Solar ... In the news

Martyn1981

Sunny Cali and $22/MWh PV and storage, flippin eck.

California firm contracts ‘astoundingly’ cheap solar-plus-storage pipeline

The US state of California has witnessed yet another claim of ultra-low solar prices, recorded in the context of a major contracting exercise by a community energy group.

The board of East Bay Community Energy (EBCE), the power supplier of San Francisco-neighbouring Alameda County, waved through deals last Friday to acquire 225MW of solar and 80MW / 160MWh of battery energy storage.

The late September procurement – coming off the back of earlier deals in June and July – brings EBCE’s purchase pipeline volumes up to 550MW of clean energy and 137.5MW / 390MWh of energy storage, set to supply residents in Oakland and others in the county.

According to EBCE, the solar portfolio resulting from this year’s procurement raft was contracted at average prices of US$22/MWh. Commenting on the latest deals on social media, the group’s CEO Nick Chaset described the figure as “astoundingly low".

And Germany rolls out nearly 3GWp of PV just this year so far, that's approx 20% of the UK's whole PV figure. :T

Germany added 2.72 GW of PV in eight months

In August alone, around 327 MW of new solar generation capacity was registered in the country. This month the FIT for solar systems up to 750 kW in size will fall another 1.4%.

This month the FIT for solar systems with a generation capacity no larger than 750 kW will fall another 1.4%. In the ‘direct marketing’ system category – mandatory for arrays with a generation capacity above 100 kW – the FIT payment is €0.0742/kWh.

For 40-750 kW roof systems the FIT will be €0.0818/kWh, for up-to-10 kW systems the payment will be €0.1058/kWh. All 10-40 kW arrays will receive €0.1030/kWh.

According to the Bundesnetagentur, Germany reached a cumulative solar capacity of around 48.65 GW by the end of August, just 3.35 GW short of the long-standing 52 GW cap which was set to halt incentives but which the German government has pledged to remove under its new Climate Change Act.

Martyn1981

Solar carports and storage, what's not to like:

SunPower awarded solar-plus-storage carports in California

US solar firm SunPower is to deploy 3.7MW of solar carports across 10 locations in Contra Costa County, California, with some of the sites using energy storage.

The firm will install its Helix Roof and Carport systems in order to offset 68% of power taken from the grid by the County, which amounts to savings of US$16.5 million over a period of 25 years.

Three out of the ten sites will also feature Helix Storage systems with a combined capacity of 1.5MW / 3MWh that will provide further demand charge savings.

And an old but continuing story/idea regarding Australia, long supply lines, and the falling costs of PV and storage - which once threatened too, and now actually is leading to on-grid locations becoming off-grid, as it's simply better / more economic. Sign of the times perhaps and the ever falling costs of RE and storage.

Australia’s Horizon to replace overhead network with solar and batteries

Martyn1981

Perovskite (n a remarkably short time) is closing in on silicon 'normal' efficiencies, so if degradation can be resolved, quite an opportunity for cheap, flexible PV applications.

But more importantly, to me, this will mean progress towards seriously high efficiency perovskite/silicon panels one day in the 30%'s, even high 30's. Approx twice the gen most of us probably have, from the same roof space. Ouch!

International Research Team Claims New Perovskite Solar Record — 18.1%

Reed_Richards

The reason we use silicon for solar panels is entirely because it is cheap. Vastly greater efficiencies could be achieved with the types of semiconductor used for LEDs, modern light bulbs or for the lasers used for fibre-optic telecommunications. But these are tiny devices and if scaled-up to the size of a solar panel would be very expensive to manufacture.

Martyn1981

Reed_Richards wrote: »

The reason we use silicon for solar panels is entirely because it is cheap. Vastly greater efficiencies could be achieved with the types of semiconductor used for LEDs, modern light bulbs or for the lasers used for fibre-optic telecommunications. But these are tiny devices and if scaled-up to the size of a solar panel would be very expensive to manufacture.

Yes, silicon is very cheap, but thin film perovskite is much, much cheaper again. Using perovskite inks it can even be printed onto products such as rolls of flexible plastic film which can be attached to surfaces that aren't flat, or where weight is an issue.

Whereas silicon has been developed for 60yrs or so now, perovskite is a baby of this decade but coming up fast, the main problem being it degrades rapidly, in miniutes, back at the start, but getting better all the time.

Obviously combining the two technologies will make for a more expensive product (normally), but as perovskite is so cheap, it's expected that silicon/perovskite panels will cost the same (per Wp), so a PV farm could be installing say 35% efficient panels instead of 20% efficient panels, and whilst the bill for the PV will be 75% more (75% more Wp's), the other costs (land, transport, labour, racking etc) won't change, giving a big drop in the cost of leccy £'s/MWh.

For us (the demand side), imagine getting twice the generation from the same roof, or being able to leave the shaded part completely, or properties with rooves too small to be economic (before), or wall mounted PV, which at 70% of roof mounted might not be cost effective, but at nearly twice the generation, now comes into play - sensitive issue, but let's mention cladding blocks of flats.

Sorry for the waffle, but in short, PV is already a success all around the World, even in less ideal locations (like the UK) so falling costs, plus rising efficiencies make it a solid 'banker' for the future.

Martyn1981

Big, BIG numbers out of Germany. They have decided to aim for 98GWp by 2030. They are currently at 48GWp and close to the 'old' cap of 52GWp. For comparison the UK has ~13GWp.

The article points to possible figures far higher, both for 2030 and 2040:

Germany gets behind solar with 98GW-by-2030 goal

The addition of the 98GW-by-2030 goal in the weeks since was cautiously welcomed by national PV body BSW -Solar today, right after the target was confirmed. The goal, BSW-Solar said, was a step in the right direction but needs to go further and to become "legally concrete".

"We have to reach this milestone in half the time – in the mid-2020s – if we take the climate goals seriously", BSW-Solar’s CEO Carsten Körnig said today, as he urged the German government to raise the 2030 target even further from the new 98GW threshold.

The association pointed at a review it commissioned earlier this year, which said installed PV capacity should triple to 162GW by 2030 – not merely doubling, as the government intends – if Germany is to plug the power gaps left by the massive decommissioning of coal and nuclear.

Carried out by energy consultancy EuPD, the analysis urged Germany to drive more long-term PV growth by setting a 252GW target by 2040. Such expansion, EuPD advised, should cover ground-mounted PV (126.7GW of the total) but also C&I (91GW) and domestic (35GW) plants.

Martyn1981

An ironic article! Poland still relies on coal for the vast majority of its leccy generation, but it seems the mines might know better?

Another Polish coal mine powered by solar

Polish energy company Enea plans to build a 30 MW solar park to power coal mining activity at the Bogdanka mine near Łęczna, in the southeastern province of Lesser Poland.

Enea, the majority shareholder of the Lubelski Węgiel Bogdanka S.A. company which owns the mine, said the solar facility will power operations through a long-term power purchase agreement.

The 55ha solar park will generate up to 30,000 MWh of electricity per year. “The photovoltaic farms that will be established in our areas will supply clean production processes in the mine, contribute to reducing our fixed costs and increase our competitiveness,” the company said in a statement.

GreatApe

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Big, BIG numbers out of Germany. They have decided to aim for 98GWp by 2030. They are currently at 48GWp and close to the 'old' cap of 52GWp. For comparison the UK has ~13GWp.

The article points to possible figures far higher, both for 2030 and 2040:

Germany gets behind solar with 98GW-by-2030 goal

This is great news and means the UK should definitely ban all PV support
We can just import the German excess for close to £0/MWh directly and indirectly with the 15-20GW of links to the EU we will have by 2030

PV developers should be free to sell into the UK grid at whatever the wholesale price is for when they are generating (close to zero thanks to the feast and famine output of solar) so if they can make PV work for prices close to zero fantastic :rotfl:

GreatApe

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Germany added 2.72 GW of PV in eight months

:beer:

German public paying
€74-103 euro per MWh for PV
So the energy companies can export it for 10-30 Euro/MWh to next door neighbours

The UK should stay away and go for offshore wind
The 15-20GW links to the EU countries can allow us to import cheap PV if we need it because our offshore wind isn't blowing

100 GW of offshore wind will sort out the UK
40% CF summer, 60% winter Perfect more output in the winter when we need more energy
Makes no sense for 5% winter 15% summer PV at double offshore prices especially when Germany and pals will be desperate to export their excess solar at prices close to zero

Solarchaser

I thought for a day or so you had dropped the trolling, and were actually going to contribute.

Silly me!