Renewable Energy News - RenewableEnergyWorld.com

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01/04/12--10:03: NLP Solar Sales Training Live Webinar January 11th & 12th (chan 1172404)




01/24/12--10:18: Holding Solar Financing Companies Accountable (chan 1172404)

The increase in residential and light commercial project funding from leases and PPAs is a boon to the solar industry but comes with unique risks that require careful management. With financiers and investors holding these smaller assets for 10 to 20 years, their risk now must be managed more seriously, like that of industrial and utility scale projects. Quality of equipment, field-level workmanship and ongoing performance will be critical for investors to appropriately assess the risk in financed systems. These risks are manageable, but will have severe consequences for the entire industry if not addressed. Several of these risks are discussed below, along with potential means of limiting them.


01/24/12--11:55: Researchers: Quantum Dots Boost Solar Cell Efficiency by 45% (chan 1172404)

The U. of Buffalo (NY) says adding quantum dots into solar cells could increase their efficiency by a whopping 45%.


01/24/12--13:16: From Soitec and Sumitomo: New Gallium-Nitride Tech for Solar and LED (chan 1172404)

The use of gallium nitride for solar power electronics and light emitting diodes (LED) holds a lot of promise, but the material is expensive and difficult to make. Here comes Soitec and Sumitomo Electric Industries, which announced Tuesday that they have completed their lab work on producing gallium nitride wafers and are moving into pilot production.


01/25/12--06:33: Smart Grid Initiatives Address Cyber Security, Renewable Energy Intermittency (chan 1172404)

Securitizing renewable energy networks from cyber-attacks is not complicated by their oft-cited operational headache of intermittency, but rather by their separation from a utility's control system, said smart grid executives at the Gridwise Global Forum in Washington, DC in early November. Though renewable intermittency adds to the challenge of stabilizing a grid, the forum revealed new evidence of real-world smart grid load shifting that continues to chip away at the tired argument that renewable energy cannot successfully integrate into a legacy grid.


01/25/12--06:37: China Need Not Fear Tariff Barriers in India (chan 1172404)

Chinese solar module makers should not fear India tariff or trade barriers that could restrict or affect exports to the fast-growing market. Chinese manufacturers slowed marketing efforts in India due to the growing wave of module import opposition in the U.S., fearing that the Indian government would also impose import duties.  In


01/25/12--06:57: Understanding Manufacturing Economics for Grid-scale Energy Storage (chan 1172404)

I have a new favorite word — aggregation. At the risk of sounding like a reporter, I'm going to summarize a pre-holiday news story you might have missed but need to know about.


01/25/12--07:17: Obama: Sticking to "Promise of Clean Energy" (chan 1172404)

In his Jan. 24 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama reinstated his commitment to renewable energy. Despite the demise of solar manufacturer Solyndra looming over the past year of his term, Obama said that he “will not walk away from the promise of clean energy.” Obama called for a commitment by the Defense Department


01/25/12--10:44: One Leader, Lots of Consolidation as CIGS Market Emerges (chan 1172404)

2011 was "a breakout year" for CIGS solar PV as suppliers continued to trim production costs, increase module conversion efficiencies, and widen adoption in commercial rooftops. But while CIGS (and thin-film brethren CdTe, thanks to First Solar's market leadership) continue to press on, the solar PV industry is still very much dominated by silicon, which has more standardized manufacturing on the one end and far more installed capacity on the installation side -- and all-important bankability thanks to both.


01/25/12--11:39: Under Pressure: Startup Company Turns Water into Power (chan 1172404)

When Frank Zammataro thinks about water pressure, he sees an opportunity to create electricity. Zammataro, 53, is President and Co-Founder of Rentricity—a New York City energy company that has discovered a new way to tap into the excess pressure in water-treatment plants, reservoirs, and factories to help power our water infrastructure, which consumes four percent of America's electricity.


01/26/12--06:15: Accelerating Geothermal Growth Through DOE Initiatives (chan 1172404)

The U.S. geothermal power industry is poised for a bit more rapid growth now that the U.S. Department of Energy's geothermal development program is maturing with demonstration-stage pilots. This acceleration of growth also will be spurred on by an increasing number of municipalities and utilities that are turning to geothermal as an alternative energy option for either renewable mandate or investment reasons, industry executives say. While the U.S. geothermal power market is still somewhat tepid in comparison to the international market, U.S. technology exports will help U.S. companies weather the wait for a more rapid domestic market expansion.


01/26/12--07:37: Dark Clouds Threaten German Clean Energy Ambitions (chan 1172404)

During the fourteen years that I've lived in Switzerland, the Germans have been the world's staunchest supporters of green power and alternative energy. Their aggressive development of wind power was breathtaking, as was their warm embrace of photovoltaic power.


01/26/12--12:24: Asian Solar PV Installs Surging, China "Blistering" (chan 1172404)

Asia-Pacific markets together added 2.8-gigawatts (GW) of solar PV installations in 4Q11 on the way to a total of 6GW for the entire year, an eye-popping 165% growth, thanks in large part to a massive run-up in China's domestic sector, according to calculations from Solarbuzz.


01/26/12--12:25: U.S. Department of Defense Takes Forceful Lead as Early Adopters of Solar Energy (chan 1172404)

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has a tradition of accelerating technological advancements, serving as early adopters and impacting the broader commercial market in such areas as aviation, computing and GPS. For the past several years, the DoD has been playing this same role in the renewable energy space.


01/26/12--12:36: Integrating Anaerobic Digestion Into Our Culture Part 1: Language, Visuals and Values (chan 1172404)

North America is at an inflection point in managing organic materials. Just as paper, metal and plastics were the darlings of the recycling industry a few decades ago, our society is defining a new relationship with organic materials — one that harnesses the full carbon, energy and nutrient potential of organics. In order to help shape that new relationship, industry leaders are cultivating North America's awareness and understanding of anaerobic digestion's features, benefits and potential role in society. This two-part article explores the ways the waste, energy and agricultural industries are integrating this technology into our culture.


01/27/12--05:36: Opportunities and Challenges in the 2012 New England Solar Market (chan 1172404)

The New England solar market is extremely strong. But even with these strong existing players, there is still room for more competition and new players enter every day. With that said, there are number of opportunities and risks that have the ability to impact industry growth and profits. In December and January, I spent a lot of time talking with


01/27/12--06:00: Much Light, Little Heat Efficiency (chan 1172404)

Energy efficiency in the U.S. is much light and little heat — literally.  Government policy pays a great deal of attention to saving electricity, but focuses little on the thermal energy we waste. “Policy is electricity-centric in the U.S. Unless you are making kilowatts, the most efficient investments are off the radar,” sa


01/27/12--06:05: Think Ink for Increased Efficiency (chan 1172404)

One dollar per watt: that's the mark the solar industry is hoping to hit in order to become cost-competitive with conventional energies. In a bid to reach this magic number in the next two years, various Asian manufacturers are striving to reduce costs by increasing volume production. An alternative direction that will benefit the industry in the long term is to target increased efficiencies primarily through new manufacturing processes, new higher-quality materials for metallization and changing the structure of the cell. Nanotechnology companies have developed these new materials and processes that enable manufacturers to both increase quality and lower-cost production, bringing the era of solar grid parity closer than ever before.


01/27/12--10:20: Survey Reveals Customers' Wish List for PV Inverter Improvements (chan 1172404)

System-level monitoring, continued adoption of string inverters for large PV installs, and improvements by Chinese suppliers are among the trends gleaned from a survey of inverter buyers & sellers.


01/27/12--12:39: Psst! Solar Fred Marketing Tip: Film Your Solar Projects in Time Lapse (chan 1172404)

I have no idea why people love time-lapse videos. Our eyes are certainly attracted to things that move quickly, and for some reason it’s fun to see people in hardhats and machines building a solar project from nothing, condensing days or weeks into minutes. Below are two recent time-lapse solar videos that I saw on Twitter. Both are large