Suntech bankrupt

Suntech Power Holdings, the China-based maker of solar panels, declared bankruptcy on Wednesday, the state news agency Xinhua said.

On Monday of this week, according to Reuters, Suntech said that it had defaulted on US$541 million of its bonds due on Friday, triggering defaults on loans from the International Finance Corporationand various Chinese lenders.

Industry experts will not be surprised by the latest high profile casualty to be hit by bankruptcy, as oversupply and low prices have crippled the industry.

"PV industry growth has followed a significant, often dramatic, upward trajectory. But unfortunately, revenues have followed an unprofitable path," says Paula Mints, founder, and chief market research analyst at SPV Market Research.

According to research by SPV, the top PV manufacturers have been losing considerable amounts of money: "The manufacturers [in the table below] shipped 58% of total shipments in 2012. Revenues for the manufacturers [in this table] were 65% of total revenues in 2012. But at the same time, the manufacturers [in this table] lost a combined US$2.1-billion last year".

Mints believes that a pricing recovery may not come quickly: "Currently the average price for PV modules is <US$0.70/Wp, with inventory trending significantly lower. High levels of inventory will keep prices down in 2013.
The good news is that deployment of technology will continue at high levels. The bad news is that manufacturer failures will continue. Once the consolidation in the industry is complete, PV module prices will increase".

NB: Paula Mints will be writing about the current predicament in the PV industry in the latest issue of Renewable Energy Focus magazine. The article will contain charts looking at PV Industry growth (2002-2013 estimate) and Regional PV Shipments and Average Selling Prices (2002-2012) For a free signup click here. 

Solar Energy News from Green Energy WA 

Solar companies to sue UK government

Solar companies are planning to sue the government for £140m in damages, because of the cuts to subsidies in 2011 that were subsequently ruled "legally flawed" in the high court.

The 17 companies said the way in which the changes to the feed-in tariff were handled was disastrous for their businesses, because it led to asudden and dramatic fall in the number of people installing solar panels, and companies had to lay off thousands of workers.

It is the latest stage of a long-running legal battle that has taken the solar industry to the high court, the court of appeals and supreme court, arguing successfully each time that the government was at fault in announcing a cut in the feed-in tariff before it was legally allowed to.

The cuts, and the impression they gave of a policy that could change at very little notice, put off potential customers. Prior to the cuts announcement, the solar panel industry had been enjoying a boom in the UK, with more than 100,000 new installations before the changes were announced in October 2011. But the number of new installations dropped by 90% in the wake of the government's sudden changes.

Before the cuts, householders were paid for their solar generation at 43.3p per kWh of electricity generated, but in October 2011 the government said this would be cut to 21p, reducing returns from about 7% to 4%. Under the original plans, the lower rate would have applied to installations from 12 December that year, but the courts subsequently forced the government to honour the original tariff for anyone installing before 3 March, 2012 because the amount of notice given was too short.

The government said the changes were necessary as the cost of solar panels had come down since the original tariff was introduced, with the result that households were making excessive returns. The cost of the feed-in tariff is met through additions to energy bills, and ministers wanted to cap this at £860m, while the runaway rate of installation in 2011 threatened to cost far more. Many in the industry accepted that the tariff should be cut, but were angered by the government's failure to give enough notice.

As the feed-in tariff regime has now been amended and the government promises it will remain stable, the number of installations is rising again, but solar companies say they suffered a year of damaging uncertaintythat hurt sales and led to an estimated 6,000 job losses in what had been a bright and growing niche sector of the economy.

Simon Gillett, chief executive of E-tricity, one of the 17 claimants, said: "The good news is that solar is now once again a sound investment. The feed-in tariff is secure, solar prices are falling and both the government and public now want solar to play a big role in our energy mix. ut the industry was treated very badly, and companies must be healthy and ready to work to meet demand."

He called 2012 an "annus horribilis" and said his company had cut a third of its workforce. "We are calling for compensation after this illegal action to help us get up to speed again and help secure the clean and affordable energy supply we need."

The claim is being led by Prospect Law, and has increased from an original £2.2m claim from three companies last July.

There are currently about 370,000 homes and companies with solar panels in the UK, according to industry estimates, and the solar industry employs more than 25,000 people.

Link to story brought to you by Green Energy WA Here. 

Chinese Solar In Disarray

BEIJING — China in recent years established global dominance in renewable energy, its solar panel and wind turbine factories forcing many foreign rivals out of business and its policy makers hailed by environmentalists around the world as visionaries.

But now China’s strategy is in disarray. Though worldwide demand for solar panels andwind turbines has grown rapidly over the last five years, China’s manufacturing capacity has soared even faster, creating enormous oversupply and a ferocious price war.

The result is a looming financial disaster, not only for manufacturers but for state-owned banks that financed factories with approximately $18 billion in low-rate loans and for municipal and provincial governments that provided loan guarantees and sold manufacturers valuable land at deeply discounted prices.

China’s biggest solar panel makers are suffering losses of up to $1 for every $3 of sales this year, as panel prices have fallen by three-fourths since 2008. Even though the cost of solar power has fallen, it still remains triple the price of coal-generated power in China, requiring substantial subsidies through a tax imposed on industrial users of electricity to cover the higher cost of renewable energy.

The outcome has left even the architects of China’s renewable energy strategy feeling frustrated and eager to see many businesses shut down, so the most efficient companies may be salvageable financially.

In the solar panel sector, “If one-third of them survive, that’s good, and two-thirds of them die, but we don’t know how that happens,” said Li Junfeng, a longtime director general for energy and climate policy at the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planning agency.

Mr. Li said in an interview that he wanted banks to cut off loans to all but the strongest solar panel companies and let the rest go bankrupt. But banks — which were encouraged by Beijing to make the loans — are not eager to acknowledge that the loans are bad and take large write-offs, preferring to lend more money to allow the repayment of previous loans. Many local and provincial governments also are determined to keep their hometown favorites afloat to avoid job losses and to avoid making payments on loan guarantees, he said.

Mr. Li’s worries appear to be broadly shared in Beijing. “For the leading companies in the sector, if they’re not careful, the whole sector will disappear,” said Chen Huiqing, the deputy director for solar products at the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products.

The Chinese government also wants to see the country’s more than 20 wind turbine manufacturers, many of which are losing money, consolidate to five or six. “Wind does not need so many manufacturers,” said Mr. Li, who in addition to drafting renewable energy policies is the president of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association.

Chinese solar company executives blame their difficulties partly on the United States’s decisions last spring to impose antidumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on solar panel imports, and on the European Union’s recent decision to start its own antidumping investigation of imports from China.

“It is not a Chinese industry problem, it is a global solar industry problem,” said Rory Macpherson, a spokesman for Suntech Power, one of the largest Chinese solar panel manufacturers. “It is primarily the result of an imbalance between supply and demand, and the U.S. and E.U. trade investigations.”

Mr. Li said the solar industry’s problems were the result of overcapacity in China, and not the fault of trade restrictions.

Yet he insisted that if the Chinese government could turn back the clock and revisit past renewable energy decisions, it would not do anything differently.

The problem lies in the eagerness of Chinese businesses to rush into any new industry that looks attractive and swamp it with investments, he said. Chinese companies and their bankers are then far more reluctant than Western companies to admit defeat for investments that prove unprofitable.

Mr. Li added that banking regulators had not yet decided what to do about banks’ exposure to the solar sector. The central government tried without success to learn from local and provincial government agencies how much of the solar industry’s bank debt they have guaranteed, Mr. Li said.

Chinese solar power companies are making some cutbacks. Suntech, based in Wuxi, is temporarily closing a quarter of its solar cell capacity. It will transfer a majority of the 1,500 affected workers to other operations and provide severance payments to the rest.

Jiangsu province, where Suntech has its headquarters and most of its factories, issued an unusual appeal to state-owned banks several weeks ago to continue lending money to the company, a step that Mr. Li criticized as inappropriate. Mr. Macpherson of Suntech wrote in an e-mail that the Jiangsu government had not guaranteed any of the company’s debt, which totaled $2.26 billion at the end of the first quarter, including some convertible bonds in addition to bank loans. Trina Solar, one of its biggest rivals, also has said it will “streamline its operations” and shrink its work force, but did not provide details.

Trina shares have dropped 85 percent in the last three years and Suntech shares have fallen more than 98 percent in the last five years. Both trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

The modest cutbacks in production barely put a dent in China’s overcapacity problem. GTM Research, a renewable energy consulting firm in Boston, estimates that Chinese companies have the ability to manufacture 50 gigawatts of solar panels this year, while the Chinese domestic market is on track to absorb only 4 to 5 gigawatts. Exports will take another 18 or 19 gigawatts.

The enormously expensive equipment in solar panel factories needs to be run around the clock, seven days a week, to cover costs.

“You want to be up at 80 percent, so they’re half of what they need,” said Shayle Kann, the head of GTM Research, which is a unit of Greentech Media.

Chinese companies have struggled even though a dozen solar companies in the United States and another dozen in Europe have gone bankrupt or closed factories since the start of last year. The bankruptcies and closures have done little to ease the global glut and price war because China by itself represents more than two-thirds of the world’s capacity.

To reduce capacity, foreign rivals have clamored for China to subsidize the purchase of more solar panels at home, instead of having Chinese companies rely so heavily on exports. But the government here is worried about the cost of doing so, because the price of solar power remains far higher than for coal-generated power.

The average cost of electricity from solar panels in China works out to 19 cents per kilowatt-hour, said Mr. Li. That is three times the cost of coal-fired power. But it is a marked improvement from 63 cents per kilowatt-hour for solar power four years ago.

China’s official goal is to install 10 gigawatts of solar panels a year by 2015, using 20-year contracts to guarantee payment for electricity purchased from them. If costs stay where they are now, the subsidies would be $50 billion over 20 years for every 10 gigawatts of solar power installed, based on figures supplied by Mr. Li.

Even if solar power costs fall by a third, as the government hopes, he said, “it’s big money.”

Global view by Green Energy WA
Fully Story NYTIMES 

WA In The News

Scientists have for the first time identified a number of WA sites capable of producing large quantities of commercial biofuel from microalgae.

They say the best sites for big-scale algal biofuel plants include stretches of land south of Geraldton, south-east of Exmouth and large areas near Karratha and Port Hedland.

Professor Michael Borowitzka from Murdoch University’s Algae Research and Development Centre and Assistant Professor Bryan Boruff from the School of Earth and Environment at The University of Western Australia used Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology to study more than 2250km of WA coastline from Lancelin to Broome and 170km inland.

Their report, Identification of the Optimum Sites for Industrial-scale Microalgae Biofuel Production in WA using a GIS Model, was prepared for the WA Government-funded Centre for Research into Energy for Sustainable Transport (CREST) and is the first WA-wide study of its kind.

Professor Borowitzka, a leading world authority on algal biofuel production, said WA had several key advantages for suitable sites: abundant sunshine, extensive land unsuitable for agriculture and plenty of water in the Indian Ocean.

“But not all of WA is ideal for such plants, so we examined sites scientifically by assessing land suitability, access to infrastructure and workforce, carbon dioxide availability − along with nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus − and climate,” Professor Borowitzka said.

Assistant Professor Boruff added: “Commercial success depends on economically viable, large-scale production, which is why this study is so important.”

Professor Borowitzka said more research and development was needed to find the most energy-efficient and economically feasible way to extract and convert algal biomass into renewable bioenergy.

Limited world fossil fuel resources and an ever-increasing global demand for energy have prompted substantial interest in renewable biofuels. Professor Borowitzka has been at the forefront of research into producing biofuels from algae.

Algal biofuels − especially liquid fuels produced from algae oils − are seen as an important component of a future clean biofuels mix, he said.

Its fast growth rate and high oil content appears to make microalgae particularly well-suited to renewable biodiesel production and offers an attractive sustainable alternative source to other compounds such as carotenoids, polyunsaturated fatty acids and polysaccharides.

WA already has the world’s biggest commercial microalgae production plant at Hutt Lagoon, north of Geraldton.

US biofuel producer Aurora Algae and Australian biofuel start-up company Muradel Pty Ltd − a joint venture between Murdoch University, Adelaide Research and Innovation Pty Ltd and SQC Pty Ltd − have also built pilot plants in Karratha.

http://www.energycareer.com.au/news/wa-sites-located-for-algae-to-biofuel-extraction

NSW Renewable Energy Action Plan

The NSW Government has released its draft Renewable Energy Action Plan for public comment.

The draft Renewable Energy Action Plan outlines 28 actions to help NSW meet the Government’s target of 20% renewable energy by 2020, steer investment to NSW and build on the State’s expertise in renewable technology.

The draft plan, prepared with assistance from the joint industry-government Renewable Energy Taskforce chaired by the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer, Professor Mary O’Kane, sets out the opportunities and actions underway for each of the renewable energy technologies in NSW.

It identifies wind energy as “one of the most commercially ready and cost effective technologies that can be deployed on a large-scale”, predicting that wind energy will deliver the bulk of new renewable generation up to 2020.

The Plan also details new proposals to most efficiently grow renewable energy generation in NSW, with new actions that aim to:

• Attract renewable energy investment and projects
• Build community support for renewable energy
• Attract and grow expertise in renewable energy technology
• Contain costs for energy customers through increased energy efficiency.

The plan is available here. Comments are due by 26 October.

Thanks to http://www.energycareer.com.au/ for this update

From the Green Energy WA Solar Energy Centre

Solar-Powered Robot Tracks Hurricane Isaac

A solar-powered, wave-hopping robot named Alex was launched into the ocean by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) earlier this month to help improve hurricane tracking, and the boogie-board-sized craft has already had its first taste of action. It has been busily collecting ocean data on the fringes of Hurricane Isaac’s path north of Puerto Rico, and sooner or later this season it may find itself smack in the middle of a hurricane. As if that’s not a big enough job, Alex could also find itself in the crosshairs of Rush Limbaugh’s next rant about “weather dolts” at NOAA’s National Hurricane Center.

Mobile Robots Improve Hurricane Tracking

According to a recent article by Tekla Perry for IEEE, one key goal is to gain a better understanding of the factors that propel a tropical storm into hurricane status, and from one category of intensity to another.

Water temperature plays a critical role in this progression, but data from satellites, manned ships, airplanes, and moored buoys are providing an incomplete picture. Alex is able to measure ocean temperatures below the surface, and as a simply designed and unmanned craft, it can brave conditions that would be far too risky for a human or a more complicated device.

Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1lU0P)

Green Energy WA - No1 for Solar Energy WA, Solar Hot Water Perth WA, Solar News and Environmental Information www.gewa.com.au

PM Gillard on surging power prices

As Prime Minister Julia Gillard addressed the Energy Policy Institute of Australia (EPIA, she likened the surging costs of household power bills to petrol prices..

Ms Gillard accepted that prices of energy had increased at unprecedented levels, and acknowledged that the runaway power bills often seemed ‘beyond our control.’

But Ms Gillard assured her audience that the Government was in a better place to counter growing energy costs as it prepares for the release of its new Energy White Paper, as well as introducing price determinations next year.

Ms Gillard also outlined planned COAG reform that would see action before the end of the year.

The Prime Minister failed to resist taking a swipe at the NSW and Queensland Governments, who’s publically owned utility companies are continuing to reap growing profits.

“Meanwhile, some states, like New South Wales and Queensland, are doing very well out of this financially and their revenue from some electricity assets is growing much faster than in the private sector,” Ms Gillard said.

“So it is also very clear that the States can, and should, do more to cut future price rises.”

Ms Gillard also acknowledged that reforming the sector would take a herculean effort, and that the mixed public/private nature of the sector would make reform complex and diffuclt to deliver.

"And of course, there’s the pragmatic, patchwork design of National Electricity Market itself – a complex mix of co-ordination and competition, public and private ownership, national and state regulation,” Ms Gillard said.

“But, recognising that complexity, appreciating the conflicting objectives and incentives, and taking into account the long-term factors at play, I want to say very clearly: the last four years’ price rises cannot continue.”

 The Clean Energy Council (CEC) has called for extensive reform to the country’s consumer energy market in the wake of the Prime Minister speech on energy reform.

Clean Energy Council Chief Executive David Green said consumers currently had very little control over their energy bills, and that needed to change.

“Electricity prices are a difficult issue which require governments to put aside politics and act in the public interest. The Prime Minister’s speech today has helped to move the discussion in the right direction, calling for urgent action by state governments to enact reforms to stop the run of power price rises,” Mr Green said.

Equinox Solar Hot Water Hit Town At Green Energy WA

Equinox close coupled solar water heaters have the storage tank mounted above the solar collectors together on your roof. Solar energy heats water in the collectors and thermosyphon (hot water rises) naturally transfers the heated water from the solar collectors into the tank without any moving parts. High quality materials, lightweight construction and a variety of finishes makes this the perfect roof mounted solar hot water solution.

BENEFITS:

Reduction in energy costs to heat the water used in your home

High efficiency collectors to absorb the maximum available solar energy (collectors available for frost prone areas also).

Light weight tanks allow installation on a wider range of roof designs.

Outer skin made from colorbond in a wide range of popular colours to match your roof.*

Naturally occurring thermosiphon means no moving parts and therefore less components required.

Electric or gas boost available to suit your needs.

Government rebates are available because of the large number of STC’s awarded due to the high efficiency of the collectors.

Designed by Rinnai, a household name in efficient water heating.

See the range here www.gewa.com.au One of the finest ranges of Solar Hot Water in Perth WA

* only available in the stainless steel range

UK Tops Solar Race

First International Energy Efficiency Scorecard of 12 Major Economies Also Finds Germany, Italy, and Japan Ranking Highly; U.S. Behind Most Countries, Including China, France, and Australia.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United Kingdom comes in first in a new energy efficiency ranking of the world’s major economies, followed closely by Germany, Italy, and Japan, according to the first-ever International Energy Efficiency Scorecard published today by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The report finds that in the last decade the U.S. has made “limited or little progress toward greater efficiency at the national level,” putting it in 9th place out of 12 economies around the globe.

The rankings are modeled on ACEEE’s time-tested approach to energy efficiency ranking of U.S. states, and include 12 of the world’s largest economies: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. These 12 economies represent over 78 percent of global gross domestic product; 63 percent of global energy consumption; and 62 percent of the global carbon-dioxide equivalent emissions.

On a scale of 100 possible points in 27 categories, the nations were ranked by ACEEE as follows: (1) the United Kingdom; (2) Germany; (3) Italy; (4) Japan; (5) France; (6) the European Union, Australia, and China (3-way tie); (9) the U.S.; (10) Brazil; (11) Canada; and (12) Russia.

ACEEE divided the 27 metrics across four groupings: those that track cross-cutting aspects of energy use at the national level, as well as the three sectors primarily responsible for energy consumption in an economically developed country—buildings, industry, and transportation. The top-scoring countries in each grouping are: Germany (national efforts); China (buildings); the United Kingdom (industry); and a tie among Italy, China, Germany, and the United Kingdom (transportation).

ACEEE Executive Director Steven Nadel said: “The UK and the leading economies of Europe are now well ahead of the United States when it comes to energy efficiency. This is significant because countries that use energy more efficiently require fewer resources to achieve the same goals, thus reducing costs, preserving valuable natural resources, and creating jobs. Unfortunately, our results show that nowhere is the vast potential for improvements in energy efficiency being completely realized. While many countries achieved notable success, none received a perfect score in any category – proving that there is much that all countries can still learn from each other. For example, the United States scored relatively high in buildings, but was at the bottom of the list in transportation.”

Edward Davey, British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change said: “I welcome today’s publication of the first International Energy Efficiency Scorecard by ACEEE. Energy efficiency sits at the heart of our policies to encourage low-carbon growth, and I am particularly pleased that the UK is ranked first of the 12 economies considered by the study. Making our buildings and industries more energy efficient is a significant challenge, one that will take years to meet; doing so cost effectively will mean drawing on the experiences of others. This study is a fascinating collection of best practice, setting out the innovations which can accelerate economic growth, enhance energy security – and save our households and businesses money.”

Report author and ACEEE Senior Researcher Sara Hayes said: “While energy efficiency has played a major role in the economies of developed nations for decades, cost-effective energy efficiency remains a massively underutilized energy resource. Fortunately, there is a lot countries can do to strengthen their economic competitiveness through improvements in energy efficiency.”

The ACEEE ranking system looks at both “policy metrics” and “performance metrics” to measure a country’s overall energy efficiency. Examples of policy metrics include the presence of a national energy savings target, fuel economy standards for vehicles, and energy efficiency standards for appliances. The “performance metrics” measure energy use and provide quantifiable results. Examples of performance metrics include the amount of energy consumed by a country relative to its gross domestic product, average miles per gallon of on-road passenger vehicles, and energy consumed per square foot of floor space in residential buildings.

For the finest range of solar hot water and solar energy in Perth WA visit www.gewa.com.au

Thanks to http://aceee.org/ for this story