LONGi on the global charts. We’ve got global brand names pushing the edges of technology – in the end customers usually win.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
Press release of the week for me – LONGi Solar Achieves a New World Record for PERC Cell Efficiency – Fraunhofer ISE CalLab of Germany certified a photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 22.71% on the company’s monocrystalline PERC cell. In April 2017, LONGi’s 100MW pilot cell line achieved efficiency of 22.17% in mass production. At the end of August, efficiency improved to 22.43%. With continued R&D optimization, we believe the monocrystalline PERC cell can reach a conversion efficiency of greater than 23.0% in the near future. We plan to introduce the 22.0% efficient PERC cell technology into the production line at the end of 2017. 340W-345W module ratings for a 60-cell format by 2018. Tons of information! 22.71% – wow! More watts per square foot. 100MW line that’s making these cells? Awesome – that means it’s in real life, not labs. 23% in near future – not surprising with the pace being set. 340-345W module in 2018. Cool… question is though – will any of these panels make it to the USA with a global solar tariff? Hrmm….
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
Dubai Investments’ Coloured Solar Panels to Dress Buildings in Dubai Through Emirates Insolaire – The header image is of a building covered by panels made by a company owned by Dubai Investments described in the linked article. Check out some other projects by the company. And also check out the technology tab just before you look at the different color specification tab. Note that based upon color specification the total efficiency of the panels changes – that’s neat. The technology tab seems to say that this layer applied atop a standard solar panel will lower overall efficiency by 9-12%. I’ve written the company an email to find out if they make their own panels – or if they buy in the open market from high-efficiency manufacturers. If I get a follow-up, I’ll do a write-up. Cool to see the aesthetics of solar panels able to be considered. I’m bullish on Tesla’s Solar Roof because of the aesthetics. Sold a lot of solar in my life in the USA, and homeowners really care about the curb appeal of their large investment.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
Hemlock Semiconductor to lay off 100 workers – This week Hemlock is reporting that it will lay off 100 workers in Michigan, with most losing their jobs in the first quarter of 2018, as part of a plan which involves “simplifying and streamlining its organization to meet the new market realities”. The US used to be the largest producer of polysilicon in the world. It was the one solar power related item that brought the net import/export above $0. A combination of events has hammered at this. For one – Chinese tariffs attached to polysilicon as a result of US tariffs on solar modules in 2013 helped. This led to an opening for China and South Korea to ramp up volume – and they’ve done so. As an aside, SolarWorld technically owes $800 million to Hemlock as part of contracts signed when polysilicon cost a lot more.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
The Potential Impact of Solar Tariffs in 12 Charts – Good charts. Potential is the keyword. These numbers are probably close to true. If so, residential costs aren’t really noticeable. Utility yes, however, those price increases aren’t enough to end investment – maybe slow it down a bit…but not a lot. Clarity would be best at this point so our pricing is hard.
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial and political review/analysis of important green energy news. Featured Image Source
Study finds Del. residents would rather live near wind turbine than coal plant – Residents living near a Delaware wind turbine would pay nearly $31 a year to keep it around and would pay about $121 annually to make sure a coal plant would not replace it, recent research has found. The real world version of this data, outside of a survey, would be represented in where we build our power plants and the property value surrounding those plants. And there is plenty of research in the world on this topic showing property values much wider than ~$121/year.
