Plenty of sunshine and supportive government policies

Catavento, a leading Portuguese renewable energy company, developed and manages the project, which began feeding Portugal’s electricity grid in late January. Kevin Walsh, Managing Director and leader of renewable energy at GE Energy Financial Services, said today at a dedication ceremony in Serpa: "This project is successful because Portugal’s sunshine is plentiful, the solar power technology is proven, government policies are supportive, and we are investing and delivering under GE’s ecomagination initiative to help our customers meet their environmental challenges." Added Andrew Marsden, Managing Director of GE Energy Financial Services’ European Operations: "The Serpa project is a springboard for other solar power investments we’re pursuing in Europe through project acquisitions, project finance, development capital and access to solar modules through GE Energy."

Preferential feed in tariff for solar electricity mandated by the Portuguese government

PowerLight CEO Tom Dinwoodie noted: "The Serpa solar power plant speaks to the green power initiatives now setting Europe on a course toward ambitious emissions reductions goals. By assembling a first-class team of companies in the solar arena, we've achieved a remarkable renewable energy milestone." Portugal relies heavily on imported fossil fuels, and its carbon dioxide emissions have increased 34 percent since 1990, among the fastest rates in the world. To address this, the country is implementing some of the world’s most advanced incentives for installing renewable energy. The Serpa project relies on a preferential tariff mandated by the Portuguese government. Solar power enjoys widespread support in Portugal, with the backing of 77 percent of the population, according to a European Commission study published in January.
At today’s ceremony, a 3.7 million euro (US .8 million) contract was signed for a grant to the project under the Portuguese government’s Economic Modernization Program.

GE Energy Financial Services (03/30/2007)

High Growth Potential for Solar Thermal Energy: European conference discusses the prospects

The solar thermal market is booming. According to preliminary surveys conducted by the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF), the European market grew by 35 % to more than 2.7 million square meters of collector area in 2006, with a new solar thermal capacity exceeding 1.900 MWth. As the market grows, however, so do the challenges faced by the solar thermal industry. The future development of the European and worldwide markets, the most efficient market launch programmes, new collector and storage technologies as well as process heat and solar air conditioning are important topics affecting the industry. These and underlying policy frameworks will be discussed at the 3rd European Solar Thermal Conference, estec2007, which is taking place from 19- 20 June 2007 in Freiburg, Germany. The conference is being held prior to Intersolar 2007, Europe’s largest trade fair for solar technology. The conference programme is now available online at www.estec2007.org.

Latest market developments and prospects for solar thermal to be discussed

"We were extremely delighted to have received more than 100 conference papers", says Raffaele Piria, Policy Director at the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF). ESTIF is hosting estec2007 and at the same time sponsoring Intersolar. The conference is being organised by the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar) in collaboration with Intersolar 2007. "The high quality of the submitted conference abstracts underlines the importance of estec2007 as the world’s most important solar thermal conference", states Piria.

In addition to policy frameworks, the opening presentations at estec2007 will discuss the latest market developments and prospects for solar thermal. These will be viewed particularly in the context of the resolution adopted by the European Council on 9 March 2007 to increase the share of renewable energy sources to 20 % by 2020. Distinguished speakers will outline future technological developments and the first results from the European Solar Thermal Technology Platform ESTTP. The conference will focus, amongst other things, on presenting the development of the most important European and international solar thermal markets.

Gerhard Stryi-Hipp: The world’s best information platform for the international solar power industry

"The emerging solar thermal industry needs sound information on the market and the technological trends", explains Gerhard Stryi-Hipp, Managing Director of the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar). "It is only then that investment decisions such as whether to increase production or to launch into the export business can be specifically planned. In this regard, estec2007 offers decision-makers from the international solar power industry the world’s best information platform", according to Stryi-Hipp.

Successful European marketing models are included in the programme, as well as country reports from all over the world. Among others, Roger Hackstock, Managing Director of the solar thermal association Austria Solar, reports on the "European Solar Day" and the experience had in Austria. Groups of presentations on the possibilities of marketing, quality assurance, standards and certification as well as solar thermal technical innovations, including the utilisation of process heat and solar air conditioning as well as the latest collectors and storage developments round of the comprehensive programme.

The conference takes place from 19-20 June 2007 in the Konzerthaus in Freiburg (Germany), and is supported by the European Community under their Intelligent Energy – Europe programme. Registration at the reduced early booking price is possible up to 7 May. Further information on the conference is available online at www.estec2007.org. Users can also subscribe to the newsletter, which in the run-up to the conference provides monthly information on the development of the international solar thermal markets and the most important conference topics.

The conference will be immediately followed by Intersolar 2007, Europe’s largest trade fair for the solar power industry, which takes place at the Exhibition Centre from 21-23 June.

Further information:
http://www.estec2003.org
http://www.intersolar.de/

estec2007, ESTIF (03/29/2007)

Fraunhofer researchers present Smart Power Grid
at Hannover Fair

We get our electricity these days from many different sources: renewables, combined heat and power generation, conventional coal-fired or nuclear power stations. From April 16 to 20 at the Hannover Fair (Stand E27 in Hall 13), Fraunhofer researchers will be showing how this mix of resources can be used intelligently, thereby saving costs, reducing prices, and making the electricity supply more reliable. The last major blackout in Europe plunged about 10 million people into darkness: on November 4, 2006 at 10:09 in the evening, the power was cut in parts of Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Austria and Spain, in some cases for two hours. The effects were even felt in Morocco. It all started when a high-voltage power line was disconnected in Emsland, Lower Saxony, setting off a chain reaction throughout the grid. Many experts see the reason for this type of incident in the diversity of power-generation sources. Instead of having a small number of large power stations that feed their output into the grid in accordance with demand, the deregulation of the power-utility market has given rise to a situation where the electricity supply depends on a large number of smaller producers. The solution to avoiding such blackouts lies in a “smart power grid”, as researchers from the Fraunhofer Energy Alliance will be demonstrating to visitors to the Hannover Fair, from April 16 to 20. Other exhibits at the Fraunhofer stand will focus on energy-saving and micro power engineering.

More input from a larger number of distributed sources – mainly solar

Thomas Schlegl, who heads the Fraunhofer Energy Alliance, prefers to see the diversity of power-generation sources in a positive light. “An intelligently managed power grid would make it possible to reduce energy costs and encourage power users to help to spread the load on the network through a flexible system of real-time pricing.” What this means in practice is demonstrated by a trial project in Stutensee, near Karlsruhe. Without increasing its capacity, the network is capable of accepting input from a larger number of distributed sources – mainly solar – thanks to intelligent control and management. “The power management system serving the community of around 100 households prevents peaks from occurring at the medium-high voltage level of the grid,” Schlegl explains. The local power utility, MVV of Mannheim, confirms that the peak load has been reduced by 35 percent as predicted.

The intelligent control system is built around a set of algorithms that provide scope for the network to adapt to demand – it takes into account how much power is being fed into the network at different points and how much is being consumed. A typical example of the way in which peaks in production capacity can be put to optimum use is illustrated by a local project undertaken by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. Their project entitled "Waschen mit der Sonne" , which roughly translates as “washing laundry with the sun”, involves sending a text message to alert users at times when a generous amount of solar energy is being produced. Any-one who responded to this call to smooth out peaks in energy consumption was rewarded with a financial incentive.

Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (03/29/2007)

World's largest solar photovoltaic plant to be built in eastern Germany

The german juwi group located in Bolanden (Rheinland-Pfalz, southern Germany) is going to construct the largest PV plant of the world. Until the end of 2009 juwi plans to erect a 40 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic system at a former military airport near the city of Leipzig fitted with thin film solar modules. Presently the world's biggest PV plant with a capacity of 12 MW works near the city of Arnstein close to Frankfurt/Main.

The PV plant will be built on an area of 2.20 square kilometers between the villages Brandis and Bennewitz. To move around the field with a length of one kilometre and a width of about two kilometres would take more than one hour the juwi company describes the size of the future solar field.

Picture: photo mounting of the PV plant.
Source: juwi group

A milestone in PV technology and economy

Each year the PV plant is to produce approximately 40 million kilowatt hours of solar electricity and thus to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide at an amount of 25.000 tons. Operated just one year it will have delivered as much energy as used for production and installation of the plant. The solar park called "Waldpolenz" is a cornerstone for the juwi group an PV in common, juwi CEO Willenbacher emphasizes, with a specific price around 3.250 Euros per kilowatt peak the PV plant would lie about 20 to 40 per cent under the usual market price. "Such big dimensioned projects contribute making solar electricity cheaper and cheaper. There is no bigger and cheaper solar PV power plant in the whole world", says juwi founder Willenbacher.
A large size photo mounting of the mega solar plant is available at http://www.solarserver.de/images/brandis_gross.jpg

BP and Tata to Create Solar Mega Plant in Bangalore

On March 21st 2007 at the inauguration of a new 36MW solar photovoltaic (PV) production line, the board of Tata BP Solar confirmed that this represents another step towards realizing the designed potential of the 300MW plant. The new production line has seen Tata BP Solar more than double its cell manufacturing capacity to reach some 50MW per annum. The next phase of the expansion will see an additional 128 MW of cell manufacturing capacity added during 2007 and 2008. Tata BP Solar is a Bangalore based joint venture of Tata Power and BP Solar, where BP Solar holds a 51% stake and Tata Power Company Limited holds the balance. As well as the cell manufacturing capacity increase, the Tata BP Solar board has also approved investment which will double the facility’s module manufacturing capacity from 45MW to 85MW by end 2007.

The Tata BP Solar board expects the total investment required to achieve the plant’s full designed potential of 300MW to be in the order of US0 million by 2010, generating a sizable number of jobs directly and many more indirectly. This investment will ensure Tata BP Solar, already a leader in cell manufacture and the design of solar solutions, retains its position as the largest manufacturer of solar PV products in the Indian sub-continent. The state-of-the-art technology, developed by BP Solar and manufactured by Tata BP Solar, will deliver products and solutions that serve both the Indian and global markets, earning substantial foreign exchange earnings for India while also increasing product supply locally, the company emphasizes in a press release.

Applied Materials to Deliver Europe's First Production Line for Ultra-Large Solar Panels

Applied Materials, Inc. (Santa Clara, California) has been awarded a milestone contract to provide T-Solar Global S.A. of Spain with Europe’s first thin film solar module production line using ultra-large 5.7m2 (2.2m x 2.6m) glass panels. By scaling to these large-area substrates, the same size used in Generation (Gen) 8.5 flat panel displays, this integrated line can drive down the cost of solar panel manufacturing while doubling rated factory output, Applied Materials reports in a press release. For installations such as large commercial rooftops and solar farms - applications that are already growing rapidly as a result of the increased availability of lower-cost thin film solar panels - these ultra-large substrates are expected to enable an additional 25% reduction in the cost of solar electricity.

40 megawatts production to start mid-2008

"We look forward to working with Applied Materials on this vital project", said Juan Laso, general manager of T-Solar. "This investment, promoted by a consortium of independent investors led by Marcial Portela, with Isolux Corsán construction, engineering and service group as the main shareholder, capitalizes on the rapidly expanding market in Spain for photovoltaic installations. Large-area thin film panels are ideally suited for these open space applications due to their performance in high temperature conditions and cost advantages for large-scale installations", Laso added. T-Solar is expected to produce panels using the thin film production line supplied by Applied by mid-2008. The contract provides that Applied will deliver a fully-integrated equipment line for a solar panel manufacturing facility with a nominal rated capacity of 40 megawatts per year - twice the production size of conventional thin film solar facilities. This line can be configured for end-market product sizes from 1.4m2 to 5.7m2, providing customers with exceptional flexibility.

Cost benefits for solar industry similar to flat panel display industry

"We are excited to be part of the first large-scale thin film solar factory in Spain as it leads the way in advancing innovative photovoltaic technology solutions for reducing the cost of electricity", said Dr. Mark Pinto, senior vice president and general manager of Applied’s New Business and New Products Group. "Based on our extensive experience in providing manufacturing systems for the flat panel display (FPD) industry, we expect similar cost benefits for the solar industry in moving to larger area substrates. Moving from Gen 5 (1.4m2) to Gen 8.5 (5.7m2) panels enabled the FPD industry to reduce capital cost per area by more than 60%", Pinto explains.

" Our thin film line will provide T-Solar with state-of-the-art technology and a leading-edge cost advantage that is expected to enable them to accelerate their learning curve and realize a rapid return on investment. No other manufacturer of photovoltaic production equipment worldwide other than Applied is currently in a position to offer a production line for this size of module" Dr. Pinto empahsizes.

German PV Producer SOLON AG invests in
Italian start-up Green Utility

Solon AG (Berlin) has increased its commitment in Italy by investing in a newly established Italian company, Green Utility s.r.l. SOLON is purchasing a stake of 40% in the company for EUR 600,000. The remaining shares are distributed equally among GESENU S.p.A., Italy's largest private waste disposal company, and Green Utility management. Headquartered in Rome, Green Utility aims to develop photovoltaic projects on land used by GESENU for waste disposal. The projects will involve operation of Green Utility's own power plants. In addition, Green Utility plans to implement projects for the electrification of remote areas on the basis of renewable energies and to work actively in the area of energy management. These projects will be implemented in close cooperation with SOLON's Italian subsidiary, S.E. Project. Sales and earnings contributions from this investment are first anticipated for 2008.

"ENERGY-EFFICIENCY-WATCH" calls for: "Action, not talk!”

On the verge of the EU Spring Council, European Parliamentarians, energy efficiency related industry and NGOs presented on March 6th 2007 the so called ENERGY-EFFICIENCYWATCH (EEW ) in the European Parliament. The EEW is the new common flag for ENERGY EFFICIENCY in and for Europe. Its goal is to ensure ambitious national energy efficiency action plans in all EU Member States. EP Vice-President MECHTILD ROTHE (PSE), MEP ANDERS WIJKMAN (EPP), MEP CLAUDE TURMES (GREENS), MEP FIONA HALL (ALDE) and Dutch MP BORIS VAN DER HAM – co-founders of the EEW - together with representatives from several industry associations (EURIMA, EUROACE, COGEN, ELC, ECI, GEPVP) and WWF highlighted at a press conference the urgent need to use the existing potentials for energy efficiency in all sectors.

Energy reduction of at least 40% is possible; industry is ready to act

The energy efficiency related industry is ready to act: "In almost all sectors, a cost-efficient energy reduction of at least 40% is possible. Solutions available today, such as better insulation and windows, efficient equipment (e.g lighting, appliances, motor systems) or the use of cogeneration can easily contribute to fulfil Europe's commitments to reduce CO2. Also, large commercial opportunities exist for Europe to become the global technology leader in energy efficiency." WWF also supports this initiative: "We need clear and strong decisions by all policy makers from all levels. We still can tackle climate change!"

Further Information: http://www.energy-efficiency-watch.org/

Energy-Efficiency-Watch, c/o EUFORES

Applied Materials to Deliver World's First Gen 8.5 Thin Film Solar Production Line to India

Applied Materials, Inc. (SANTA CLARA, California announced that it has been selected by Moser Baer India Limited to develop and install the world’s first Generation (Gen) 8.5 Thin Film Solar Module Production Line in New Delhi, (India). This first Gen 8.5 line will manufacture photovoltaic solar modules using ultra-large 5.7m2 substrates (2.2m x 2.6m). These glass panels, which are four times bigger than today’s largest solar panel substrates, are expected to drive down panel production costs and help reduce the overall cost of solar electricity. "This contract represents a significant collaboration between companies in the U.S and India to establish the first truly modern solar facility in India using semiconductor manufacturing processes," said Mr. Ravi Khanna, CEO, Moser Baer Photo Voltaic Business.

200 megawatt solar factory to operate in 2009

"We are focused on developing and manufacturing innovative products that are intended to significantly reduce electric power and utility costs and provide a cost-effective option for clean renewable energy. In light of its extensive experience in providing process expertise to chipmakers and large area substrate manufacturing technology to the flat panel display industry, we are confident Applied Materials can help us rapidly realize our plan to get to a 200 megawatt factory by 2009", Khanna adds. Applied’s Thin Film Solar Module Production Line is expected to be delivered in the second half of calendar 2007. Applied’s contract with Moser Baer is for a fully-integrated production line including chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), laser scribing, factory software, automation and other supporting technologies required to establish a solar panel manufacturing facility with a rated initial capacity of 40 megawatts per year. Applied’s Gen 8.5 Line is designed for flexibility because production output can be configured for final product sizes from 1.4m2 to 5.7m2. Current thin film production lines are configured for panel sizes limited to dimensions less than 1.5m2.

A milestone for the solar industry in the drive to reduce the cost of solar cells by using larger substrates

"This contract heralds Applied’s entry into the delivery of full production lines to solar customers — and signals a critical milestone for the solar industry in the drive to reduce the cost of solar cells by using larger substrates", said Mark Pinto, senior vice president and general manager of Applied’s New Business and New Products Group. "We are excited to have this contract from Moser Baer; their extensive experience in high volume manufacturing will be key to enabling cost reduction. India holds tremendous potential both as a worldwide hub for solar panel production and as an end market for photovoltaic electric power", Pinto emphasizes.

Applied Materials, Inc. 03/06/2007