301 Moved Permanently

---

nginx

TVA Preparing New
Resource Plan

Solar developers in the region covered by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) are critical of the falling premiums and other incentives the federally run utility is offering for solar power.

One developer points out that the amount of solar installed under the TVA’s Green Power Partners program has dropped precipitously from a high of 31.77 MW in 2011 to 12.61 MW in 2013. The first half of this year has seen only 1.53 MW of new solar capacity deployed under the program.

The rates and caps for 2015 are due this month, and few are expecting any celebrations from the solar sector.

According to Patricia West, manager of renewable energy programs for the TVA, the agency’s mission really has not changed since it was started in 1933. The TVA focuses on what West calls the three Es - energy, environment and economic development. There is also a responsibility to keep electric rates as low as is feasible. Sometimes, these different aspects of the TVA’s mandate come into conflict.

The main source of conflict with solar developers is the annual review

process that sets the caps and premiums for the different segments of the TVA’s solar programs. The annual process has produced variations that can dramatically change a developer’s prospects from year to year.

The TVA currently is developing its renewable energy portfolio according to its 2011 integrated renewables plan (IRP). The existing scheme calls for between 1.5 GW and 2.5 GW of cost-effective renewables by 2020. The TVA says it has about 1.648 GW of IRP renewables capacity in operation at the moment.

These figures just relate to the IRP. Overall, the TVA’s renewable energy portfolio includes over 4.6 GW of hydropower, 1.6 GW of wind power imported from sources in the Midwest, 27 MW of wind from the wind turbines on Buffalo Mountain, and about 86 MW of solar. The TVA also claims another 230 MW of solar projects are in the development pipeline.

At the same time, the numbers are small comfort to developers that have to run businesses based on a constantly shifting landscape. One critical developer says solar power is essentially being overlooked by a federal agency in what is ostensibly a solar-friendly Obama administration. In particular, the pace of solar development in the TVA region seems anemic compared to regional solar tigers in North Carolina and Georgia.

The TVA’s West says the agency is constrained by a mandate that must juggle the demands of the solar sector against a wide range of other interests.

“If you look at Duke in North Carolina, they have a renewable portfolio standard in effect and also offer a hefty state tax incentive on top of the federal incentives,” West says. “Georgia Power’s push for renewables comes out of their integrated resource plan that they just published.”

West admits that the TVA’s current IRP may not reflect the realities of the current solar marketplace. Since the current plan came out in 2011, loads in the region have flattened due to the recession, natural gas prices have dropped and more coal plants have been idled due to Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

“We are in the process of updating our IRP to reflect these changes,” explains West.

She says that unlike the last round, the current effort will incorporate more input from sources outside the TVA. The agency has created the Tennessee Valley Renewable Information Exchange Group that she says includes stakeholders in the environmental community, academia, state agencies and local power companies. The TVA has asked this group to produce technology champions for key renewable energy sectors.

On the solar side, West says the effort has brought in developers to assist with inputs such as project cost over time, capacity factors and net dependable capacity. “I think this is going to produce a much better document,” she says.

A draft of the TVA’s new IRP will be published in February, with the final version scheduled to go to the TVA board for approval in late spring.

In addition to the new IRP, West points to the TVA’s effort to develop a distributed generation integration value (DGIV) methodology that she says is analogous to value-of-solar methodologies, such as the one Minnesota is fielding.

The TVA is pursuing its DGIV study in cooperation with the Electric Power Research Institute and the Solar Electric Power Association. The focus is on generation sources of 50 kW and smaller, but West says the results will be applicable at all scales. A draft methodology is expected to be published this winter.

“We are trying to figure out what is the value of that distributed generation to both the distribution system and the transmission system,” West says. “You want to put the generation near the load. I think you are going to see a lot of movement on this nationally.” - Michael Puttré

 

U.S. Solar Prices See Double-Digit Drops

U.S. distributed solar photovoltaic system prices dropped by 12%-19% nationwide in 2013, according to a joint report from two of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) national labs. In addition, the report says 2014 prices are expected to drop another 3%-12%, depending on system location and market segment.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory co-wrote the report. They say this cost-decline trend is expected to continue through 2016, keeping the U.S. on track to meet the DOE SunShot Initiative’s 2020 targets. Through SunShot, the DOE supports efforts by private companies, universities and national laboratories to drive down the cost of solar electricity to $0.06/kWh.

Other key findings of the report include the following:

• Modeled utility-scale PV system prices fell below $2/W in 2013 and have continued to decline in 2014, to roughly $1.80/W, which is 59% below what modeled pricing showed in 2010;
• There is a difference of roughly $2/W between the median reported price of the lowest- and highest-priced states for residential and commercial systems (less than 10 kW in size). A similar price range also exists within individual states; and
• There is a wide range in analysts’ PV pricing estimates, but a number of analysts are now projecting long-term pricing in line with the targets set by the SunShot Initiative for 2020. At these pricing levels, the report says PV is expected to reach widespread grid parity in the U.S. without federal or state subsidies.

The report was produced as part of an ongoing collaborative research effort between the two labs focused on system-level cost analysis and modeling for solar technology. The research was supported by funding from the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, in support of its SunShot Initiative.

 

Sungage And DCU Launch $100M Loan

Sungage Financial and Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU), both based in Massachusetts, have launched a $100 million residential solar loan program.

Through this partnership, DCU will use Sungage’s online platform and installer network to finance solar installations for its customers. Under Sungage’s secured solar loan, the solar energy system serves as the collateral, so no home equity is required.

Sara Ross, CEO and co-founder of Sungage, says the relationship with DCU is intended to build on recent partnerships with the Connecticut Clean Energy Investment Authority and Mosaic to develop a diverse range of financing options for potential residential solar customers. Ross says DCU’s status as a federally licensed institution will help the company reach beyond its current regional focus.

Sungage, which currently offers a solar finance program in Connecticut, will first expand its operations to serve installers and homeowners in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. In 2015, Sungage will expand to additional active solar markets across the U.S.

According to Ross, solar energy systems are not as unique an asset as they once were, making ownership an attractive alternative to leasing for homeowners.

“The maturing solar marketplace is opening up new and inexpensive sources of capital to finance projects,” she says. “This is making the pendulum swing back toward solar asset ownership.” - Michael Puttré

 

Mission Fires Up Panel Manufacturing In Texas

Mission Solar Energy LLC has opened its solar panel manufacturing facility at Brooks City-Base in San Antonio.

The 240,000 square-foot facility produces n-type solar cells and 72-cell 320 W modules for Korea-based OCI Co. Ltd., which is developing four large-scale projects in the region, including the Alamo projects for CPS Energy. The plant reportedly can produce up to 50 panels per hour and has an annual capacity of 200 MW.

CPS Energy has endeavored to attract solar manufacturing and generating projects to the San Antonio area through its New Energy Economy program. Another partner, Sun Action Trackers, a subsidiary of Korea-based Paru Co. Ltd., has opened a 38,500 square-foot facility in the city to produce dual-axis tracking systems.

The effort has not been without its setbacks. Sun Action Trackers takes the place of Ercam Trackers LLC, which folded due to financial difficulties.

The Mission Solar factory represents the first foray into solar manufacturing for OCI, whose primary business is chemicals. Through the years, the company has expanded its business to include polysilicon and is building projects in the U.S. through its OCI Solar subsidiary.

 

Vivint Solar Raises
Nearly $300M In IPO

Utah-based Vivint Solar says the initial public offering (IPO) of 20,600,000 shares of common stock is priced at $16.00 per share. The IPO has thus raised $329.6 million for the installer of residential rooftop systems.

A stockholder affiliated with The Blackstone Group LP, which backs Vivint, has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an aggregate of an additional 3,090,000 shares. Vivint Solar will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholder.

Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC are acting as lead book-running managers for the offering.

 

Companies Offering
Solar As Employee Benefit

Some large companies have teamed up with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Geostellar to make access to inexpensive solar an employee benefit for more than 100,000 workers.

The Solar Community Initiative, facilitated by WWF and managed by Geostellar, is a nationwide bulk solar purchase program. Developed in concert with 3M, Cisco, Kimberly-Clark and the National Geographic Society, the initiative aims to give employees of these companies, their friends, families and communities across the U.S. and some parts of Canada access to solar for their homes at a flat rate that is about 35% lower than the national average and roughly 50% less expensive than the average electric utility rates. The partners say this means that the U.S. homeowner can have solar panels installed for zero money down, with average monthly savings on their utility bill of over 30%.

Conceived as an employee benefits program, the initiative brings large companies together to leverage the bulk purchasing power of their substantial aggregate employee base, their families and communities. The offer will start as a benefit to more than 100,000 employees of the participating companies.

Geostellar, the winner of a competitive bidding process and recipient of a U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative Incubator award, will coordinate all aspects of the program. Geostellar will run the online solar platform and manage the financing, design, permitting and installation processes for individual homeowners. The partners say all installations will be performed by qualified contractors based in the purchasers’ local community.

“We are pleased to offer our U.S. and Canada employees a renewable energy alternative to cut their own electric bills,” says Ali Ahmed, manager of Cisco Global Energy Management and Sustainability. “By extending the benefits of affordable solar energy that we have as a corporation to our employees and other stakeholders, we are multiplying our sustainability impact.”

 

Solar Capacity Increases At U.S. Schools

Public elementary and high schools in the U.S. have shown explosive growth in their use of solar energy over the last decade, soaring from 303 kW of installed capacity to 490 MW currently. So reports a new study by The Solar Foundation (TSF) with the support of the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Funded through a grant provided by the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative program, the TSF report says 3,752 K-12 schools in the U.S. have solar installations with a combined output of about 642,000 MWh of electricity each year. This represents about $77.8 million per year in utility bills, the report says.

More than 3,000 of the PV systems were installed in the last six years. Between 2008 and 2012, solar installations on U.S. schools experienced a compound annual growth rate of 110%. Moreover, of the 125,000 schools in the country, between 40,000 and 72,000 can install PV systems cost-effectively, TSF says.

Offsetting energy consumption with increasingly cost-competitive solar electricity, space or water heating can deliver significant cost savings to schools and their districts, the report says. Over time, solar can serve as a key hedge against projected increases in utility rates.

As is the case with the solar sector at large, the report found that more schools are going solar as installation costs decrease. In early September, New York rolled out a new program to assist public schools in the state to implement solar power development plans.

The top 10 states with solar-powered schools ranked in the report by kilowatts installed are as follows:

• California - 217,636
• New Jersey - 91,410
• Arizona - 66,288
• Massachusetts - 25,400
• Nevada - 15,215
• Pennsylvania - 10,892
• Ohio - 8,526
• Connecticut - 8,428
• Maryland - 8,349
• New York - 7,316

 

Do PV Customers Benefit From Incentives?

New research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the University of Texas at Austin shows a historical pass-through rate of nearly 100% for California’s photovoltaic solar rebate programs.

According to a report based on this research, the California Solar Initiative and the Emerging Renewables Program that preceded it have passed along nearly all of the money allocated for rebates to the PV customer, with variations by county.

Although PV customers could apply for the incentives directly, in practice, the report says, the vast majority of customers authorize the PV installer to submit incentive claims on their behalf. The installers typically provide the customer a discount on the installation prices that is nominally equal to the incentive received. The question at the focus of the report is whether incentives are fully passed through to customers because installers may opt to adjust their pre-incentive PV prices to account for those incentives.

The pass-through rate, thus, depends on how PV installers determine their pre-incentive PV prices. If such pre-incentive prices are higher when incentives are larger, then PV customers will not benefit fully from the provision of the incentives and, instead, installers will retain some fraction of the available incentive.

In general, the report says, installers considered PV rebates as outside factors when making pricing decisions. In addition, the results suggest a reasonably competitive market and - at least from the perspective of incentive pass-through - a well-functioning subsidy program, LBNL says.

The report’s authors caution that the estimated pass-through rates may not apply outside of California or to all types of third-party-owned PV systems. In addition, the results focus narrowly on the pass-through of solar rebates. Broader “value-based pricing” is not evaluated, which would consider the combined impact of state incentives, electric utility bill savings and tax incentives.

 

Asia-Pacific Has Over 60% Of Global PV Demand

The total solar photovoltaic demand from the five leading Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets - China, Japan, India, Australia and Thailand - is forecast to reach 17.2 GW during the second half of this year (H2’14), almost 60% of global solar PV demand, according to a new report from NPD Solarbuzz.

While the APAC region as a whole has seen solar growth, 95% of the demand this year is coming from the top five countries, the report says.

According to NPD Solarbuzz, seasonally strong demand from China is responsible for the majority of gains in the APAC region during H2’14. About 80% of PV demand in China is forecast to come from ground-mounted projects. At the same time, the commercial rooftop market segment is experiencing slower growth than the government had hoped for. China’s National Energy Administration has recently announced new policies to support development of distributed generation PV projects, especially rooftop projects.

In Japan, PV demand is forecast to exceed 5 GW in H2’14 due to a range of factors, including qualified land resources, financing and grid connectivity. The pipeline of approved PV projects stands at 59 GW, NPD Solarbuzz reports.

India, Australia and Thailand, meanwhile, are experiencing greater challenges, NPD Solarbuzz says. The Indian government recently opened the bidding process for PV projects, under the country’s National Solar Mission Phase II Batch II; however, uncertainties have delayed solar PV demand for the past six months, the report says.

Annual demand from Australia and Thailand is forecast to decline this year, in part because of pending renewable-energy policy changes and investor uncertainty. At the same time, a year-end boost is expected in the large-scale ground-mount segment in Australia, NPD Solarbuzz says.

More countries in Southeast Asia outside the top five are starting to develop solar PV capabilities, including the Philippines, Indonesia and Pakistan.

 

SunEdison Partners To Build 1 GW In China

SunEdison Inc. has announced a joint venture agreement with JIC Capital to facilitate nonrecourse financing and develop, construct and own up to 1 GW of utility-scale solar photovoltaic projects in China over the next three years.

The joint venture will focus on facilitating and structuring nonrecourse financing, and SunEdison - directly or through an affiliate, including a yieldco - may purchase the resultant projects.

According to SunEdison, China has approximately 19 GW of installed solar energy capacity, with a target to reach 35 GW by 2015 and 100 GW by 2020. The joint venture is currently exploring and evaluating several large-scale projects and expects to start construction in early 2015. Operations and maintenance of the solar power plants will be performed by the SunEdison Renewable Operation Center.

 

$25M In DOE Grants
Target CSP Costs

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is allocating $25 million in new funding to advance concentrating solar power (CSP) system technologies.

The new grant program will fund research and development projects to improve the performance and increase the efficiency of CSP plant components, with the ultimate goal of lowering the cost of solar electricity. The DOE says the funding opportunity builds on existing efforts to enable cost-competitive CSP electric power generation.

Eligible projects may include work to overcome efficiency and temperature limitations and projects to demonstrate or prove new concepts for CSP plant components. Key components targeted for advancements include solar collectors, receivers, thermal energy storage systems, heat transfer fluids and other technologies with the potential to lower operations and maintenance costs or achieve system-wide cost efficiencies.

 

SCE Opens Tehachapi Storage Project

Southern California Edison (SCE) has opened the 32 MWh Tehachapi Energy Storage Project, which the utility describes as the largest battery-based storage installation in North America.

The $50 million demonstration project is funded by SCE and federal stimulus money awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The battery energy storage system features lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries housed inside a 6,300 square-foot facility at SCE’s Monolith substation in Tehachapi, Calif. The project is located in the Tehachapi Wind Resource Area that is projected to generate up to 4,500 MW of wind energy by 2016.

The battery system, supplied by LG Chem, comprises 604 battery racks, 10,872 battery modules and 608,832 individual battery cells - the same Li-ion cells installed in battery packs for General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt.

Over a two-year period, the project will examine the performance of the Li-ion batteries in actual system conditions. SCE will also evaluate its ability to automate operations of the battery energy storage system for integration with the utility grid. Primary goals of the project are to demonstrate the effectiveness of Li-ion battery and smart inverter technologies for improved grid performance and to assist in the integration of variable renewable energy resources like wind and solar power. S