Solar ... In the news

Martyn1981

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

The article is so out of date (~2years)

HTH
Z

I thought it rang a bell, and yep ~2 years:-

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Well, according to wrexham.com ..

Concerns have been raised about the future of Sharp’s manufacturing plant in Llay after the company told the government it was reviewing its presence in the UK.
Their decision has come about as a result of the government’s decision to bring forward plans to halve the Feed-In Tariff for solar energy schemes from March to December.

This was in response to you informing him about UK manufacturing.

It was only a couple of dozen posts later I spotted such a huge error that 'he made me an offer I couldn't refuse', and awarded you a F for maths.:eek:

Those were the days!

Mart.

Cardew

My goodness you pair are so sensitive - and defensive!

It was to point out how things had apparently changed over two years, or were Sharp just trying it on a little along with the rest of the 'outraged' solar industry.

ed110220

rogerblack wrote: »

Viable battery storage will be a mixed blessing.
Economy 7 will go away quite promptly after it becomes economic on a grid scale.
Why on earth would they want to sell power at 6p/kWh when they can store it and get 15.
I suspect stored electrical heat is used disproportionately by the less well off.

Surely you are forgetting that the storage will add an extra cost/inefficiency, so it will always be cheaper to some extent to use the electricity there and then rather than store it. Also stored electrical heating is a horribly inefficient form of heating - yes the electricity is cheaper at night, but much of the resultant heat is wasted before it's needed.

zeupater

Martyn1981 wrote: »

I thought it rang a bell, and yep ~2 years:-



This was in response to you informing him about UK manufacturing.

It was only a couple of dozen posts later I spotted such a huge error that 'he made me an offer I couldn't refuse', and awarded you a F for maths.:eek:

Those were the days!

Mart.

I seem to remember that it took a number of posts before the error was conceded, resulting in very large slices of 'humble pie' being scoffed and the 'F' being reassessed ....

Z

zeupater

Cardew wrote: »

My goodness you pair are so sensitive - and defensive!

It was to point out how things had apparently changed over two years, or were Sharp just trying it on a little along with the rest of the 'outraged' solar industry.

Hi Cardew

I'm actually proud to defend & support any UK manufacturing and will remain so ...

Multinationals consistently review their operations and comment on policy options when it suits, often resulting in reporters eager for a storyline going into overdrive. If you take a logical view of the investment which had been made to expand production at Wrexham at the time, it's a sure thing that when tariff changes were announced the media would be looking for a related negative story and seek out affected manufacturers .... however, considering the proportion of the plant's production which goes overseas it really didn't make that much sense even at the time ....

HTH
Z

Martyn1981

zeupater wrote: »

Hi Cardew

I'm actually proud to defend & support any UK manufacturing and will remain so ...

however, considering the proportion of the plant's production which goes overseas it really didn't make that much sense even at the time ....

HTH
Z

I'll second that.

Also it 'really really' didn't make that much sense at the time, as pointed out by Don in the very next post:

don0301 wrote: »

nice cherry picking with your salient points lol

let me add.....

However, Andrew Lee, Head of International Sales at Sharp Solar has denied media reports that the company is planning to shut the Wrexham factory

"However there are no plans to shut our manufacturing plant in Wrexham. There have been workforce fluctuations at our plant in response to variable demand within the European market."

Mart.

PS. It wasn't just humble pie being eaten:

albyota wrote: »

I've Got some pizza being delivered........:eek:

Possibly the funniest post ever. Though 'I guess you had to be there.' M. :T :rotfl: :T

Martyn1981

News items on storage are still appearing constantly. With R&D, and the roll out of small, medium and large scale tests all over the globe. Latest from Germany on domestic scale:

Storage subsidy will energize German battery uptake

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/storage-subsidy-will-energize-german-battery-uptake_100012607/#axzz2diDNWSA2

Market research consultancy IHS is predicting the German government's energy storage subsidy will do for battery storage what the FiT program did for PV uptake in the country.

IHS research manager Sam Wilkinson said: "The German energy storage subsidy is forecast to kick-start the adoption of solar PV energy storage systems in a similar way as its feed-in tariff system ignited the PV industry eight years ago."

With Japan offering a similar storage subsidy for lith-ion based residential systems and California subsidizing 'advanced energy storage' in systems up to 3 MW, IHS is predicting energy storage will be worth $9 billion in revenue by 2013 [Edit: should be 2017].

If economical, I'm not completely against having 1/2 tonne of forklift truck batts in the garage, but I'd rather some nice shiny Li-ion or LiFePo4. Fingers crossed!

Mart.

Martyn1981

[He lights the blue touchpaper and steps back:eek:]

Rapid expansion of renewables can pay off

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/rapid-expansion-of-renewables-can-pay-off_100012625/#axzz2diDNWSA2

A recent study by green electricity provider Greenpeace Energy has found that rapid expansion of renewable energy can lead to strong cost savings by 2030 in the billions range. The authors argue that consequential costs of coal and nuclear power are consistently hidden in politics.

According to the findings, with rapid expansion of renewable energy sources, the cost advantages could come up to €54 billion by 2030. The renewable power plants are already in some cases producing electricity at lower costs compared to conventional power plants. On average, as the study states, every kWh from newly developed hydro, solar and wind power plants cost 3.1 Euro cents lesser than electricity from fossil sources.

Mart.

spgsc531

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23957608

"While there was support for renewable energy resources in principle - 84% would welcome more solar panels in their area - the prospect of reducing energy prices was also important."

Well, who would have thunk that...

Martyn1981

Solar continues to top opinion polls

http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/solar_continues_to_top_opinion_polls_2356

Solar has once again proved to be the most popular renewable technology amongst Brits according to results of surveys by both the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the BBC.

The latest results of DECC’s public attitudes tracker show that solar continues to be the most popular generation technology in the UK, with 81% of those surveyed expressing support for the deployment of solar across the UK. In each of the six waves of research carried out by DECC, solar has come out as the most supported renewable technology.


Nope, that's not the most obvious bit, this is:

The results of the survey seem to support calls from the industry that recent mainstream press coverage of solar misrepresents and distorts the public’s attitudes towards the technology.

The media's representation of solar and the need to dispel the myths and misconceptions surrounding solar will be addressed during this year’s Solar Energy UK 2013 event.

Charlotte Webster, head of CleanTech CC Group will be delivering a speech titled ‘On message – dispelling myths and misconceptions of solar’ in the Technology Theatre.

I doubt the need to 'bust myths' is 'news' to any old-timers on MSE! :cool2:

Mart.