Solar PV demand in emerging Asian countries to grow by 28 percent annually through 2017

USA: Solar photovoltaic (PV) demand from the Emerging Asia Pacific and Central Asia (EAPCA) region is forecast to exceed 3 gigawatts (GW) by 2017, based on findings in the new NPD Solarbuzz Emerging PV Markets: Asia Pacific and Central Asia Report. Compared to 723 MW of PV demand in 2012, this represents a strong compound annual growth rate of 28 percent.

“Previously, most solar PV applications across the EAPCA region were based upon solar lighting applications or residential schemes,” said Steven Han, analyst at NPD Solarbuzz. “However, future PV demand will be based upon widespread adoption of large-scale, ground-mounted PV installations. By 2017, the ground mount segment will account for 64 percent of all PV demand from the EAPCA region.”

Solar PV demand across the EAPCA region remains highly fragmented and is characterized by a diverse range of policies and end-market drivers, which is consistent with PV industry adoption in other emerging markets. However, solar PV is well understood by policy makers in the EAPCA region, with the Southeast Asia region widely recognized as a leading hub for upstream manufacturing.

Solar PV demand across the region will be dominated by Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Taiwan. Between 2013 and 2017, these five countries will account for 50 percent of the cumulative PV demand forecast from the EAPCA region.

Thailand is forecast to be the region’s largest market, driven by rapid growth in demand for electricity and the requirement to decrease its financial burden from imported energy. Short-term PV demand will emerge by executing on project pipelines accumulated from the previous Adder Support Scheme.


Indonesia has long-term plans for solar power to provide 0.3% of the national energy mix by 2025, equivalent to 1 GW of new solar demand. Indonesia is forecast to become the second largest solar PV market within the Southeast Asia region by 2017, supported by forthcoming feed-in-tariff incentives. Taiwan and South Korea have also prioritized solar PV within their renewable energy targets.

Over the next few years, a greater number of countries will contribute to overall PV demand from the EAPCA region. The Philippines accumulated more than 500 MW within its solar PV pipeline at the end of 2012, with strong investments coming from Japan and South Korea.

Bangladesh has developed a large off-grid PV market with plans to install an additional one million solar PV systems by 2016. Kazakhstan is targeting 77 MW of solar power generation over the next few years, and Pakistan has announced over 500 MW of solar deployment.

“Although challenges will remain in securing adequate solar PV project financing, we forecast that overall PV demand from the EAPCA region will account for 5 percent of global PV demand by 2017, with the potential to reach 5 GW,” concluded Han.

Solar A/S to dispose all shares of Aurora Group

DENMARK: Solar A/S has entered into an agreement on the disposal of all shares of Aurora Group Danmark A/S.

The Solar Group wants to focus on its core business area. As a result, an agreement has been entered into on the disposal of the subsidiary Aurora Group Danmark. Final completion of this disposal is subject to approval by relevant authorities.

Solar A/S has entered into an agreement with Deltaco AB on the disposal of 100 percent of the shares of Aurora Group Danmark. Deltaco is a leading Nordic distributor and supplier of IT products.

The Solar Group wants to focus on its core business area, which is the wholesaling of electrical, heating and plumbing, and ventilation products.

First Solar acquires 150 MWac Solar Gen 2 PV power project

USA: First Solar Inc. has acquired the 150-megawattAC (MW) Solar Gen 2 power project from an affiliate of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Energy Power Partners and a third equity partner for the project.
Construction of the facility, which is located in Imperial County, Calif., near El Centro, is expected to start this year and be completed in 2014.

The photovoltaic (PV) solar plant will generate enough electricity to power more than 60,000 average California homes, displacing more than 115,000 metric tons of CO2 per year (the equivalent of taking 22,000 cars off the road) and saving 93,000 metric tons of water per year.

The electrical output of the project will be purchased by San Diego Gas & Electric Co. (SDG&E) under a 25-year power purchase agreement. Solar Gen 2 is expected to provide on average more than 800 construction jobs in Imperial County, an area currently suffering from high unemployment.

“We are very pleased to help SDG&E meet its clean energy goals and provide clean, reliable, renewable power to their customers,” said Dana Diller, First Solar VP of US Business Development. “We are also proud to once again bring the economic benefits of utility-scale solar development to Imperial County, where both county officials and the Imperial Irrigation District, with which this plant will interconnect, have been extremely supportive.”

“We are delighted to transition Solar Gen 2 to First Solar, one of the world’s leading solar companies. First Solar shares our vision of providing clean energy for California and green jobs for Imperial Valley, one of the most economically challenged areas in the country,” said Steve Zaminski, CEO of Solar Gen 2 and owner of Energy Power Partners. “We are grateful to SDG&E, the Imperial Irrigation District, the County of Imperial and the California Public Utilities Commission for their leadership and support in contributing to the successful outcome of this development effort.”

Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition includes 40 MWDC of solar modules that the project previously purchased from another supplier, which will be integrated into the installation. First Solar will supply the balance of modules for the power plant, along with its project development, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), and grid integration services.

Fifty percent of building owners use smart building technologies

USA: IDC Energy Insights announced new preliminary survey data showing 50 percent of the respondents reported that they use Smart Building technologies today, and another 33 percent stated they would use Smart Building technologies in the next six months or year.

IDC Energy Insights surveyed 291 building owners regarding their perspectives on Smart Building technologies. About 57 percent of the respondents reported that their companies currently have sustainability goals that they will be striving to reach. Of these respondents, 86 percent use efficiency or energy management as a metric for success in reaching these goals.

Moreover, survey respondents indicated an average spending increase of 18 percent since 2011 for solutions in the top three Smart Building solution categories: HVAC controls, lighting controls, and analytics/data management.

The survey data is a component of recent research conducted by IDC Energy Insights for the Smart Buildings Strategies research advisory service that examines the costs and benefits of new energy management solutions and their positive effect on the bottom line.

Global microgrid market will surpass $40 billion by 2020

USA: With dozens of pilot programs having been launched globally, the microgrid market is moving into full-scale commercialization.

Driven by falling costs for solar photovoltaic systems and the easing of prohibitions against the operation of distributed generation assets during times of grid stress, the adoption of microgrids will accelerate as awareness of – and confidence in – the platform’s capabilities grows.

According to a new report from Navigant Research, revenue from deployments of microgrids will be just under $10 billion in 2013, rising to more than $40 billion annually by 2020.

“At this point in time, microgrids can provide a quality and diversity of services that incumbent utilities have been unable to match,” says Peter Asmus, principal research analyst for Navigant Research. “While utilities have shown institutional biases against the entire concept of microgrids for decades, extreme weather events and the growing recognition of microgrids as potential sources of demand response resources are building engineering and cultural support for these systems in a variety of settings.”

The less reliable the incumbent power grid performs, the greater the interest in applying smart grid platforms such as microgrids to help solve the problem. Regions of the world like the United States, where grid reliability is diminishing rather than increasing, are currently hotspots for microgrid development, according to the report. The high cost of diesel fuel for electricity generation in remote regions of the world is also a major factor in adoption of microgrid technology.

Gov. Cuomo’s NY-Sun competitive solar program off to bright start

USA: Governor Cuomo’s NY-Sun Competitive PV Program is drawing strong participation from New York energy customers and solar developers.

In a successful first round, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) awarded $46 million for 76 large-scale projects totaling 52 megawatts (MW) of new solar capacity, enough to power nearly 9,000 New York homes.

Solar advocates and industry applauded the early results of the program and the state’s continued commitment to bringing reliable clean power and local solar jobs to New York.

The NY-Sun competitive PV program delivers affordable solar power to larger energy consumers, including businesses, public buildings, and factories. The $46 million from New York State will leverage $100 million in private investment. It is the first of three Competitive PV Program award rounds planned this year. The program is part of the NY-Sun Initiative, a public-private partnership designed to drive growth in the state’s solar industry and lower solar costs for all New Yorkers.

The program will quadruple the amount of customer-sited solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity added between 2011 and 2013. In this year’s State of the State address, Governor Cuomo committed to extending the NY-Sun Initiative through 2023.

“The resounding solar success we are seeing today is just the beginning for New York. Governor Cuomo’s ambitious vision for a 10 year extension of the NY-Sun Initiative will drive the kind of investment that it takes to build a world-class solar market,” said Carrie Cullen Hitt, senior VP for state affairs at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

“Our state’s growing solar industry employs thousands of New Yorkers working to build our new energy economy through projects like those awarded by NYSERDA today. With its ambitious goals and long-term vision, a 10-year NY-Sun Initiative will keep putting boots on roofs and creating good jobs up and down the state,” said Sail Van Nostrand, president of the New York Solar Energy Industries Association (NYSEIA).

Cost of renewable power generation increasing

USA: Renewable power generation is one the most crucial ways of achieving the goal of sustainable development for all countries. Significant capacity additions are being witnessed annually.

In 2012, 772.3 Gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity was installed in 2011 across the world. Of this capacity, wind and solar PV are the major renewable sources of energy and account for 49.3 percent of the cumulative renewable power installation in the world. According to an upcoming report, "Cost of Power Generation", wind is the largest renewable source and accounts for 36.8 percent of global renewable capacity.

Between 2005 and 2012, cumulative installed capacity of wind power rose from 59.8 GW to 283.9 GW. The future prospects for the wind energy industry appear to be good, largely due to strong government support. By 2020, the wind power cumulative installed capacity is expected to reach 455.8 GW.

Meanwhile, global solar PV installed capacity will continue to grow at a CAGR of 15 percent during the 2013–2020 forecast period to reach 331.2 GW by 2020.

The capital costs of renewable energy generation technologies such as solar PV and solar thermal are currently higher than those of conventional energy generation technologies. However, the capital costs of these renewable energy technologies have been declining over the last four to five years. The major drivers driving down the cost of these technologies are their technological improvements and mass deployments.

Additionally, increasing costs during long-term construction and fluctuating fuel costs for conventional power generation are reducing the gap between the electricity costs of these two technologies. These patterns indicate that the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of renewable energy technologies is becoming competitive with the LCOE of conventional technologies.

Output of generator sets in China will be driven by government policies supporting the rapid development of alternative and clean energy such as nuclear power, wind power, and hydropower. Total investments in China's new energy industry are expected to be more than CNY 5 trillion between 2011 and 2020.

The power generation equipment industry in China is expected to maintain an annual compound growth rate of over 10 percent over the next few years. By sector, power generation equipment for wind power, nuclear power, new energy and other clean energy will achieve substantial growth while hydropower generation equipment maintains steady development. Thermal power generation equipment, however, will continue to be depressed.