Solar ... In the news

silverwhistle

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Little look at the UK PV industry and it's slow progress in 'coming back'.

The article also points out the economic benefits of demand side generation v's supply side ..... who'd have thought?

The weekend read: Solar’s coming of age in the UK

But what would Cardew say?:D

Martyn1981

Time for another tour of Europe.

1st Germany where PV auction prices have gone up (slightly) for the first time, but are still very cheap at approx £40/MWh.

Increased bid prices recorded in German PV tender

next stop Switzerland, where scientists are working on commercial silicon/perovskite PV, and suggest 30% efficiency panels should be possible soon, and are designing a production process that fits in with existing production/kit. 30%, so roughly twice the efficiency of our typical 250Wp panels, so twice the kWp per roof area.

EPFL produces 25.2% silicon-perovskite tandem, ‘cost competitive’ production claimed

and back in the VW micro-bus for a trip to Spain, where the new government has immediately begun to remove the 'hated' sun tax, in order to promote PV again. With Spanish sunshine, PV is probably unstoppable now.

Spain’s ‘sun tax’ set to be scrapped

and home for tea, to listen to the UK Minister defend their RE policies on PV and on-shore wind ..... well, 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

Minister and MPs clash over ‘shambolic’ solar policy

Martyn1981

This weeks Carbon Commentary newsletter has a bit more on Perovskite, and a 'gentle' dig at BP forecasts.

7, Perovskite efficiencies. Several studies arrived this week that showed continuing improvements in 'tandem' solar cells, with a layer of perovskite placed on top of silicon. Perovskites collect energy from different portions of the sun's energy and so a two layer panel should be better at converting light into electricity. The best silicon-only commercial panels now deliver about 22% efficiency but two studies this week showed 25% collection rates for cells made from silicon plus perovskites. This isn't a huge difference but because the perovskite layer will eventually be so cheap it will make sense to manufacture cells with an additional layer. But silicon will last 25 years with less than 20% deterioration and some experts remain concerned that the perovskite layer will deteriorate much more rapidly. However industry leaders such as Oxford PV continue to show improvements in the durability of their products and seek to achieve 28% efficiency in the next few years. (Thanks to Bela Hanratty)


9, Nevada PV rates. Another new low. Bidders in the latest Nevada auction offered prices as low as $23.75 per megawatt hour (about 2.4 US cents per kilowatt hour. (One bid was lower than this but inflates annually over the course of the contract). In November of last year, a similar auction in Nevada had a winner at $32.43, meaning that prices have fallen over 25% in the last few months. By the way, BP wrote in this week's review that solar PV costs of less than 5 cents a kilowatt were "now almost commonplace". With respect, dear BP, bids of less than half this level are "now almost commonplace".

Martyn1981

Not great news for the UK solar industry as PV installs in 2017 were a half of 2016, which in turn were a half of 2015.

UK solar deployment halved in 2017 following government’s ‘solar exit’

Michael Schmela, head of market intelligence at SolarPower Europe, explained: “When looking at the 28 members of the European Union, there is little growth: the EU-28 added 5.91GW in 2017, compared to 5.89GW in 2016.

“This result stems from the UK's 'solar exit' in 2016, which halved new installations in 2017. However, 21 of the 28 EU markets added more solar than the year before.”

This ‘steep downhill trip’ as the report calls it is expected to continue, with the UK expected to add only 2.1GW to 2022 – making it the slowest growing market among the top 20 around the world.

So, good or bad bet by the government to pull support on PV (and on-shore wind), after all, perhaps costs were never going to get cheap enough?

Falling costs will see solar, wind and batteries dominate global generation by 2050

Solar capacity is set for a 17-fold increase globally by 2050 owing to falling technology costs, particularly in battery energy storage, and a decline in the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE), according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

The 150-page New Energy Outlook (NEO) 2018 report predicts that the future of the global electricity system will be dominated by tumbling lithium-ion battery prices. These have already fallen 80% per MWh since 2010 and will continue to decline as electric vehicle manufacturing builds up through the 2020s.

This will lead to a 17-fold increase in solar PV capacity worldwide, alongside a six-fold rise in wind power capacity. The LCOE will fall by 71% for solar PV and 58% for onshore wind, with both having already seen drops of 77% and 41% respectively between 2009 and 2018.

Martyn1981

Lots of solar news:

World PV deployment could double to 200GWpa by 2022 (error in article title):

Global PV market to diversify, reach 200 GW a year by 2020


New builds with PV, bout time:

HBS New Energies toasts 800kWp Crest Nicholson new build tender win


Couple of similar articles about energy positive buildings. Strangely both are in Wales (I haven't rigged this (honest Guv)):

First Energy Positive Classroom Produces 50% More Power Than It Consumes

SPECIFIC unveils energy-positive, solar-plus-storage powered ‘Active Office’


Further to a couple of posts back, more on Oxford PV and their ever higher efficiencies:

Oxford PV takes record perovskite tandem solar cell to 27.3% conversion efficiency

Martyn1981

News for demand side PV not looking good, unless the government launches something ... anything ... before Apr 2019.

UK home solar power faces cloudy outlook as subsidies are axed

but this bit sounds promising, eventually:-

Solar panel costs have come down by about a fifth in the past year, he said, which he expected to filter down to cheaper systems for consumers. A typical 4KW array of solar panels costs about £6,000, down from £12,000-£14,000 when the feed-in tariffs began.

That price can come down even more for bulk purchases, the industry pointed out, potentially to as low as £3,200.

While the economics of solar are improving, few think they will stack up in coming years without some form of continued support.

How about just linking the demand side FiT to the HPC CfD, that's getting a 35yr subsidy of approx 5p/kWh?

Martyn1981

That's not a PV farm, THIS is a PV farm:

Europe’s first GW-sized solar park may be built in France

The huge 1.2 GW PV facility is currently being planned in the Lot-et-Garonne Department, southern France. The project’s required investment is expected to reach around €1 billion. Five big solar players are currently interested in developing the plant.

Martyn1981

India is on a roll, though they may be setting targets bigger than they can achieve, but that beats setting them too low.

India's huge solar ambitions could push coal further into shade

Martyn1981

A while back I mentioned that California is to make PV on new builds mandatory. This article explains how such a move could massively, and I mean massively reduce the cost of PV installs which are currently about twice that of the UK & Germany per Wp.

Residential PV Costs Within Crashing Distance Of $1 In California

The commission provided an example solar panel system. A photovoltaic solar roof installation of 3,015 watts with nine modules rated at 335 watts each will produce about 133,630 kWh ~(3.015)(365)(30)(4.7) / (1 + (0.5%)^(30)) over a period of 30 years. The cost of such a system is estimated at $3,381 ($1.12)(3,015). This means that the cost per kilowatt will be $0.025 ($3,381 / 133,630). The daily energy production was averaged throughout California with an annual solar panel degradation of 0.5%, and it is estimated to produce 12.2 kWh (133,630) / (30)(365) daily per roof. This is approximately two thirds of the daily electricity demand of an average California residence.

hollie.weimeraner

Hope the people of Kent are up for a fight:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/09/giant-solar-power-plant-uk-biggest-north-kent-coast-subsidy-free-power-station-faversham