BIG ACTION IN BIG SOLAR

UPI’s Leah Krauss picked up 2 big moves in European solar energy last week. The 1st story is about the Big Business of New Energy: Just like the shortage of wind turbines slowing the growth of wind energy, the silicon shortage is slowing solar's rise. But that's an easy fix for business.

The 2nd story sounds bureacratic and boring, but its really about institutions trying to figure out how to incentivize a good thing, a fascinating and important process we need to watch as carefully as we can.

Europe’s Solar Week
Leah Krauss, July 5, 2007 (UPI)

WHO
Hydro (Einar Glomnes head of Hydro's solar division); Umicore; Renewable Energy Corp. (Erik Thorsen, president/ceo), European Photovoltaic Association (EPIA), Erik Thorsen, president/ceo; Claude Turmes, vice-president, European Parliament

WHAT
1. HyCore, a joint venture between Hydro (an oil and gas developer) and Umicore (which does materials technology) will produce silicon for solar panels (also used in computer chips).
the semiconductor is usually silicon. (click to enlarge)

2. In “harmonizing” rules for all member nations, the EU EPIA is considering altering the “feed-in tariff”presently at work in economies growing solar energy, the rate at which solar producers are remunerated for feeding electricity to the grid.

WHEN
The present silicon shortage is expected to last at least through 2008. HyCore’s plant is expected to be completed in 2008. A larger plant is planned to finish in 2010.

WHERE
Hydro: Norway. Umicore: Belgium. HyCore: Porsgrunn, Norway.
Renewable Energy Corp: Norway.

WHY
1. Norway’s Renewable Energy Corp. is already a world leader in silicon. The present world shortage of silicon is indicative of extraordinary demand. HyCore will build a plant capable of producing 20 tons of silicon/year. If the technology holds up, a second plant with greater capacity will be undertaken.
European solar potential: Interestingly, its growing as fast where there's big brains as where there's big sun (click to enlarge)

2. Present “feed-in tariffs” amount to the cost of retail electricy. If utilities are allowed to shift the remuneration to a wholesale electricity price (the difference is several cents/kilowatt hour), some fear it will discourage, or fail to incentivize, solar installations. Paperwork complications and permit processing slowdowns are also feared as the EU “harmonizes” various countries incentive programs.

QUOTES
- Glomnes: "The demand for high-purity silicon has increased significantly in recent years and we expect the market to continue to grow in the years to come. Consequently we have great expectations regarding our investment…"
- Umicore statement: "Metallurgical silicon is found in abundance, but the demand for solar-grade purity has risen substantially, in line with the growth of the photovoltaics industry…which has spurred the development of new technologies…HyCore will utilize proprietary technology that Hydro and Umicore have developed for the conversion of metallurgical silicon to solar-grade silicon…"
- Thorsen: "Probably the demand (from solar companies for silicon) is twice the current supply…it takes two to three years to build a plant like that."
- Turmes: "Feed-in tariffs are the cheapest and most effective option to promote solar photovoltaic electricity…Alternatives such as green certificates give no guarantee to investors, as a well designed feed-in scheme does."