Stimulus keeps Sun shining on California’s solar market

EL SEGUNDO, USA: Installations of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems in California are set to more than double in 2009 compared to 2008 because of incentives from the US stimulus package, defying a major downturn in the global market, according to iSuppli Corp.

Installations in California, measured in terms of Megawatts (MW) of electricity production, are set to rise by 120.1 percent in 2009, compared to a 26.9 percent decline for the entire world. California’s outperformance is expected to continue in 2010 even as global installation growth will resume, as presented in the figure.

iSuppli: Photovoltaic Percentage Growth Installation Forecast in California and Worldwide 2008-2013 in MegawattsSource: iSuppli, Sept. 2009

“The market for PV solar energy systems has been severely impacted by the ongoing economic crisis gripping the world,” said Dr. Henning Wicht, senior director and principal analyst for PV at iSuppli.

“The debt financing of solar plants for commercial customers and investor syndicates has slowed dramatically across Europe, the United States and other regions that had been steadily growing in solar installations prior to the fourth quarter of 2008.

Wicht said, however, that those looking to install PV systems in the country have been helped by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—also known as the stimulus program—as well as the Solar Investment Tax Credit of 2008.

The government programs allowed 30 percent of a project’s cost to be rebated and also created loan guarantees for commercial projects. Because of this, iSuppli believes these initiatives will help offset, to a limited degree, the negative factors that have impacted the US PV market.

The new sunshine state
In particular, California has taken advantage of these incentives, causing installations in the state to rise even during the worst phases of the economic downturn.

At the height of the credit crunch in the first quarter, California’s installations increased to 77MW, up from just 38MW during the same period in 2008. Applications for rebates continued to increase, reaching 65MW in the second quarter, with only half the quarter counted in this data.

“This is a very encouraging sign for the solar market,” Wicht said. “It’s extremely beneficial for those investors wishing to take advantage of the new federal tax credit. It’s also a boost for those wanting to install residential household systems using the higher incentives from the California Solar Initiative Program (CSI).

Overall, iSuppli expects 350MW worth of solar systems to be installed in California during 2009. This is far and away the most of any state in America. The rest of the country is expected to install only 132MW in 2009.

Italy’s hot and cold
California isn’t the only region still pushing ahead with plans for PV installations. The Italian electricity administration authority, Gestione Servizi Electriche (GSE), in April announced that 338MW had been installed in 2008.

This far exceeds the 220MW that iSuppli originally forecasted for the country. Because of this, iSuppli is increasing its Italian forecast for 2009 to 580MW, up from 350MW.

Solar hotspots
According to iSuppli’s latest figures and feedback from companies, about 4 Gigawatts (GW) worth of new PV systems will be installed worldwide in 2009, with the majority of these installations coming from Germany at 1.5GW, Italy at 580MW and another 300MW to 400MW coming from Spain, California and Japan each.

Solyndra breaks ground on new 500MW solar plant

FREMONT, USA: Solyndra Inc. commenced construction of its second solar panel manufacturing plant (Fab 2).

Located near its current manufacturing facility in Fremont, California, Fab 2 is designed to produce 500 megawatts per year. The new facility will enable Solyndra to fulfill its announced contractual backlog of over $2 billion and create additional jobs. Solyndra's two Fabs will produce enough solar panels over their lifetime to cut over 350 million metric tons of CO2 emissions or 850 million barrels of oil.

“The economy needs clean tech alternatives to help it recover, but our planet requires clean tech solutions in order to survive,” said Solyndra CEO and founder, Dr. Chris Gronet.

“Fab 2 will allow us to meet customer demand while making a positive impact on the world’s energy and environmental needs. We are grateful for the vision and support of President Barack Obama, the US Department of Energy, the US Congress, and our investors.”

The first phase of Fab 2 is being financed by public and private sources. Solyndra is the first company to receive a loan guaranteed by the US Department of Energy under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The $535 million loan from the US Treasury, combined with $198 million from an equity financing round led by Argonaut Private Equity, provide the capital required for the project. Goldman, Sachs & Co. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Solyndra in connection with the DOE loan guarantee.

Solyndra estimates that the construction of Fab 2 will employ over 3,000 people, the ongoing operation of the facility will create over 1,000 jobs, and that installation of Solyndra PV systems will generate hundreds of additional jobs.

PV Powered's commercial inverter for North American solar market

BEND, USA: PV Powered Inc., the industry leader in solar inverter reliability, installability and maintainability, announced the first customer shipments of the new PVP260kW, the flagship product in its growing family of commercial solar inverters.

With the announcement, PV Powered further solidifies its position as a center of innovation in the grid-tied solar market.

In today’s highly competitive PV industry where lifetime cost per kWh is now as important as the initial cost per watt, the ability to innovate is critical, and the US designed and manufactured PVP260kW inverter increases reliability by building on the same proven architecture, iterative time-dependent modeling, and validation processes used to develop the highly successful PVP75kW and PVP100kW.

This no-compromise approach has once again delivered a number of performance and reliability breakthroughs, including an industry-leading 97 percent CEC efficiency at 295VDC.

The PVP260kW inverter also advances the MPPT voltage performance barrier in two critical areas: first with an industry-leading standard 295VDC input and an optional 265VDC minimum tap and secondly, and more importantly, the ability to operate at full name plate power output across the entire input voltage range.

“The engineering team at PV Powered has delivered another commercial product with significant innovation and market leading performance,” said Gregg Patterson, CEO of PV Powered.

“The PVP260kW delivers more energy production on a daily basis, across a wider operating temperature range and input voltage than any other product on the market. These extraordinary performance breakthroughs and a 20-year operating life quite simply mean more money in our customers’ pockets.”

Further refinements in the company’s Smart Air Management system deliver an unprecedented level of thermal operating margin and redundant system design, resulting in a commercial inverter than can operate at full power for 20 plus years across a -30 to +50°C operating temperature range even if a fan fails in the field. Quite simply, this means maximum uptime, energy harvest and return on investment for commercial and utility scale solar systems.

“The team at PV Powered are real forward thinking leaders in today’s marketplace and have engineered a commercial inverter platform that is field-proven, installs fast and simply works out of the box every time,” said Sean Angelini, Solar Energy Division Manager of Ray Angelini Incorporated (RAI). “We have had great success with their 100kW inverter and are making the new 260kW inverter the building block for our multi-megawatt systems moving forward.”

PV Powered designs and manufactures their entire line of residential and commercial inverters in the US to meet the unique demands of the North American solar market. Developed with extensive customer input, the highly-integrated PVP260kW inverter saves installers time and money by including load rated AC & DC service disconnects, neutral-free installation, oversized busbar landings and generous cable bending areas for top, bottom and side cable entry options.

The company has also greatly simplified performance monitoring by offering inverter-integrated solutions from market leaders Fat Spaniel, Draker, Energy Recommerce, Obvius and Deck Monitoring.

Additional balance of system options from PV Powered include integrated revenue-grade meters and sub-combiner monitoring. PV Powered backs all commercial inverters with an industry-leading, 10-year nationwide warranty and the industry’s first 20-year extended warranty.

US solar demand improving but financing remains roadblock

BOULDER, USA: The appetite for solar projects in the United States has lagged market leaders like Germany and Spain, however increased federal and state subsidies have begun to take effect and demand for solar in certain markets like New Jersey and California is heating up.

According to a new report from Pike Research, the US solar market will surpass Spain in 2009 and will top Germany by 2013. However, the firm points out that financing for solar projects remains elusive.

"The weak supply of tax equity combined with heightened credit requirements has led to numerous project cancellations and delays nationwide, with over 75 MW, totaling $450 million, of idle projects in New Jersey alone," says industry analyst George Kotzias. But the tide is beginning to turn as evidenced by Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp -- both of which have established tax equity funds for solar projects."

In Pike Research’s analysis, solar companies that stand to benefit most from a US boom include First Solar, SunPower, Suntech, Yingli, Akeena, and Real Goods Solar.

"As soon as financing picks up, the demand is there," says Kotzias. "In addition to the increase in subsidies, module prices have dropped by as much as 50 percent and installed costs have dropped over 30 percent over the past year," he adds. This combination of drivers has attracted the market entry of established developers from Europe as well as many domestic start-ups.