QUICK NEWS, April 29: PV PRICE TO FLATTEN; WIND GOT FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE FOR IOWA; PV STORAGE BOOM COMING

PV PRICE TO FLATTEN Solar Summit Slideshow: The PV Module Market; GTM Research Senior Analyst Shyam Mehta provides actionable intelligence for the solar module manufacturing industry.

Eric Wesoff, April 25, 2013 (Greentech Media)

“GTM Research Senior Analyst Shyam Mehta…[provided] real-world data points [on the solar market at the recent GTM Solar Summit]…[1] The performance gap between p-type mono-crystalline silicon and multi-crystalline silicon is narrowing…[T]he value proposition for p-type mono continues to deteriorate…P-type might make sense in highly real estate-constrained Japan, but in the long term, Mehta sees n-type mono as a key to maintaining the efficiency advantage…Panasonic, SunPower and Yingli are working on n-type cells.

“…[Though] 60-cell modules are the current standard but…72-cell, 96-cell, and 128-cell modules available…[L]arge modules can reduce balance-of-system costs by up to 7 cents per watt…The 60-cell modules still have an advantage over larger modules in that they are more rigid, can be carried by one person, and more modules can be fit onto complicated rooftops…[W]e will start to see increasing numbers of larger and different sized modules…”

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“Spot pricing for polysilicon, as well as for cells and modules, has actually risen 5 percent to 15 percent this year…81 percent of ASP reduction over the last two years has come from margin evaporation and polysilicon…Short-term risks to module pricing include the EU anti-dumping decision set for late May or early June, a Chinese tariff on U.S. polysilicon, and the uncertainty of consumables pricing…

“Larger firms will retire older uncompetitive capacity…[but] if all non-Chinese capacity was to disappear -- there would still be an oversupply in the rest of the world…[A] bankrupt and insolvent Suntech Wuxi continuing to operate while propped up by city government is not consolidation. And because of this ‘messy roadmap’ to rationalization…overcapacity [will continue for] the next twelve to eighteen months…”

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WIND GOT FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE FOR IOWA Sierra Club, utilities spar over Nebraska wind power; Facebook Plans $300m Iowa Data Center

Richard Piersol, April 24, 2013 (Lincoln Journal Star)

“The Sierra Club in Nebraska criticized the state's public power utilities for failing to get more wind power online to compete with Iowa, which landed a planned data center for Facebook Inc. in Altoona and increased incentives for Google Inc. that allow it to expand in Council Bluffs.

“Available wind power was reported among the factors that led to Facebook's decision[and a Facebook spokesman confirmed in email that access to wind power was a factor in its decision]…The Iowa Economic Development Authority board also approved $18 million in tax credits for the Facebook project in the Des Moines suburb. It is expected to create 31 permanent jobs and hundreds of temporary construction jobs. Kearney, Neb., had sought the project.”

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“Facebook hopes to draw 25 percent of data center power from renewable sources by 2015. MidAmerican Energy, which gets a quarter of its energy from wind, will supply power for Facebook and supplies Council Bluffs. MidAmerican is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's company…

“Nebraska ranks fourth for wind potential in the United States, ahead of Iowa, which ranks seventh…[T]he Nebraska Legislature was debating the creation of state wind-energy tax incentives…The Omaha Public Power District, Nebraska Public Power District and [Lincoln Electric System (LES)] all are issuing requests for proposals and buying output…”

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PV STORAGE BOOM COMING PV Storage Market Set to Explode to $19 Billion in 2017; Germany leads Again

24 April 2013 (IMS Research/IHS Inc.)

“The worldwide market for PV storage is forecast to grow rapidly to reach $19 billion in 2017, from less than $200 million in 2012, according to a new report…from IMS Research, now part of IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS).

“Following the introduction of an energy storage subsidy in Germany, global installations of PV storage systems are forecast to grow by more than 100 percent a year on average over the next five years, to reach almost 7 gigawatts (GW) in 2017 and worth $19 billion. Germany will account for nearly 70 percent of storage installed in residential PV systems worldwide in 2013.However, opportunities also will exist in other regions and applications in the future…”

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“Germany’s long-awaited subsidy for PV storage systems is due to launch on May 1st. IHS predicts that the subsidy will promote rapid growth in the German residential sector, and result in almost 2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of effective storage capacity being installed during the next five years…[T]he proposed subsidy will reduce the average 20-year cost of a PV system with storage to 10 percent less than a system without it…Previously, the high cost of batteries had more than offset the savings created by increased self-consumption, and PV systems without storage offered a more attractive return…

“While Germany is forecast to remain one of the largest markets for PV storage, energy storage solutions will also be deployed in a wide range of other regions…[as] Germany will inspire other countries to follow suit, if the scheme proves successful…Storage is also predicted to be used in larger systems, in order to improve the integration of PV into the grid, increase the financial return of PV systems and meet the increasingly demanding connection requirements that some countries are imposing on intermittent electricity sources…Utility-scale PV systems with storage are forecast to grow to more than 2GW annually by 2017…with Asia and the Americas dominating…”

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