QUICK NEWS, July 25: SOLAR PRICE WARS; OCEAN WIND’S ENEMIES “FACTS”; ENERGY HAS THE JOBS; OREGON REGULATORS BACK WIND

SOLAR PRICE WARS
Gross Profit Feels the Pinch in PV Price War
20 July 2011 (IMS Research)

"A period of highly competitive pricing from PV module suppliers has led to gross margins declining by over 25% in the last six months, according to the latest analysis from IMS Research. Suppliers have been forced to engage in a tough price war, but have not been able to reduce their costs as quickly as their prices; their margins have been the victim.

"…[S]uppliers have reduced prices by around 15% in the last six weeks in order to compete in an industry that is currently plagued by oversupply. Average crystalline PV module prices had been close to $1.80/W in the first quarter of 2011; however, a sudden change in market dynamics has resulted in sharp price declines, and the same modules are now being consistently priced below $1.40/W."

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"Rapid reductions in the price of cells and wafers have helped to offset PV module price declines and ease the impact on suppliers’ margins…[P]olysilicon spot prices have fallen by over 30% since the end of 2010…[but] polysilicon prices stubbornly remaining above $50/kg have limited the ability of downstream suppliers’ to reduce their costs…

"A rebound in demand is predicted in the second half of 2011, which will help suppliers’ profits to recover. IMS Research predicts that total PV module supplier gross profit will grow once again in Q3 and Q4’11…"


OCEAN WIND’S ENEMIES “FACTS”
Koch Brothers Declare War on Offshore Wind
Keith Harrington, July 21, 2011 (Huffington Post)

"The war over America's coastal-energy future has officially begun, and the result could determine whether we see wind turbines or catastrophic oil spills along our coastlines…The opening salvo came in early July, when everyone's favorite climate-hating, fossil-fuel-loving industrialist villains, the Koch brothers, released a so-called "cost-benefit analysis" of New Jersey offshore wind development plans through their front group Americans for Prosperity.

"…[T]he brothers grim are honing in on what they see as a weak spot in the clean-energy movement's eastern front. Hoping to score a knockout blow, the duo have packed their offshore wind "analysis" with distortions…Topping the report's list of misrepresented facts are the jobs benefits. In fact, forget about misrepresentation; the report actually failed to represent those benefits altogether."

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"Considering the impressive job-creation numbers cited in a range of other studies on offshore wind, it's hard to imagine how any analysis that wasn't commissioned as an intentional piece of fiction could have made such a glaring omission. Indeed, a study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory indicates that the 1,000 megawatts of offshore wind power New Jersey is planning to build could result in nearly 5,000 construction and maintenance jobs…[The Kochs'] report completely discounts wind power's benefit as a relief valve against foreign-oil dependence or New Jersey's need to import electricity…

"Of course, this parade of misinformation should come as little surprise considering the track record of the key Koch crony in the Garden State: AFP New Jersey chapter director and Tea Party high priest Steve Lonegan. A longtime extreme-right gadfly of the New Jersey political scene, Lonegan earned his Koch-worthy credentials publishing false accusations about political opponents…"


ENERGY HAS THE JOBS
New Report Identifies Strategies to Train Workers for the Clean Energy Economy; Experts say ensuring the proper systems and institutions are in place will advance public policy goals and prepare for job growth in the energy sector.
June 30, 2011 (National Council on Energy Policy)

"…[Task Force on America’s Future Energy Jobs] by a task force of leading energy workforce experts outlines a series of practical recommendations to prepare individuals for high skilled jobs in the electric sector. In the face of the very real challenge of developing a workforce that can transform our power sector to support a clean energy economy, the bipartisan task force—composed of experts from labor, the electric power industry and the training and educational sectors—recognized opportunities to train workers for new high-skill, high paying jobs in the energy sector, at a time when growing numbers of Americans are unemployed or underemployed."

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"The report details a number of practical steps that can be implemented..[for] Training the workforce of tomorrow…Improving data collection and performance metrics…Identifying training standards and best practices for energy sector jobs…Funding individuals seeking energy sector-related training and education…[and] Improving and revitalizing the education of future energy sector professionals. The Department of Labor has undertaken a number of initiatives to this end. Congress should continue to focus on the priorities outlined in the America COMPETES Act…"


OREGON REGULATORS BACK WIND
Oregon regulator slams BPA wind curtailments; Curtailments of wind farms' output in the US north-west have been heavily criticised by the state energy regulator for Oregon in legal papers filed this week.
John McKenna, 20 July 2011 (Windpower Monthly)

"The Public Utility Commission of Oregon (OPUC) claims that the Bonneville Power Administration’s ‘anticompetitive and discriminatory’ policy of limiting wind-power output at times of oversupply of hydropower risked wrecking the wider region’s investment plans for renewable energy."

[OPUC submission to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC):] "Markets cannot properly function if a party can abandon its contractual obligations and unilaterally use its transmission system to impose its own policies to benefit a preferred group of customers…"

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"The submission urged Ferc to make BPA immediately revise its curtailment policy and was made in response to a 113-page complaint filed with FERC by a group of wind-farm owners…against BPA's actions, which, at the time of the filing, had already stopped around 74GWh of output.

"…BPA also filed papers with Ferc…[highlighting its] statutory obligation to protect fish, which prevents it spilling too much water over dams at times of high water levels and necessitates the production of extra hydropower. It also points out BPA’s inability to sell wind-generated electricity during times of low demand and claims that Ferc has no authority…Ferc has not yet responded…BPA is no longer requesting wind-power shutdowns this year and last month claimed that since the curtailments started on 18 May just 6.7% of electricity generated by wind farms had been affected."