Martifer Solar Heralds UK Debut with New PV Parking Solution

Electrical News
Martifer Solar is making its UK debut with SMARTPARK (...) an opportunity to turn an empty space into a major revenue earner. Developed by the Martifer Solar R&D+i Division, the SMARTPARK® concept is based around a solar photovoltaic enabled carport that features robust technology and a simple ‘plug and play’ mounting system. Electric-car charging points can be included, which will be of particular interest to local authorities who are now required to provide e-car charging points as part of the government’s drive to encourage non-polluting vehicles.

World Bank approves USD 172 million for installing 630,000 solar PV home systems in Bangladesh

SolarServer
The World Bank on October 4th, 2011 approved USD 172 million to support the installation of an additional 630,000 solar home systems (off-grid photovoltaic systems) and other renewable energy mini-grid schemes in rural Bangladesh. The credit from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessionary arm, has 40 years to maturity with a 10-year grace period; it carries a service charge of 0.75 percent.
The credit is an additional financing to the ongoing "Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development Project" (RERED), following the project’s success in installing solar home systems (SHS) in rural areas where grid electricity is not economically feasible or hard to reach.

Merkel suggests cutting solar subsidies further

Reuters
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday solar energy subsidies should be reduced, and it could make more sense in the future to draw solar energy from places like Greece, where the sun shined longer. Merkel said that while wind energy seemed on track to becoming commercially viable in Germany, this did not seem the case for solar energy.(...) [C]ash-strapped euro zone governments, grappling with debt crises and fragile economic growth, are reducing their support in order to bring down production costs and make the industry more competitive. Merkel said it was not rational for so many subsidies to go toward a sector which ultimately produced little energy.

Martifer vende centrais fotovoltaicas a fundo do BNP Paribas

Económico
A Martifer Solar alienou ao fundo do BNP Paribas, Clean Energy Partners, 22 dos 33 megawatts (MW) ganhos, através da Sol Cativante, no concurso para centrais fotovoltaicas lançado pelo Governo de José Sócrates, no final de 2010.
Sem revelar os montantes envolvidos, o presidente da Martifer Solar, Henrique Rodrigues, realça que, apesar da titularidade e futura gestão e exploração destes activos ter passado de mão, o grupo de Oliveira de Frades manterá a ligação ao projecto, através do fornecimento dos painéis fotovoltaicos e da construção das centrais.
Detida por um conjunto de quadros da Martifer, incluindo Henrique Rodrigues, com o objectivo de participar na corrida à atribuição de licenças para centrais fotovoltaicas - onde assegurou um terço das licenças então atribuídas pelo anterior Executivo por cerca de 36 milhões de euros -, a Sol Cativante seria, ao longo do último ano, integrada na esfera do grupo Martifer.

Suntech, First Solar Stocks at Historic Lows

Greentech Media

• Why has First Solar's market cap dropped to $5 billion from more than $10 billion just months ago? First Solar's stock, trading at $57.90 and down 8.4 percent, has not seen its stock price that low since April 2007.
• Suntech is the world's largest producer of solar panels. As of last quarter's earnings report, the China-based firm was on track to meet its full year guidance of 2.2 gigawatts. Total net revenues were $830.7 million in the second quarter of 2011. Revenue guidance for full year 2011 was dialed down $100 million to a range of $3.2 billion to $3.4 billion. Gross margins were a slim 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2011. The firm's ASP declined 7 percent quarter-to-quarter and Suntech expects mid- to high-teen price declines in Q3.
• All solar stocks were in the red yesterday, with Hanwha Solar's stock down 22.41 percent. Yingli, Trina, and First Solar had losses in the 7 percent to 8 percent range, the least scathed in the downward trend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was only down 2.3 percent.

Is there an upside to this bloody market? Absolutely.
Solar panel vendors will learn to live with lower margins or, alternatively, perish. ASPs will continue to fall. And the solar market will once again exhibit its historic price elasticity and as panel prices drop, the market will continue to grow, and the price of power generated by photovoltaics will fall.

Estudo diz que apoio às renováveis representa só 1,9 euros na factura mensal de electricidade

PUBLICO.PT
Os custos da produção eléctrica com base em energias renováveis, financiada em regime especial, são afinal muito menores do que apontam as contas oficiais do sector, indica um estudo da consultora Rolland Berger para a Associação Portuguesa de Energias Renováveis (Apren), que será hoje apresentado em Lisboa. (...) As novas contas concluem que cada consumidor pagou, na factura eléctrica, uma média de 1,9 euros mensais para apoiar as energias renováveis em regime especial (regime que deixa de fora as grandes hídricas, ou barragens), entre 2005 e 2010 - um valor considerado aceitável pelos consumidores inquiridos pela Rolland Berger, abaixo dos 5,5 euros que são normalmente avançados. (...) Contas feitas, o estudo conclui ainda que a produção de origem renovável em regime especial teve um peso de 4% no custo total de geração de electricidade, entre 2005 e 2010, e não de 11% como tem sido avançado. E lembra as poupanças associadas à menor importação de combustíveis fósseis e de licenças de CO2, de 407 milhões de euros por ano.

JinkoSolar offers explanation, remediation for alleged toxic release at Haining PV cell factory

SolarServer
On September 15th - 17th, 2011 residents of Hongxiao, an adjacent village [to the Jinkosolar PV cell factory at Haining], gathered to protest the death of fish in a local waterway, with some protesters breaking into offices and destroying company property. On September 17th, 2011, JinkoSolar voluntarily closed the Haining plant.
Silicon wafer texturing and etching generate a fluoride solution as a by-product, which results in fluoride wastes. JinkoSolar (...) explained that a change in waste management contractors caused a delay in solid fluoride waste pickup, resulting in outdoor storage of waste. [D]ue to heavy rains in late August, fluoride waste "may" have leaked into a water channel near the factory.
JinkoSolar estimates that on September 5th, 2011, it became aware of the incident and commenced actions to clean up the affected area. The company isolated the water channel section and treated the affected water and soil, as well as constructing retaining walls, and building a water collection systems to prevent leakage. JinkoSolar has agreed to pay compensation for crop damage, as well as the death of any livestock or wildlife that may have been affected by the incident. It also notes that local environmental authorities are continually conducting water quality testing.