QUICK NEWS, May 1: DUKE WANTS NEW ENERGY; GERMANY’S OFFSHORE WIND SUCCESS; SELLING SOLAR

DUKE WANTS NEW ENERGY Duke hopes to add 3,750 MW of renewables over next 8 years

Amy Poszywak, April 23, 2013 (SNL)

“Building on the recent news that Google Inc. will participate in…[a Duke Energy Corp.] renewable energy rate plan, Duke] has set a goal of owning or contracting 6,000 MW of wind, solar and biomass energy by 2020…Duke owns about 2,251 MW of generation powered by those three resources, representing about 3% of its total generation fleet, according to SNL Energy data. In order to achieve its goal, the company would need to add approximately 3,749 MW of wind, solar or biomass within eight years…

“In 2012, Duke Energy Renewables added close to 650 MW of wind and solar capacity across the U.S., representing an all-time high for the non-regulated renewable energy business, according to the company's report. Since the subsidiary was created in 2007, it has invested more than $2.5 billion in renewable energy.”

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“The momentum has carried into 2013…Duke Energy Renewables [this year] acquired the Highland Solar 1 and 2 power projects, which will collectively generate 21 MW of power…According to SNL data, Duke Energy Renewables has 512 MW of wind and solar projects in development, with total maximum construction costs of roughly $960 million…[and a] total operating capacity at Duke Energy Renewables of about 2,200 MW across 12 states…

“…[Duke also aims to have] rates lower than the national average…[with] a nuclear capacity factor of at least 93.25%, a regulated fossil commercial availability of at least 87.92%...[a] renewables yield of at least 92.63% in 2013….[and] an average number of outages longer than 5 minutes per customer of 1.19 or less and an average time without power of 130 minutes or less in 2013…[It also] hopes to achieve a cumulative reduction in customer energy consumption of 15,000 GWh and achieve a cumulative reduction in peak demand of 4,800 MW by 2020.”

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GERMANY OFFSHORE WIND SUCCESS Germany’s First Offshore Wind Farm Exceeds Expected Power Output

Stefan Nicola, April 26, 2013 (BloombergBusinessweek)

“Germany’s first offshore wind farm generated more power than expected because of steady winds last year, [according to] operators of the Alpha Ventus park…Alpha Ventus’s 12 turbines last year fed 267.8 gigawatt- hours of electricity into the German grid at a yield of 15.3 percent, more than anticipated, EON, Vattenfall Europe AG and EWE AG said…”

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“The 5-megawatt machines, supplied by Areva SA and Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL) unit REpower Systems SE, achieved 4,463 full load hours, matching the level in 2011…[though the] availability in 2013 of Alpha Ventus will decrease from last year’s 96.5 percent because of maintenance work, the operators said.”

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SELLING SOLAR Where the Rubber Hits the Road: Effective Marketing for Solar; “Southwest isn’t an airline; it’s a service business. That’s how we have to think about solar.”—Danny Kennedy of Sungevity

Eric Wesoff, April 30, 2013 (Greentech Media)

“Is the solar industry marketing itself successfully? Are solar firms reaching consumers? Is branding important? Can the average consumer name even one solar panel manufacturer?...In a 2011 survey performed by San Jose State University in cooperation with Solartech, 63 percent of respondents could not accurately recall any solar company that provides solar systems for residential use. Those that could name names came up with SunPower and SolarCity. Only 11 percent of the survey's respondents believed solar to be affordable, while 82 percent perceived solar as expensive.

“…Yingli Solar (YGE)…which is the world's largest solar supplier…didn't enter the U.S. market until 2009 and created a large effort to build brand recognition with its sponsorship of the World Cup…Yingli's own global brand survey indicated that half of U.S. consumers cannot identify a single solar module vendor…[As] the first Chinese firm to sponsor the 2010 FIFA World Cup…it reached out to millions in the European market. This type of sponsorship deal does not come cheap, but it must have been worth it, as Yingli is sponsoring the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.”

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“…[The SolarCity “Steal our contracts”] campaign…made its solar service agreement available for download earlier this year…3,000 people have read and downloaded those contracts…[D]emographics are changing in solar with much faster growth in low- and middle-incomes…[but solar still has] an image problem with Wall Street... [Solar has an education problem, according to SolarCity. Everyone knows that solar power is better for the environment than fossil fuels, but most people don't realize that it can be less expensive than electricity from the grid. The differences between various panels are too subtle to matter to most consumers. They care about dollars and cents]

“…[Sungevity’s] goal is to lower customer acquisition costs (CAC) and keep the firm's referral momentum going…Australia went from 900 PV roofs to 300,000 rooftops in six years -- and that scaling was all due to word-of-mouth…[Sungevity believes aesthetics] are more important to the customer than brand…[REC Americas sees business-to-business marketing] changing as the industry evolves…[P]artnerships are more important than print ads…for REC bringing installers to its vertically integrated facilities to show them what goes into a module…[Its marketing is more focused on helping its partners promote themselves…”

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