As a country, China has made solar panel manufacturing a key part of its economic agenda. After huge increases in production, prices dropped 75 percent over the last three years. For the renewable energy world, it was a huge boon. Falling prices helped make solar panels easier and easier for homeowners to afford. But the U.S. government, worried about competition to American solar manufacturers, slapped a huge tariff on all Chinese solar panel imports, slowing sales here.

In Europe, demand for solar panels has slowed as some government rebates and other incentives have been reduced or ended. Chinese companies that relied on demand from European countries are now suddenly faced with piles of excess stock. Some European countries are also now considering following the United State’s example and raising prices on Chinese panels, arguing that they are being dumped on the market.

Chinese solar stocks have plummeted, and the companies are struggling. In response, the Chinese government asked local governments to create new plans for adding solar power to their grids. Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and other states are involved. Right now, only 1 percent of China’s electricity comes from solar. The country is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world, and their coal use alone is responsible for more than 15 percent of world carbon dioxide emissions. China can use every bit of solar power that can be installed.

Unfortunately, the U.S. needs much more solar power as well. The U.S. decision to raise prices on Chinese solar panels slowed solar growth just when it’s most critical for renewable energy to grow. Here’s hoping the Chinese solar companies survive.

Image credit: Zhu Difeng/Shutterstock

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According to a press release from Sharp, while the new panels can be used in a conventional manner mounted on the roof they were designed primarily to be used as protective porch railings or as in-place window glass. The semi-transparent black panels are lacking the metal frame found on typical panels and instead are constructed mainly of laminated glass filled with photovoltaic cells. They are each 4.5 feet wide by 3.2 feet tall and only 0.37 inches thick, which is much thinner than standard panels found on the market today.

One downside? They have a maximum power output of only 95 watts with around 6.8 percent efficiency, which is far below the 20 percent efficiency being produced on today’s modern solar panels. However, while they may not be as efficient they are semi-transparent and thus can be integrated anywhere glass is used in building construction. Sharp hopes to eventually integrate the panels directly within building materials so that any available glass surface can be used as a power-generating solar panel.

In the meantime, if we could retrofit every high-rise building’s standard windows with this solar panel glass, buildings would each become its own power plant capable of generating at least a percentage of its energy needs. The new panels will be launched in Japan on October 1 but no word yet on price nor availability dates in the U.S. Let’s hope it sooner rather than later.

[via CNET]

Image Credit: Sharp Japan

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Quietly built out in secret, Tesla yesterday unveiled the locations of the first six stations throughout California and noted its plans to install over 100 additional stations in high traffic corridors across the U.S. by 2015. In the latter half of 2013, the company will begin installing them in Europe and Asia. This will allow Model S drivers around the globe to travel long distances without worrying about finding a place to charge up their vehicle.

The Supercharger stations, which are being built by SolarCity and are 100 percent solar-powered, are designed to generate more electricity annually than a Model S consumes. In just 30 minutes of charging – less than the time it may take a family to stop for lunch – the Model S can regain three hours of 60 miles per hour drive time. In order to keep construction and maintenance costs down, the Supercharger network uses technology already developed for use in the Model S itself. The charging hardware comes standard on those models with an 85 kWh battery and is optional on those with a 60 kWh battery.

“Tesla’s Supercharger network is a game changer for electric vehicles, providing long distance travel that has a level of convenience equivalent to gasoline cars for all practical purposes,” said Tesla Motors co-founder and CEO Elon Musk. “We are giving Model S the ability to drive almost anywhere for free on pure sunlight.”

Obviously Tesla has much at stake for the worldwide success of electric cars, and this Supercharger network should do a lot to alleviate concerns of those buyers hesitant to purchase an electric car due to range anxiety. In addition, it will also eliminate the argument many have about EVs in that while they run on batteries, they still charge up using power from fossil fuel burning power plants.

Since some gas stops take 15 minutes or more, waiting a few extra minutes to power up an EV isn’t too much of a sacrifice for the privilege of driving a car that is capable of traveling 300 miles on a charge, racing from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds, and that gets all its power from the sun. Now, if they could just lower the price a bit…

Image Credit: Tesla Motors

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Adding to solar installations already in place at its Houston and Dallas area stores, today IKEA powered up its new 6,664 panel solar energy system on the roof of its location in Round Rock, Texas, making it the largest solar owner in the state. The system covers 273,700-square-feet and is capable of producing nearly 2.4 million kWh of clean electricity each year, enough to power 204 average-sized homes and cut CO2 emissions by some 1,800 tons. It is the 33rd completed solar installation for IKEA in the U.S.

“We at IKEA believe in the never-ending job of improving the sustainability of our day-to-day business,” said Gerd Diewald, the Round Rock store manager. “The Round Rock coworkers are excited to help contribute to this goal with our newly operational solar energy system. We appreciate the support of the City of Round Rock, Oncor and REC Solar, Inc., our partners in this project.”

With the addition of this latest system, the company now has some solar power at 75 percent of its stores in the U.S. In the coming months, that percentage will jump to 89 percent as six additional store installations are currently under construction.

Back in June we mentioned that IKEA wants to use energy generated by renewable sources for its 100 percent of its operations in Sweden and had installed 30 wind turbines in Härjedalen, Sweden to help it meet that goal. And earlier this month it was noted that the company was one of the top commercial solar energy leaders by the Solar Energy Industries Association. Seems IKEA is serious about being a renewable energy leader and is working to transition much of its energy needs over to renewables and away from fossil-fuels.

[via CSR Wire]

Image Credit: Steve Webel/Flickr

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With gray, cloudy Scandinavian winters, Denmark isn’t exactly known for its sunshine. Solar panels, however, still perform well there. Demand has been driven partly by a net metering program set up in 2010. Net metering, which is also available in many places in the United States, gives homeowners credit for extra solar power produced by the panels on their roof. If someone’s away during the day, or is simply using less power than the solar panels are generating, their electric meter will begin to spin backward. At a later point, when the homeowner needs that power, they can access it from the grid without paying for it. That’s an especially good deal in Denmark, which has some of the highest electricity prices in the world.

Danish citizens have an appetite for innovative products, so they’ve been quick to embrace solar power, according to a manager from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Denmark benefits from a strong design tradition and this also characterizes the Danish solar sector in which aesthetics and thinking ahead of user needs is a central part of product development,” said Kim Schultz, from Invest in Denmark.  “This means that solar solutions are more likely to meet consumers’ demands.”

Denmark also has other strong renewable energy programs, which have made the existing infrastructure ideally suited for solar power. Wind power has been well developed, especially offshore, and is continuing to grow. Denmark plans to get 50 percent of its electricity from wind power by 2020, and is already over halfway to that goal. By 2050, the country plans to get 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. If Denmark’s solar use is any indication, the country may even reach that ambitious goal there early. This is the kind of leadership we need to fight climate change in time.

Main image credit: Carsten Medom Madsen/Shutterstock

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A new technique, however, may offer a promising and less expensive alternative for creating solar cells.  Anirudh Sharma, a PhD candidate at Flinders University, has been working on a way to make large-scale plastic – instead of silicon-based – solar cells through the use of lamination.

“In the conventional method of fabricating plastic solar cells you have to deposit various materials sequentially on top of each other in a sandwich structure but over time the materials intermix, leading to device degradation,” Mr. Sharma said. “However my technique involves deposition of materials on two different electrically conductive surfaces, followed by lamination. It gives better control over the material intermixing and thus can give more stable and better performing devices.”

The technique also allows for the materials to be depositing through printing machines, which will make it scalable and cheaper.  According to Mr. Sharma it will also be more sustainable than silicon-based solar cells.

“For the past 50 years, the traditional solar panels which you see on rooftops have been made from silicon but these cells are very expensive to produce because silicon requires excessive amounts of energy to purify,” Sharma explained. “Plastic solar cells, on the other hand, are really light and flexible so they can be used to coat a whole range of different surfaces – they are portable enough to put them on day to day carry bags and even camping tents – and plastic itself is cheap as chips.”

Solar manufacturing in the U.S. has faced plenty of challenges – remember Solyndra? – partly because of unbeatably cheap silicon prices coming from China. A plastics-based design for solar cells may offer a lucrative new way to produce solar panels.

Main photo credit: Shutterstock

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According to Recharge News, the new fee “plunged a knife into the heart of its renewables sector, leaving development dead in the water for the next few years.” The true impact has yet to be seen, but the new grid-access charge could amount to a 39 perent retroactive grid tax for PV operators.

The reason behind the price hike is surprising. Using a basic feed-in tariff that pays renewables high prices for their electricity over long-term contracts, solar and wind did very well in Bulgaria. Better, in fact, than anyone expected or projected.  Bulgaria’s aging power grid will soon be unable to handle it. The government needed to tamp down the industry’s success, so decided it would add require payment of a retroactive tax to access the energy grid.

Even though the renewables industry was doing well, the unexpected fee has left companies scrambling.

Investors said they would sue, and have looked into several possible bases. The regulator’s failure to hold a public discussion or inform the investors about the new fees constitutes a breach of contract, they say. On top of that, they also complained that the regulator breached competition rules, thereby abusing its position. Undeniably, they are looking at the money they owe to the banks – said to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars range – and worrying how they will ever pay them back. Even if the renewable energy companies win in court, industry insiders say many developers will not be able to meet the terms of their loans and will go bankrupt.

Main photo credit: Shutterstock

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Right now, homeowners wanting to get solar power on their rooftop can take the federal solar tax credit. When tax time rolls around, you can claim up to 30 percent of the cost of your solar system on your taxes. If your tax liability isn’t that high, the extra credit will roll over to the next year. The tax incentive has been an important part of helping solar power quickly grow; wind and solar have grown six-fold even in the middle of a deep recession. But the new report, from the Climate Policy Initiative, says that a cash incentive could work as well for much less money.

According to the study, a 14 percent cash incentive would provide the same benefit as the tax credit, while costing government 57 percent less. By providing up-front investment, the government could help homeowners reduce the need to get outside financing, which would help reduce the overall cost of the project. The other benefit of the cash incentive is that it can help anyone, regardless of their tax liability. The report recommends that the government offer homeowners options for both the incentive and the tax credit.

The study also found that a cash incentive could improve wind policy. By extending the current wind production tax credit, but delivering it as a cash incentive, the government could help wind project owners get the same benefit while reducing government costs by nearly half.

Main photo credit: isak55/Shutterstock

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Frayne and Hornstein are the bright minds behind the Solar Pocket Factory, a recently funded Kickstarter project that has the potential to revolutionize the world of microsolar panels. By creating a machine that can automate the microsolar manufacturing process and using the money saved on assembly to invest in longer-lasting materials, the pair claim they can make microsolar panels about 30 percent cheaper than the existing panels, and make them last five times longer in the sun.

After about six months of international exploration, Frayne and Hornstein realized that most microsolar panels were far too expensive and unreliable for the average consumer, and developing nations (which need microsolar badly) weren’t even in the ballpark. They discovered that most of this high cost came from the fact that microsolar panels are often slowly assembled by hand. Even with this painstaking process, 15 percent of the panels never make it out the factory door because they’ve been soldered incorrectly.

The duo realized that through automation, they could speed up the manufacturing process while drastically reducing human error. So, they got to work building a tiny, portable factory that could do just that (see above). Once the machine was happily pressing out microsolar panels, they decided it was time to share it with the world.

Instead of patenting and profiting from their invention, Frayne and Hornstein just want to get it into the hands and workshops of technicians around the globe. So, with about $75,000 in help from Kickstarter backers, they’ve opensourced the specs for most of their projects, and plan to do just that. Keep up with the duo’s solar adventures here.

Photo credit: Frayne and Hornstein/Kickstarter

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Back in early August, we saw the first photos of Apple’s new 171-acre solar array (capable of generating 84 million kWh of energy annually). It was impressive then – but these new shots courtesy of North Carolina’s TV Station WCNC-TV and GigaOm – show just how expansive the farm is growing.

When finished sometime later this year, the array (along with a 4.8 megawatts biogas fuel cell plant from of Bloom Energy) will supply some 60% of the power consumed by the data center. Another 40% will reportedly be sourced from renewable sources, such as wind.

Jump over to GigaOm for some additional closeup shots of the new array.

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