タイ国営石油会社PTT傘下の石油精製･販売会社バンジャーク･ペトロリアムがタイ中部アユタヤ県バンパインに建設する太陽光発電所の定礎式が5日、行われた。式典にはワナラット･エネルギー相、バンジャークのアヌソン社長、アユタヤ県知事らが出席した。
発電所は投資額50億バーツ、出力38MWで、2011年10月稼働の予定。太陽電池は中国の太陽電池大手、無錫尚徳太陽能電力（サンテックパワー）製を使用する。将来的には120MWまで規模を拡張する計画で、総投資額は150億バーツを見込む。
Thursday, August 5, 2010
New Solar Energy Conversion Process Could Double Solar Efficiency of Solar Cells
ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2010) — A new process that simultaneously combines the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity could offer more than double the efficiency of existing solar cell technology, say the Stanford engineers who discovered it and proved that it works. The process, called "photon enhanced thermionic emission," or PETE, could reduce the costs of solar energy production enough for it to compete with oil as an energy source.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
2011: The Return of the Solar Shakeout
A Macro Analysis of Global PV Market
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/2011-the-return-of-the-solar-shakeout/
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/2011-the-return-of-the-solar-shakeout/
BIPV Solar Market Accelerates According to GTM Research
The BIPV solar sector is poised for rapid expansion after years of being confined to niche markets. Impelled by maturing energy-efficiency codes, lucrative feed-in tariffs and supply-side product development, BIPV players are experiencing demand for a new array of BIPV solar components, including shingles, curtain walls and flexible panels for roofs and windows.
GTM Research's latest report, Building-Integrated Photovoltaics: An Emerging Market maps the global BIPV solar landscape from current and projected market opportunity to technology evolution, supplier portfolios and the sector's innate design challenges. GTM Research's report acts as a crucial guide through the levels of the expanding BIPV market structure.
For the BIPV industry, which to date has been specialized, there is a pressing need for broader understanding of its scaling opportunity. The technology's development, which has historically been spearheaded in European countries such as France and Germany where bankable feed-in tariffs have spurred initial BIPV build-out, is beginning to push globally. This push is exemplified by the commissioning of a 6.68 MW BIPV project, the world's largest, in China in July 2010.
"The BIPV solar market's grasp is finally meeting its reach thanks to both significant cost reductions over the past two years and product development that is enabling seamless integration of PV into the building envelope," said Philip Drachman, a solar PV industry expert and the report's author at GTM Research.
According to GTM Research, the installed capacity of PV on the whole is forecasted to reach more than 20 GW globally by 2013 (equating to roughly US$60 billion in revenue), and the cost of PV panels is projected to fall to US$1.20/W by that same date. This sustained boost for the overall PV industry will have an enormous spillover effect on the commercial opportunity for BIPV as engineering, construction and design companies avail themselves of PV's economic viability in the face of mounting energy efficiency demands.
GTM Research's latest report, Building-Integrated Photovoltaics: An Emerging Market maps the global BIPV solar landscape from current and projected market opportunity to technology evolution, supplier portfolios and the sector's innate design challenges. GTM Research's report acts as a crucial guide through the levels of the expanding BIPV market structure.
For the BIPV industry, which to date has been specialized, there is a pressing need for broader understanding of its scaling opportunity. The technology's development, which has historically been spearheaded in European countries such as France and Germany where bankable feed-in tariffs have spurred initial BIPV build-out, is beginning to push globally. This push is exemplified by the commissioning of a 6.68 MW BIPV project, the world's largest, in China in July 2010.
"The BIPV solar market's grasp is finally meeting its reach thanks to both significant cost reductions over the past two years and product development that is enabling seamless integration of PV into the building envelope," said Philip Drachman, a solar PV industry expert and the report's author at GTM Research.
According to GTM Research, the installed capacity of PV on the whole is forecasted to reach more than 20 GW globally by 2013 (equating to roughly US$60 billion in revenue), and the cost of PV panels is projected to fall to US$1.20/W by that same date. This sustained boost for the overall PV industry will have an enormous spillover effect on the commercial opportunity for BIPV as engineering, construction and design companies avail themselves of PV's economic viability in the face of mounting energy efficiency demands.
Sharp, Enel and ST Micro Swooping Into Thin Film Solar Panels
With thin film pioneers like Applied Materials and Signet expired on the battlefield -- or, like Solyndra, licking their wounds -- Japanese solar giant Sharp, Enel, the largest power company in Italy and STMicroelectronics, the leading European semiconductor supplier have declared their entry into thin film.
The three firms have formed a joint venture called 3Sun and are looking to start production in the second half of 2011. The joint venture also will act as an independent power producer to develop, build and operate PV power generation plants with help from an Italian subsidy for the solar cell plant.
3Sun will start the production of thin-film solar cells in the second half of 2011 by utilizing the existing facility of ST in Catania, Sicily Region, Italy. The thin-film solar cell plant will start operation with an initial annual production capacity of 160 megawatts, which is scheduled to be expanded to an annual production capacity of 480 megawatts.
Sharp aims to become a "total solution company in the photovoltaic field, initiating the world's first business model extending from thin-film solar cell production to IPP business."
***
Although the press release makes no mention of technology, it's safe to assume that this is amorphous silicon.
I interviewed Ron Kenedi, Vice President of Sharp's Solar Energy Solutions Group recently at Intersolar. Sharp appears to be doubling down on this thin-film silicon approach.
Sharp is now the number-three solar cell supplier (behind First Solar and Suntech), with about 600 megawatts of cells shipping in 2010 and according to Kenedi, "We're doing well in all markets." His view on supply issues is that "everybody is sold out." (Maybe the tier-one players are sold out, but there's plenty of capacity in the solar industry.)
Sharp has a one-gigawatt-capacity factory in Osaka building tandem junction a-Si panels with decent efficiencies for this technology, in the neighborhood of nine percent.
Sharp is also completing an 18-megawatt a-Si installation in Canada through Sun Edison, as well as large deployments in Mendota, CA and Dayton, Ohio. In Kenedi's words, "thin film technology is elusive. It's not easy," but "Sharp is a bankable brand."
The takeaway from this interview with a leading crystalline silicon supplier is that "amorphous silicon (a-Si) will be as much as 50 percent of Sharp's solar business in the coming years."
The three firms have formed a joint venture called 3Sun and are looking to start production in the second half of 2011. The joint venture also will act as an independent power producer to develop, build and operate PV power generation plants with help from an Italian subsidy for the solar cell plant.
3Sun will start the production of thin-film solar cells in the second half of 2011 by utilizing the existing facility of ST in Catania, Sicily Region, Italy. The thin-film solar cell plant will start operation with an initial annual production capacity of 160 megawatts, which is scheduled to be expanded to an annual production capacity of 480 megawatts.
Sharp aims to become a "total solution company in the photovoltaic field, initiating the world's first business model extending from thin-film solar cell production to IPP business."
***
Although the press release makes no mention of technology, it's safe to assume that this is amorphous silicon.
I interviewed Ron Kenedi, Vice President of Sharp's Solar Energy Solutions Group recently at Intersolar. Sharp appears to be doubling down on this thin-film silicon approach.
Sharp is now the number-three solar cell supplier (behind First Solar and Suntech), with about 600 megawatts of cells shipping in 2010 and according to Kenedi, "We're doing well in all markets." His view on supply issues is that "everybody is sold out." (Maybe the tier-one players are sold out, but there's plenty of capacity in the solar industry.)
Sharp has a one-gigawatt-capacity factory in Osaka building tandem junction a-Si panels with decent efficiencies for this technology, in the neighborhood of nine percent.
Sharp is also completing an 18-megawatt a-Si installation in Canada through Sun Edison, as well as large deployments in Mendota, CA and Dayton, Ohio. In Kenedi's words, "thin film technology is elusive. It's not easy," but "Sharp is a bankable brand."
The takeaway from this interview with a leading crystalline silicon supplier is that "amorphous silicon (a-Si) will be as much as 50 percent of Sharp's solar business in the coming years."
Monday, August 2, 2010
Japan Rising: NEDO Puts Another $17M Into Los Alamos Project
A collaboration between the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, a government-backed R&D agency in Japan, and the Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities just put together a $27 million shot in the arm to build a demonstration project that will bring utility scale photovoltaics into a smart grid, and also to build a 'smart home.'
Although we already covered some of the cool technology that could come out of the NEDO smart home demonstration, this project is also looking to dig much deeper into how to quickly and cost-effectively bring renewables onto the larger grid -- as well as how to meet the needs of a microgrid.
The collaboration will build a 2-megawatt PV facility over a capped landfill in Los Alamos County along, with a 7-megawatt-hour large-scale battery storage system. Although they are still in the planning stage, the groups are hoping to generate research that will benefit both NEDO, as well as the Los Alamos DPU. Los Alamos already produces about 28 percent hydro power for its customers, with another two percent coming from wind and solar.
More weather forecasting will also come into some of the experiments, using the Los Alamos National Laboratory weather station; the project will gather weather data to better forecast solar output. "Right now the county has power schedulers that are based on history and load," said and John Arrowsmith, utilities manager of the Los Alamos DPU. "I think weather forecasting will allow us to add more sophistication to our planning."
The project has a laundry list of partners that includes Hitachi, Kyocera, Sharp, NEC, Mitsubishi, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic and others, each of which will focus on different aspects of the demonstration. Many Japanese technology giants are shifting focus to green technology, making demonstration projects like this in export markets particularly appealing.
Optimized distribution is another focus of the tests. Japan already has a more efficient grid than the U.S., and so there are certainly many lessons to be learned, but for the Japanese, this project could help to show the capabilities of their industry in the realm of renewables and smart grid.
Although the details are still being finalized, they are planning construction in spring of 2011. "There's a lot of work that needs to be done between now and then," said Arrowsmith.
Although we already covered some of the cool technology that could come out of the NEDO smart home demonstration, this project is also looking to dig much deeper into how to quickly and cost-effectively bring renewables onto the larger grid -- as well as how to meet the needs of a microgrid.
The collaboration will build a 2-megawatt PV facility over a capped landfill in Los Alamos County along, with a 7-megawatt-hour large-scale battery storage system. Although they are still in the planning stage, the groups are hoping to generate research that will benefit both NEDO, as well as the Los Alamos DPU. Los Alamos already produces about 28 percent hydro power for its customers, with another two percent coming from wind and solar.
More weather forecasting will also come into some of the experiments, using the Los Alamos National Laboratory weather station; the project will gather weather data to better forecast solar output. "Right now the county has power schedulers that are based on history and load," said and John Arrowsmith, utilities manager of the Los Alamos DPU. "I think weather forecasting will allow us to add more sophistication to our planning."
The project has a laundry list of partners that includes Hitachi, Kyocera, Sharp, NEC, Mitsubishi, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic and others, each of which will focus on different aspects of the demonstration. Many Japanese technology giants are shifting focus to green technology, making demonstration projects like this in export markets particularly appealing.
Optimized distribution is another focus of the tests. Japan already has a more efficient grid than the U.S., and so there are certainly many lessons to be learned, but for the Japanese, this project could help to show the capabilities of their industry in the realm of renewables and smart grid.
Although the details are still being finalized, they are planning construction in spring of 2011. "There's a lot of work that needs to be done between now and then," said Arrowsmith.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)