solar photovoltaics

This week, the New York Power Authority (NYPA), the country's largest state-owned utility, unveiled a China-like solar incentive for its customers: a 50 percent subsidy for new solar power projects.

The Solar Incentive Program will unleash $2 million in new funding to support up to 80 solar photovoltaic (PV) systems as large as 10 kilowatts for homes and businesses. The agency will begin reviewing applications this year.

The initiative should help New York State rise up as a solar powerhouse, predicts NYPA, and advance efforts to meet the state's goal of getting 45 percent of its electricity needs from clean energy and efficiency by 2015.

The news comes hot on the heels of the state Senate's passage of the Green Job/Green New York Act, which is expected to set in motion a $5 billion energy efficiency push and create 16,000 green jobs.

It also comes days after a new report revealed that East Coast states, not California, are leading the way forward in solar energy adoption, with New York one of the rising stars.

A new analysis confirms that the booming thin film solar segment is going to boom even more in 2009 – thanks to low-cost industry leader First Solar.

The growth should quell speculation that the drastic drop in polysilicon prices is giving makers of silicon modules – especially those out of China – a clear competitive edge over thin film. Some analysts have gone so far as to foretell the erosion of First Solar's dominance, due to the price plummet.

But thin-film, made with little or no polysilicon, is the most rapidly growing portion of the PV landscape, courtesy of its still cheaper technology. It comprised 23 percent of the overall photovoltaics (PV) market share in 2008.

Arizona-based First Solar is its undisputed leader. As the global economy tanked, its sales continued to rocket up on the back of its "cheap-as-coal" cadmium telluride panels – so much so that the company is set to leapfrog silicon competitors to become the world's top panel producer in 2009, according to a new report from the iSuppli research firm.

Tempe, Ariz.-based Evolution Solar Corporation is officially moving out of the U.S. and into China, the new "center of gravity for the solar industry," the company said.

The firm first announced its relocation on August 4. This week it clarified the main reason:

"In the last century, the United States was the home of most television manufacturers. By the end of the century there were none left in America. They were all in Asia.

"The same is happening with solar energy and EVSO [Evolution Solar] has positioned itself to be a resource to the green energy revolution from its new base in China," the company said.

Even in the often rugged world of solar, those are some fighting words, and there are plenty more where they came from.

A new report reveals that America's solar photovoltaic (PV) industry has gotten battered since the economy hit the skids last year.

But not to fret. A boost in federal incentives could trigger a rapid sector rebound and ultimately global solar leadership by 2014.

According to cleantech market researcher Pike Research, "The United States has become one of the more aggressive nations in promoting alternative energy technologies." But here's the problem:

"At the federal level tax credits and depreciation incentives are not currently enough to encourage sustainable demand growth."

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The results of a new study by Lux Research show that falling costs have begun to make solar power competitive against traditional fuels but that "grid parity" remains at least a decade away – and it's not a sure thing yet.

"Total grid parity across global markets will emerge only with significant cost reductions over the next decade or more," the study, the Slow Dawn of Grid Parity, said.

Here's the vital point: These steep cost reductions must be driven by uninterrupted government subsidies starting now. This at a time when competing industries are aggressively clamoring for their own financial help from governments.

"Grid parity" is the point at which unsubsidized solar becomes as cheap, or even cheaper, than conventional energy. It's the catchall phrase where solar photovoltaics (PV) is concerned, the holy grail of cost-effective clean energy.

The good news is it already exists in some places, namely in California.

China's second largest maker of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells is gearing up to generate jobs on U.S soil, in yet another reversal of the usual order.

Trina Solar announced plans to build its first North American warehouse operation at the Port of Oakland, Calif. The move will allow Trina to extend its reach in America’s growing PV market. From the press release:

"We view the outlook for PV installations in the United States as positive given the national promotion of a green economy to secure energy independence and create green jobs."

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Solar photovoltaics (PV) in the UK will be as cheap as grid-sourced fossil fuels much sooner than expected, a new study by Solarcentury finds.

For homeowners, PV will cross the "grid parity" mark in 2013. For commercial customers, it will occur around 2018. The magical parity date for PV is generally assumed to be 2020 in the UK. Says Solarcentury:

"The proximity to parity heralds the prospect of PV being a compelling investment for the individual, without subsidy, in only a few years time."

The 14-page report by the UK's largest solar firm is described as the most "up-to-date and accurate analysis on the investment case for PV in the UK."

Its main point is that solar PV has precisely what it takes to move beyond a British niche and into the energy mainstream: Its energy potential is massive. It's getting cheaper all the time. And it's fast-approaching the holy grail of the solar sector, grid parity.

Time to tap it.

As the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lifts its absurd moratorium on new solar projects on public lands -- a result of industry and public outcry -- it’s worth remembering that five years ago the BLM was campaigning for solar.

Yep. The BLM released a report in February 2003, arguing for heavy development of solar power and other renewables on public lands in the West. Straight from the agency's 2003 release:

Increasing our domestic development of renewable energy sources, will help to reduce our dependency on foreign sources of energy...As the report demonstrates, public lands have abundant opportunities for renewable energy development.

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