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Photos: Single-family residential house in Alzenau, Germany. Chiller: Sortech ACS08. Source of power: 24 m² of flat solar heat panels. Reverse chilling: dry reverse cycle chiller with fresh water spraying system (RCS 08). Cooling: cooling distribution through a central ventilation system with ceiling fans (fresh air cooling and forced air cooling). Planning & implementation: SolarNext AG / Rimsting (Germany) |
Growing energy demand for air-conditioning of buildings
For cooling and climatising of buildings, only solar-thermally driven processes are used – this edition of the Solar Report will focus on these.
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Solar Perspectives
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2010-03-11 |
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Solar Perspectives: What Is Inside Your LCOE Assumptions?
Also known as – Lies, Damn Lies and LCOE!
By Al Velosa and Manhal Aboudi
Investors in the PV solar industry have worked to properly understand and price their solar projects, and thus determine the return on their investments. The PV solar industry has responded by moving the pricing discussion from a capacity basis to an energy generation basis. IE they have moved from a cost per watt conversation to a cost per kilowatt-hour. The cost of this energy generation is usually represented by an estimated “levelized cost of electricity” or “LCOE”. Yet, since the real purpose of the LCOE is to help price projects, it helps to be clear on what assumptions to have built into your LCOE. Otherwise, you may not have properly calculated your cost versus revenues or understood the magnitude of the margin of error in the LCOE estimate. And this will not just damage your portfolio – it will damage your reputation.
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Solar Point of View
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2010-02-25 |
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Happy Birthday, feed-in tariffs! |
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10 years ago today, Germany adopted its Renewable Energy Act, which for the first time starting on April 1, 2000 ensured the profitability of properly installed renewable energy systems. Up to then, the rates offered were linked to power prices, and generally only that one price applied to all types of generators of renewable electricity -- a policy currently still used in parts of North America, where politicians and proponents of renewables have yet to fully understand what makes current German feed-in tariffs (FITs) successful. |
Applied Materials expands display, solar equipment manufacturing capability in Taiwan
Applied Materials, Inc. (Santa Clara, California) supplier of equipment to the semiconductor, flat panel display (FPD) and solar photovoltaic (PV) industries announced the opening of its newly expanded Tainan Manufacturing Center in Tainan. The nearly 15,000 square meter facility will enhance Applied’s capability to serve its FPD and thin film solar PV customers in Asia while capitalizing on Taiwan’s excellent location, strong talent pool and supply chain efficiencies. "The Tainan Manufacturing Center is one of our biggest investments in Asia and puts Taiwan at the center of our display and solar equipment technology efforts", said Mike Splinter, chairman and CEO of Applied Materials. (2010-03-11)
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Solar cooling is ready for the market: German Federal Ministry for the Environment sponsors testing of solar air-conditioning units in practice
Air-conditioning with solar power? This may sound paradoxical at first but is actually technologically feasible today. By combining solar thermal energy and adsorption technology, heat can be used to cool buildings. The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) is promoting a widespread test for solar air-conditioning systems in the practice. The partners involved - Solvis GmbH & Co. KG, SorTech AG, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg - are presently looking for participants for this test. "The principle of solar-driven adsorption chillers is at the same time both simple and sophisticated", explains Tomas Núñez, project leader at Fraunhofer ISE. (2010-03-11)
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PV producer Q-Cells SE: Anton Milner steps down, Nedim Cen to drive business transformation and continue implementation of existing restructuring programme
Q-Cells SE's (Bitterfeld-Wolfen,Germany) Supervisory Board has accepted is meeting on March 11th, 2010 the resignation of Q-Cells CEO Anton Milner. Anton Milner will resign from the company’s Management Board with immediate effect but will serve as an advisor to the company. The Supervisory Board wants to explicitly thank Anton Milner for an outstanding job in the last years. Nedim Cen, currently CFO and Member of the Management Board, has been named CEO and will hold both positions. He is set to embark on the swift implementation of the transformation of the business and will continue to advance the existing restructuring programme. (2010-03-11)
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PV production: Equipment manufacturer XsunX completes hybrid chamber design, moves closer to commercializing its technology
XsunX, Inc. (Aliso Viejo, California), a developer of advanced, thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) solar cell technologies and manufacturing processes, on March 8th, 2010 announced that the company had reached a significant milestone in its development process. According to the press release, the company completed a co-evaporation processing chamber design that combines several thermal evaporation techniques in one unified process to produce the CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium di-Selenide) solar cell’s absorber layer. (2010-03-11)
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Prime Sun Power Inc. signs 100M Euros (USD 137M) agreement for the sale of a 25 MW PV power plant in Italy
Prime Sun Power Inc. (New York, NY), on March 9th, 2010 announced that the Company has signed a definitive agreement for the sale of a twenty-five megawatt photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Italy. This is a major event for the Company as it is expected to generate gross revenues of over 100 million Euros in 2010. PSP announces to receive interest for 12 million Euros of strategic investments in the Company from module suppliers. The transaction is the first sale under the terms of a signed frame agreement to sell 100 megawatt projects on a turnkey grid-connected basis to an institutional investor, PSP reports in a press release. (2010-03-11)
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Ontario reaches 46 MW of solar PV capacity in 2009
The Ontario Power Authority (OPA) reported that by the end of 2009, 40 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity were in commercial operation in the Canadian province. This represents about 46 MW of installed direct current (DC) capacity in the industry's standard notation. Industry expert and feed-in tariff (FIT) proponent Paul Gipe on March 5th, 2010 released a statement on Ontario’s solar success story, noting that the province had been able to become a major market for solar PV in North America within a few short months. (2010-03-11)
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