Solar ... In the news

Martyn1981

Lots of solar news the last few days, so here's some highlights as we tour the world.

UK - Central government might not be supporting PV, but the Local Authorities have seen the (sun) light.

Local authorities now ‘leading the way’ in UK solar, STA says

The report, dubbed ‘Leading Lights: How local authorities are making solar and energy storage work today’, compiles more than 20 examples where local authorities (LAs) have deployed solar and/or battery storage to provide a range of benefits to local residents.

This, the STA said, is evidence of how local councils are now “leading the way” on solar in order to save money and provide stable sources of revenue, which are in turn are used to fund services.

Some of the highlighted case studies within the report include a 7.4MW subsidy-free solar farm connected to a 4MW battery storage facility developed by West Sussex County Council and housing developments, like Plymouth City Council’s Bickleigh Down Eco Village, which use on-site solar to help alleviate fuel poverty.

Southwards to Spain - where the economics of PV have now 'won' and the deployment (planned and actual) is shooting up.

Economics not tenders driving Spain’s solar resurgence

Spain’s solar resurgence is being driven by a huge merchant and power purchase agreement opportunity, which far outstrips the size of recent government tenders.

The country now has a pipeline of 29GW, according to the national solar trade group, UNEF, of which 3.9GW has been tendered by the government.

The tenders resulted in 3.9GW of PV being awarded but more important was the awareness in government and society of the level of competitiveness that solar has achieved.

“The market has realised that they can expect very little from the government and they aren't going to wait around for a new support scheme,” said Jose Donoso, the head of UNEF. “With the degree of competitiveness that solar has, we can go straight to the market on a merchant basis or we can look for PPAs, without any need for input from the government.

“At this moment in Spain, there are 29GW of solar projects in the planning process. One year ago we had no PPAs and now we have a PPA signed every week with big companies. All the major offtakers are in talks with different developers,” added Donoso.

Where next, let's continue south with a slight left turn and head to Nigeria - where some large buildings are going off grid with RE + storage (with diesel gen as a back up) as the grid is unstable:

Nigerian universities go off-grid with solar PV, storage mini-grids

“All four universities will be powered by hybrid power plants utilizing renewable energy sources integrated with energy storage and diesel generation as back-up, enabling reliable power supply for the universities totally autonomously from the grid. In total, 7.5 MW of off-grid hybrid power will be installed,” said Metka in a statement released.

As indicated in the statement, the project has three main components: to generate power for the universities; to provide street lighting within the university campuses; and to build training centers at each university, to be used for their energy courses.

Triantafyllopoulos confirmed that all four universities’ renewable energy mini grids will be totally autonomous, and will operate off the main Nigerian electricity grid. This was a decision made by the Nigerian Government, he added, citing grid instability and operational problems at the distribution level, as the main reasons for this decision.

And finally a hard left as we head to the East with a stop off in China - who following a monster year for PV in 2017, have actually installed more in Q1 2018 than Q1 2017, and a push for more distributed generation. Is there no stopping them!

China bucks forecasts to install 9.65 GW of PV in Q1, DG leads the way

Of the 9.65 GW of solar PV China installed in the first quarter of 2018, 7.68 GW comprised distributed generation (DG) systems, reports China’s National Energy Administration (NEA). Changes to the country’s PV policy have also been proposed.

Up significantly on 2016 and 2017, which saw installations of 7.14 and 7.2 GW, respectively, China’s solar industry shows no signs of slowing down this year, with Q1 registering 9.65 GW of new PV capacity, reports the NEA.

This figure significantly bucked forecasts by the Asia Europe Clean Energy (Solar) Advisory Co. Ltd (AECEA), which had estimated 7.5 GW of new capacity additions.

Confirming predictions that installs will veer away from utility-scale, which until now has been the dominant sector, this quarter has seen a massive increase in DG: 1.97 GW versus 7.68 GW.

And back home for a cuppa and some nice digestives.

Martyn1981

Well, yesterday's solar tour missed out an important country where solar deployment is ramping up fast, so it's back to the airport, then back home to get the passport, then back to the airport again, and off to India, as they continue to ramp up their deployment of PV, and are even looking to displace some coal:

India Beats North America, Europe, & Japan In 2017 Solar Additions

India added 9,628 megawatts of solar power capacity in 2017, up from 4,251 megawatts in 2016. The United States added 8,173 megawatts of solar power capacity last year compared to 11,274 megawatts in 2016. The total solar power capacity added in North America (the United States, Canada, and Mexico) was 8,584 megawatts.

India plans to hold auctions for 30 gigawatts of solar power capacity each in FY2018-19 and FY2019-20 in an attempt to reach the 100 gigawatt operational solar power capacity target by March 2022.

Bids Called To Replace 2 Gigawatt Coal With Solar & Wind In India

With the sharp decline in tariff bids of solar and wind energy projects in India, the country’s largest power generation company is now looking to replace some coal-based power supply with potentially cheaper renewable energy.

According to media reports, NTPC Limited will call for bids to auction 2 gigawatts of solar and wind energy capacity. The electricity generated from the auctioned projects will be used to replace the equivalent supply from coal-based power plants. The unique aspect of this plan is that NTPC would be allowed to sell the renewable energy to power utilities across the country under the existing power purchase agreements, significantly cutting down the procedural formalities.

‘Costly’ thermal power is most likely to be replaced with electricity from solar and wind energy projects. We reported last year that the lowest solar and wind energy tariffs in India are lower than the tariffs of 92% of operational thermal power plants in the country. The lowest tariff bids in India for wind and solar power projects is Rs 2.43/kWh and Rs 2.44/kWh, respectively.

Martyn1981

UK solar news, just 'news' as I've no idea if it is good, bad or ugly news?

Energy minister teases ‘really positive’ outcomes from forthcoming solar strategy

While Perry offered no indication as to what measures may be addressed in the strategy, she did state that solar “absolutely… continues to have a really important part in the mix”.

“It’s part of the distributed energy supply and there are opportunities to do larger scale deployment,” she added.

Martyn1981

Note - the following article title refers to power (GW's) not energy (GWh's) over the day.

British Sun Beats Natural Gas to Provide Most Electricity

Britain got a glimpse of its green future as the sun provided more power to households than any other energy source over a rare, sunny holiday weekend.

Solar generation rose to 8,728 megawatts at 2 p.m. on Sunday, just shy of the record of 8,910 megawatts on May 26 last year. The sun provided 26.9 percent of electricity supply, just beating natural gas, while coal output was zero, according to data from utility Drax Plc.

Martyn1981

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Note - the following article title refers to power (GW's) not energy (GWh's) over the day.

British Sun Beats Natural Gas to Provide Most Electricity

Just a bit more meat to go on the bones of this story.

Records tumble as solar PV dominates UK bank holiday power supply

Martyn1981

California becomes first U.S. state to require solar panels on new homes

Builders in California will be required to fit solar panels on most new homes from 2020 under new building standards adopted on Wednesday, a move that is the first in the United States and could provide a big boost to the solar industry.

The decision, adopted unanimously by the five-member California Energy Commission, is part of the state’s effort to fight global climate change. It came despite estimates it would raise the up-front cost of a new home by nearly $10,000 in one of the most expensive parts of the country.

The Commission estimated the standards will add about $40 to monthly mortgage payments but will compensate for that by saving residents $80 a month on energy bills.

“We cannot let Californians be in homes that are essentially the residential equivalent of gas guzzlers,” Commissioner David Hochschild said ahead of the vote.

Just 9 percent of single-family detached homes in the state of 39.5 million people currently have solar panels, according to a 2017 U.S. Department of Energy report the Energy Commission cited.

Buildings that are shaded or have a roof that is too small to accommodate panels will be among those exempt, California Energy Commission spokeswoman Amber Pasricha Beck said.

pile-o-stone

Martyn1981 wrote: »

California becomes first U.S. state to require solar panels on new homes

It raises an interesting question on whether it's more energy efficient to have houses in warmer regions like California to be in full sunshine for optimal PV, which increases air con demand, or to instead plant trees around the houses for shade, naturally reducing air con demand, but obviously impacting the efficiency of the solar panels.

A combination of the two would be perfect. While we don't have the same high temperatures as California, we do benefit in summer from the shade of two very large beech trees at the front (south facing) aspect of our house that are great at shading us in summer. In winter they lose their leaves, so we benefit from solar gain.

Our panels are on the garage and woodshed at the rear of the property and are not shaded by the trees, so we get the benefit of a cooler house and renewable energy.

Martyn1981

pile-o-stone wrote: »

It raises an interesting question on whether it's more energy efficient to have houses in warmer regions like California to be in full sunshine for optimal PV, which increases air con demand, or to instead plant trees around the houses for shade, naturally reducing air con demand, but obviously impacting the efficiency of the solar panels.

I'm not even gonna attempt the maths on that, my head would pop.

But as an addendum to the article, I've been reading comments on the story on other forums and an absolutely excellent point was made that hadn't even occurred to me:

The point was that more PV would drive down costs and encourage more PV. But went on to point out that US install costs are very high compared to say Germany or the UK. A large cost in the US is permitting (local permission) and also marketing. Both of which don't apply in the UK, or at least marketing is insignificant.

But ....... if PV becomes mandatory, then it won't need permitting (it has to be installed so can hardly require permission) and it won't need marketing (as the builders have to have it installed). So two large costs will be removed.

Funny how one thing can lead to another, and give bigger wins than first expected.

It should also be noted that the Californian idea is not going down well with utilities, nor Fox news.

Martyn1981

A little bit of PV news.

Let solar back into CfDs, Energy UK urges government

Around 250 signatories call for an end to EU anti-dumping measures


And a bit further afield, some numbers that surprised me for the US, with future PV generation costs of $15/MWh, and current capacity factors in some locations greater than 30% already [UK domestic cf's are about 11%.]

The path to US$0.015/kWh solar power, and lower

michaels

Martyn1981 wrote: »

A little bit of PV news.

Let solar back into CfDs, Energy UK urges government

Around 250 signatories call for an end to EU anti-dumping measures


And a bit further afield, some numbers that surprised me for the US, with future PV generation costs of $15/MWh, and current capacity factors in some locations greater than 30% already [UK domestic cf's are about 11%.]

The path to US$0.015/kWh solar power, and lower

Ie about 10% of UK retail - ouch