QUICK NEWS, January 30: ADVANCING WIND’S ABILITY; INSTALLER COSTS NOW KEY TO SUN; THE BIG BUSINESS OF BUILDINGS’ ENERGY

ADVANCING WIND’S ABILITY
Gamesa Working With NREL On Wind Turbine R&D And Offshore Wind Technology
27 January 2012 (North American Windpower)

"Gamesa Technology Corp. Inc. and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are teaming up to study and test a variety of components and systems that will guide the develpment of the next generation of wind turbines designed specifically for the U.S. marketplace.

"Gamesa and NREL will collaborate on work in three key areas: developing new wind turbine components and rotors for the U.S. market; researching and testing the performance of new control strategies; and devising models that will help advance the development of offshore wind in U.S. coastal waters."

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"Using Gamesa's turbine platform as a laboratory, researchers will study the behavior of systems and how new designs, products or equipment can affect performance.

"Chief among the goals of this research-and-development (R&D) project is the design of new products specifically for the U.S. market, with a sharp focus on interior and exterior components, as well as the rotors themselves…In addition, Gamesa and NREL will work to develop new control strategies that improve energy capture while decreasing loads…"


INSTALLER COSTS NOW KEY TO SUN
Downstream Investments Now Supporting Photovoltaic Installer Innovation
27 Janauary 2012 (Solar Industry)

"With the solar energy industry maturing rapidly and expanding to newer markets, the focus of innovation and investment has shifted from panels to installations - the final critical step for monetization…[Start-ups raised over $1 billion, with SolarCity, SunRun, Recurrent Energy, SunEdison and Solar Power Partners leading the way]…

"A flurry of mergers and acquisitions activity and an influx of venture capital dollars to solar service providers have led to innovation concentrated on creating new, lean business models in an extremely fragmented downstream landscape…SolarCity dominates among residential installers…[C]ompanies are partnering with SunRun, adding muscle to SolarCity's biggest competitor. The Alteris-Real Goods Solar merger in December has added a stronger player to the market."

From solarcity100 via YouTube

"…Commercial- and utility-scale solar have few up-and-coming players. Tioga Energy and Enfinity lead the group of new large-scale developers. The acquisitions of Recurrent Energy, SunEdison and Solar Power Partners led to concentration of large-scale development in the hands of larger companies or vertically integrated suppliers First Solar and SunPower.

"New entrants keep popping up on the back of venture dollars…A burst of entrepreneurial activity, driven by venture capital, is ensuring a steady stream of high-potential start-ups. In 2011, six solar installers were among Inc. Magazine's top 50 fastest-growing companies in the U.S., including Greenspring Energy, re2g, SunDurance Energy, OnForce Solar and FLS Energy."


THE BIG BUSINESS OF BUILDINGS’ ENERGY
Breaking Down the BEMS Market
Jevan Fox, October 28, 2010 (Pike Research)

"…Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS)…[from] Pike Research highlights that buildings over 500,000 SF represent the low-hanging fruit in the BEMS industry…[But] vast potential markets of smaller 25,000 SF, 50,001-100,000 SF, and 100,001-200,000 SF represent…$16 billion, $15 billion, and $16 billion, respectively, of annual energy expenditures, or approximately $47 billion when compounded. That figure accounts for approximately 80% of the total annual energy expenditures of all the other building segmentations.

"…[T]hese segments are underserved by the BEMS market. Clearly, the 100,001 200,000 SF segment will provide the next potential market for BEMS players. It is already showing promise, as several BEMS vendors are focusing considerable attention on the segment. This is especially true of BEMS vendors providing a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model…"

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"Additionally, the more energy progressive states and the more active grid operators in those states will drive utilities to assists in metering smaller buildings. As more buildings receive incentives to install meters, the costs to implement a BEMS will drop in parallel.

"The DOE 2009 Buildings Energy Data Book states that the energy expenditure per SF 100,001-200,000 SF…is $1.57, representing an energy expense of $16,091,000,000 total for the segment. That is more than the total energy expense for any other segment, including 200,000-500,000 SF, 500,001 SF-1,000,000 SF, and greater than 1,000,000 SF. When looking to the smaller buildings (<100,000), the value proposition drops off precipitously, even though the total SF and energy expenditures per SF are high…"