Storm Clouds Gathering Over the US Solar Industry

Renewable Energy World
Tony Clifford, CEO of Standard Solar and a keynote speaker during PVAmerica 2014 spoke about three pitfalls that he sees in the coming years for solar. The first words of warning were regarding the solar trade case between the U.S. and China, which he attributes to a 12- to 16-cent-per-watt tariff overall already and that's before the new module-level tariffs have been factored in. (...) The second storm cloud that Clifford sees brewing is the battle between utilities and solar. He said that utilities see solar as a threat and have not yet begun to do the work involved in adapting to a changing electricity market. (...) The extension of the ITC is the third major storm cloud that awaits the industry, said Clifford.

Crowd-Funded US Rooftop Solar May Top $5 Billion in Five Years

Renewable Energy.com
Crowdfunding may supply the rooftop solar projects with $5 billion of investment within five years, more than 50 times the amount raised to date. That would represent more than a quarter of all annual investment in that segment of the solar industry, said Tim Newell, vice president of financial products for San Mateo, California-based SolarCity Corp., which is the biggest U.S. solar power provider by market value.
A growing number of rooftop solar developers are soliciting funds directly from retail investors, often through websites that tap a large number of small contributions. This so-called crowdfunding model has attracted almost $100 million in the U.S. to date, Newell said. It offers one of the few ways for individuals to back renewable energy projects, which give steady, long-term returns from selling electricity.

Cheapest Solar Ever? Austin Energy Buys PV From SunEdison at 5 Cents per Kilowatt-Hour

Greentech Media
City-owned Austin Energy is about to sign a 25-year PPA with Sun Edison for 150 megawatts of solar power at "just below" 5 cents per kilowatt-hour. The power will come from two West Texas solar facilities, according to reports in the Austin American-Statesman. According to reports, around 30 proposals were at prices near SunEdison’s. Austin Energy has suggested that the PV deal will slightly lower rates for customers. (...) The 5-cent price falls below Austin Energy's estimates for natural gas at 7 cents, coal at 10 cents and nuclear at 13 cents. The utility points out that it approved a 16.5-cent price for the Webberville solar plant in 2009.

US Solar Market Grew 41%, Had Record Year in 2013

Greentech Media
According to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association’s Solar Market Insight Year in Review 2013, photovoltaic installations continued to proliferate, increasing 41 percent over 2012 to reach 4,751 megawatts. In addition, 410 megawatts of concentrating solar power came on-line.
Solar was the second-largest source of new electricity generating capacity in the U.S., exceeded only by natural gas. Additionally, the cost to install solar fell throughout the year, ending the year 15 percent below the mark set at the end of 2012. (...) “Perhaps more important than the numbers,” writes Shayle Kann, Senior Vice President at GTM Research, “2013 offered the U.S. solar market the first real glimpse of its path toward mainstream status. The combination of rapid customer adoption, grassroots support for solar, improved financing terms and public market successes displayed clear gains for solar in the eyes of both the general population and the investment community.”

Sharp to Halt Solar Panel Production at Memphis Plant

Bloomberg
Sharp, a Japanese electronics maker, will stop solar panel production at its factory in Tennessee as it reviews its photovoltaic panel business. Output will stop by the end of March, and the number of jobs to be cut at the plant in Memphis will be decided after talks with the labor union, said Miyuki Nakayama, a spokeswoman for Sharp. The Nikkei newspaper reported that as many as 300 employees are expected to be dismissed at the factory. The Osaka-based company is reconsidering its production capacity for solar products, Nakayama said. Sharp said last month that it will stop producing solar panels at its U.K. plant in Wales by the end of February and cut as many as 250 employees. “We are in the middle of structural reform for our solar business,” Nakayama said.

Soft costs now largest piece of solar installation total cost

Science Daily
Two detailed reports from the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) find that solar financing and other non-hardware costs -- often referred to as "soft costs" -- now comprise up to 64% of the total price of residential solar energy systems, reflecting how soft costs are becoming an increasingly larger fraction of the cost of installing solar. (...)
For residential systems, the greatest soft costs were supply chain costs ($0.61/watt), installation labor ($0.55/W), customer acquisition ($0.48/W), and indirect corporate costs ($0.47/W), such as maintaining office management and accounting functions. [Report 1: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy14osti/60412.pdf]
[On the other hand, they] found that third-party ownership added $0.78 per watt for residential systems and $0.67 per watt for commercial projects [Report 2: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy14osti/60401.pdf]. They also noted three of the main benefits of third-party financing arrangements:

• Third-party financiers offer additional services, such as shopping for systems, maintaining systems, and applying for incentives.
• Third-party financing may effectively lower the levelized cost of energy over time through economics of scale.
• Businesses offering third-party ownership of installations have gained approximately 70% of residential market share in the United States, driving much of the PV demand

First-Ever Competitive Auction to Develop Solar Energy on Public Lands

BLM
The US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is hosting its first competitive auction for public lands in designated Solar Energy Zones (SEZs) in Colorado. (...) The company with the winning bid will then submit a project proposal that will be subject to further environmental review and public comment. (...) If fully developed, the two Colorado SEZs could host about 400 MW of solar capacity. (...) These [locations] have access to existing or planned transmission lines and were designed to have minimal impact on biological, cultural and historic resources in the region.
Developers siting projects within these zones will receive a number of incentives, including financial incentives and faster and easier permitting. (...) President Obama has directed Interior to approve 20 GW of renewable energy production on public lands by 2020. Since 2009, Interior has approved 47 solar, wind and geothermal utility-scale projects on public lands. If built, these projects would have an aggregate generating capacity of more that 13.3 GW – this includes 25 solar projects totaling 8 GW.

China’s MOFCOM levies preliminary duties from 2.4% to 57% on US, South Korean polysilicon

SolarServer
China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties on solar-grade polysilicon imports from the United States and South Korea. Importers of polysilicon from the US must post deposits between 53.3% and 57% starting on July 24th, 2013, and importers of Korean polysilicon must pay between 2.4% and 48.7%.
MOFCOM plans to issue a final ruling in late 2013. A separate investigation into EU polysilicon is still pending, as is a countervailing duty (CVD) investigation into imports of US and South Korean polysilicon.

Obama apoia acesso a energia na África Subsariana com 5,38 mil milhões

Portal das Energias Renováveis
O presidente norte-americano anunciou, este domingo, uma iniciativa para estimular o acesso à energia elétrica, mais limpa e eficiente, na África Subsariana, sublinhando o interesse dos Estados Unidos em que o continente atinja o seu pleno potencial. A parceria "Power Africa" contará com um financiamento dos Estados Unidos na ordem dos 5,38 mil milhões de euros, revelou Barack Obama num discurso na universidade da Cidade do Cabo, na África do Sul, um dos três países visitados pelo chefe de Estado dos EUA (para além do Senegal e Tanzânia) para promover o comércio e o investimento num continente em rápido crescimento.
Este projeto de ajuda pública ao desenvolvimento - que será completado por financiamentos privados na ordem dos 6,91 mil milhões de euros - vai permitir a duplicação do acesso à energia elétrica na África Subsariana, onde mais de dois terços da população não a tem, segundo indicações da Casa Branca..
A General Electric está entre as empresas que contribuirão comprometeu-se a ajudar a levar para a Tanzânia e o Gana 5.000 megawatts de nova energia.
Durante a primeira fase de cinco anos, o projeto deverá traduzir-se na soma de mais de 10.000 megawatts de energia mais limpa e eficiente, que será levada a, pelo menos, mais vinte milhões de lares e empresas, ainda de acordo com a Casa Branca.

U.S., EU Said to Be in Talks With China to End Solar Spat

Bloomberg
The Obama administration is engaged in preliminary talks with the European Union and China to settle a dispute over trade in solar-energy equipment and avoid a conflict among the world’s largest economies, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The effort is focused on setting a quota on Chinese exports and a minimum price for solar-energy equipment, in exchange for suspending U.S. duties on the goods, according to two people familiar with the U.S. position who asked not to be identified to discuss private deliberations.

Westlands offers plan to retire 24,000 acres for solar power

fresnobee.com
The Westlands Water District is forging ahead with efforts to plan a solar energy park on thousands of acres of poor farmland in Kings County. The water district is partnering with Westside Holdings LLC to prepare a detailed environmental impact report and master plan for the proposed 24,000-acre Westlands Solar Park. The environmental work sets the stage for private solar companies to build individual projects to generate electricity on farmland the district has earmarked for retirement because of poor drainage and high levels of salt in the groundwater and the soil. (...) A notice filed by Westlands to notify the state and other agencies of the plans indicates that development is anticipated in 200-megawatt increments over 12 years. At total buildout, the power-generating capacity of the solar park would be about 2,400 megawatts of electricity.

Colorado orders Abound Solar to clean up hazardous waste at four sites

The Denver Post
Colorado health and environment officials have ordered Loveland-based Abound Solar, the bankrupt solar-panel maker, to clean up hazardous waste at four Front Range locations.The Abound facilities are storing thousands of "unsellable" solar panels and thousands of gallons of toxic liquids, according to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reports.
"The Department views these 2,000 pallets of solar panels as a characteristic hazardous waste for cadmium," a report on a Denver warehouse said. (...) The cost of the cleanup is estimated by the trustee to be $2.2 million.
(...) Abound stopped shipping nonfunctioning panels to a recycler in Wisconsin in February 2012 "due to cost constraints," according the bankruptcy trustee. Health-department inspectors found 3,600 pallets of Abound panels in a Denver warehouse and said a little more than half of them were not sellable. At Abound's former Longmont factory, inspectors found 30 55-gallon drums of cadmium-contaminated fluids and two large tanks with a total of 2,500 gallons of cadmium-contaminated water. At a Longmont warehouse, 500 pallets of defective panels were found by inspectors. And at a research-and-development facility, additional cadmium waste was found, Schieffelin said. "At both manufacturing facilities, there is a probability of cadmium contamination throughout the buildings," Schieffelin said.

Layoffs at Nanosolar

SiliconBeat
Nanosolar, the solar manufacturer located in South San Jose’s Edenvale clean-technology zone, had layoffs on Friday. An anonymous caller to the San Jose Mercury News said Monday that Nanosolar laid off 75 percent of its workforce Friday. I have not been able to confirm that figure, and don’t know how many full-time employees Nanosolar had on the payroll. But it seems clear from the company’s statement that the reduction-in-force was significant. “Nanosolar did experience a workforce reduction last week,” wrote Susan Lehman, a public relations person who works with the company, in an email Monday. “At this time, the company is in a quiet period and will not be issuing any formal statements. Once we have more information to share, we will provide additional details.”

100 GW of Solar PV Now Installed in the World Today

Renewable Energy News Article
Cumulative global installed [grid connected] solar PV capacity has topped the 100-gigawatt (GW) milestone, according to preliminary numbers from the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA). (...) Europe's 69 GW of total installed capacity is enough to produce roughly 2.6% of the region's electricity demand this year, and about 5.2% of peak electricity demand, according to the EPIA.
There's another important milestone in the EPIA's tally of solar PV. Countries outside of Europe connected 13 GW, up from 8 GW in 2011 and just 3 GW in 2010; at the same time Europe's PV installations fell from 23 GW in 2011 to 17 GW in 2012, its first decline since 2006. (...) Eight nations added at least a gigawatt of grid-connected capacity in 2012: Germany, China, Italy, the U.S., Japan, France, the U.K., and India. Thirteen nations (up from 8 in 2011) are in the gigawatt-club of cumulative solar installations: Germany, Italy, the U.S., China, Japan, Spain, France, Belgium, Australia, the Czech Republic, the U.K., Greece, and India.

 

United States Challenges India’s Restrictions on U.S. Solar Exports

EQ International
United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced today that the United States has requested World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement consultations with the Government of India concerning domestic content requirements in India’s national solar program. India’s program appears to discriminate against U.S. solar equipment by requiring solar energy producers to use Indian-manufactured solar cells and modules and by offering subsidies to those developers for using domestic equipment instead of imports. These forced localization requirements of India’s national solar program restrict India’s market to U.S. imports.

US: Thin film solar energy sells cheaper than coal fired

pv-magazine
According to the terms of the proposed PPA for the 50 MW Macho Springs solar park in New Mexico, First Solar would be selling the energy generated by its thin film modules for a record low price for the technology.
News agency Bloomberg cites a New Mexico Public Regulation Commission document relating to the yet-to-be-agreed PPA in which El Paso Electric Company agrees to pay just US$57.90/MWh generated at Macho Springs.

 The resulting $0.0579, or six cents, per kWh is less than half the average price of energy generated by new coal-fired power stations (12.8c/kWh) and significantly less than the typical price of thin film generated power (16.3c/kWh, both according to figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance).

The Solar Industry May Soon Face a Shortage of Skilled Labor

cleanedison-inc
The growth of the solar industry may soon face the reality of not having enough skilled workers to satisfy demand, suggests a recent report by The Solar Foundation and the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP). Despite a dragging economy overall, installed solar capacity has increased dramatically in the past few years. In 2011 alone, the cumulative installed solar capacity in the United States nearly doubled from 2,095 MW to 3,950 MW. Should the industry continue along the base-line forecast, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) forecasts that 75% of the U.S. solar market will attain grid-parity by 2015. This could unlock even higher levels of adoption and create a real distance between the demand and supply of solar installation professionals.

US Department of Commerce Issues Final Trade Ruling…Does it Change Anything?

Solarbuzz
Overview of the final ruling of the US Department of Commerce.
"CASM has indicated that once the ITC rules in the affirmative, it will seek another investigation against solar PV modules assembled in China regardless of their cell origin. If initiated, this would bring the U.S. investigations more in line with those being conducted in the European Union and - compared to the current ruling - would have a much greater effect on Chinese imports into the U.S. market. Ultimately however, this ruling is yet another part of an escalating global trade war that could engulf the solar industry and cause more pain by preventing supply/demand rationalization from taking place."

Solar Trade War: China Retaliates

Greentech Media
SolarWorld-led tariffs on Chinese solar panels have seemingly coaxed further retaliatory trade measures from the Chinese government. The solar trade war, almost a year old now, has ushered in tariffs on Chinese solar panelssold in the U.S. A tariff might be imposed in the European Union as well. The tariffs are hitting small U.S. solar producers as we've reported here and here -- with a dubious impact on Chinese PV panel prices in the U.S. But the serious blowback from the SolarWorld-led tariffs is coming from Chinese ministries.

We reported on China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) inquiry into anti-dumping and anti-subsidy claims on U.S. imported polysilicon. That could hit firms in the U.S., such as Hemlock, MEMC, OCI, and REC.
Today's trade salvo, reported by Platts, has China's Ministry of Commerce claiming that six renewable-energy projects across five U.S. states are "illegally subsidized and violate World Trade Organization rules."
The announcement on the Ministry's website claimed that state support of these projects is "distorting normal international trade" under the WTO's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and urges the U.S. to eliminate the aid for these projects. At this time, it's just a complaint, not yet in arbitration.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has also made a preliminary determination in the anti-dumping investigations of imports of utility-scale wind towers from China and Vietnam. Commerce preliminarily determined that Chinese and Vietnamese producers/exporters sold utility-scale wind towers in the United States at dumping margins of 20.85 percent to 72.69 percent and 52.67 percent to 59.91 percent, respectively. Additionally, the European Union has asked for WTO arbitration over China's export caps on rare-earth metals, which are used in wind turbines and other renewable energy applications.

Amonix closes North Las Vegas solar plant after 14 months

ReviewJournal.com
The Amonix solar manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, subsidized by more than $20 million in federal tax credits and grants, has closed its 214,000-square-foot facility about a year after it opened. (...) [T]he company began selling equipment, from automated tooling systems to robotic welding cells, in an online auction Wednesday. (...) [A] former material and supply manager at Amonix, said the plant has been idle since May 1, when he was laid off. At its peak, the plant had about 700 employees working three shifts a day to produce solar panels for a utility in Amarosa, Colo.