QUICK NEWS, June 10: U.S.-CHINA DEAL ON CLIMATE CHANGE; GOOGLE BUYS MORE WIND; NUMBER ONE IN SUN HARDWARE

U.S.-CHINA DEAL ON CLIMATE CHANGE U.S., China agree to reduce use of hydrofluorocarbons

Steve Holland, Paul Eckert, Peter Cooney and Paul Simao, June 8, 2013 (Reuters)

“…[U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed] to cooperate in fighting climate change by cutting the use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs…

“…[They will work] together and with other countries to use the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol to phase down the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons…”

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“...[Obama and Xi agreed] the two countries have strong joint interests in addressing the climate issue…from a lot of perspectives including sustainable economic growth…

“HFCs are used in refrigerators and air conditioners. They came into wide commercial use to replace ozone-depleting chemicals that are being phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol, but they are a big source of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change…[The United States and China responsible for 43 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions]…”

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GOOGLE BUYS MORE WIND Google Does It Again: Buys Wind To Power European Data Center

4 June 2013 (North American Windpower)

“Continuing its plan to purchase the output from wind farms to provide energy for its data centers…Calif.-based Google is applying a similar strategy in Sweden…[It] plans to buy all of the wind power from a 72 MW (using 3 MW turbines) wind farm in northern Sweden that will be built and operated by Swedish developer O2.

“Google says it has committed to buying the entire output of the wind farm for 10 years so that it can power its Finnish data center with renewable energy. That agreement has helped O2 secure 100% financing for the construction of the wind farm from the investment arm of German insurance company Allianz, which will assume ownership when the wind farm becomes operational in early 2015.”

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“Google’s initial foray into wind energy procurement dates back to 2010, when the company worked directly with NextEra Energy Resources to purchase 114 MW of wind power from NextEra’s Story County II wind farm, located in Iowa. Two years later, Google signed another power purchase agremeent with NextEra for 100.8 MW of wind energy generation from the company's Minco II wind farm, located in Oklahoma.

“In September 2012, Google signed an agreement with the Grand River Dam Authority to supply Google’s Mayes County, Okla., data center with 48 MW of wind energy from the Canadian Hills Wind project, located in west-central Oklahoma.”

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NUMBER ONE IN SUN HARDWARE Would the leading PV equipment supplier please stand up?

Finlay Colville, 4 June 2013 (PV Tech)

“…PV capital equipment spending and technology adoption is barely capturing an afterthought today…[T]he dearth of action could lead to the conclusion that technology innovation and the PV industry are mutually exclusive (aside from the R&D efforts of a small handful of historic technology innovators)…[But that] is just a symptom of a reset phase for technology and manufacturing within the PV industry…[and an] indication of the difficulties any technology segment is confronted with when there are diverse and competing voices advocating different technology and process flows…

“…[R]eminding suppliers that equipment spending is at a seven or eight- year low in 2013 is barely news…[E]veryone knew this fact over 12-18 months ago when orders dried up…[O]rder books are depleted…[But analyses that show future equipment spending could remain at 2013 levels are] somewhat naïve and short-sighted…[They are] likely more an indication of the errors in analysis that come from doing simplistic top-down nameplate-capacity/end-market-demand comparisons to generate CapEx activity.”

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“There is only one way to forecast CapEx, and that is bottom-up from the production line level, with segmentation by process flow variant and tool alternative. And comparing this directly to equipment supplier tool type shipments and market-share analyses. Any top-down analysis misses this activity completely, and generates misleading data…Centrotherm was the leading PV equipment supplier during 2006 and 2007. Applied Materials then dominated PV tool revenues for four years from 2008 to 2011. In 2012, Meyer Burger recognised the most PV specific revenues for the first time. In 2013, leading revenues are likely to be assigned to one of GT Advanced Technologies, Hanergy Solar (formerly known as Apollo Solar) or Meyer Burger.

“…[R]ankings should be done purely on revenue recognition, not on tool shipment…[O]f the three prospective leaders for 2013, only GT Advanced Technologies is currently shipping based on a low-risk backlog and firm delivery dates from customers. Hanergy’s revenues are exclusively linked to financial transactions between Hanergy Solar (as the parent company) and the former Apollo Solar (as the in-house turnkey line supplier for the multiple Chinese a-Si based fabs of Apollo)…Claiming the number one PV equipment supplier position when revenues…[and] new order intake has been so low for over 12 months - may come over as somewhat misplaced euphoria…[But it] is only a matter of time until technology spending tops the rankings again for the entire manufacturing segment.”

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