Can Panasonic Produce High Efficiency Solar Modules at Tesla’s Gigafactory 2 in 2017?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Yesterday, Tesla (NASD:TSLA) announced that it has no intention of using Silevo's technology at "Gigafactory 2," the former Silevo facility in Western New York, now owned by Tesla through its acquisition of SolarCity. This makes some background on Panasonic (Whose technology Tesla plans to rely on instead) in this month's Solar Flare particularly relevant. Panasonic recently announced that the New York Facility would be operated under the name Panasonic Eco Solutions Solar New York America (PESSNYCA?) and that equipment will be installed and production will begin by summer 2017. In 2014 SolarCity acquired Silevo...
Community Solar Providers In Central Hudson Territory
See the Buyer's Guide to New York Community Solar for details on how New York community solar works and lists for other utility territories.
VENDOR NAME
PRICING STRUCTURE
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
SPECIAL OFFERS
Ampion
10% discount subscription model
Free cancellation with 90-day notice, excess credit is banked. Opt-in options through municipalities available.
$50 donation to local sustainability fund
Astral Power
10% discount subscription model (Broker for solar farms)
No cancellation fee. Bill needed in customer’s name
$100 donation to Food Bank of the Hudson Valley
Community Power Partners
10% discount subscription model
no cancellation fee with 90 days notice, no credit checks and no payment information required
Nexamp Inc.
10% discount subscription model
No cancellation fees and long-term...
Finding the Key to CIGS PV Reliability
by Joseph McCabe, PE This past week there was a photovoltaic (PV) workshop that probably wasn't on your radar. It was held at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and is called the PV Module Reliability Workshop (PVMRW). This is where the nerds of the PV industry get together to discuss the factors that influence how long a PV module will last and other factors which might influence the long-term performance of a PV system. It wasn't on your radar because it is not something that influences big business. Or is it? If you track the PV industry...
Commerce Department Finalizes Tariffs on Chinese and Taiwanese Solar Panels
Jennifer Runyon Yesterday the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its final findings in the 3-year long trade war between the U.S. and China. Additional tariffs will be imposed on modules from China and Taiwan. Although this is good news for SolarWorld and other American solar PV manufacturers, many in the U.S. solar industry are not celebrating and the decision is expected to further divide an already shaken solar industry. Specifically, Commerce determined that imports of certain crystalline silicon PV products from China have been sold in the U.S. at dumping margins ranging from 26.71 percent to 165.04...
Get Ready for a Revival in Solar Tech Investments
James Montgomery The Skies are Brightening as Manufacturers Resume Spending to Improve Efficiency Slumping solar PV equipment spending has finally bottomed out, and we're about to witness a "revival" in investments that will finally close the yawning gap between oversupply and demand, according to a pair of analysts reports. Solar PV manufacturers spent nearly $13 billion in 2011, but then their investments plunged more than 70 percent to $3.6 billion in 2012, and will probably drop another 36 percent this year to $2.3 billion, the lowest level since 2006, says Jon-Frederick Campos, analyst with IHS...
Ten Solid Clean Energy Companies to Buy on the Cheap: #4 Applied Materials (AMAT)
Applied Materials Solar
Shunfeng Could Be China’s New Major Solar Player
Doug Young China’s solar retrenchment has taken a big step forward with word that a bankruptcy court has chosen Hong Kong-listed Shunfeng Photovoltaic (HKEx: 1165) from a field of bidders vying to invest in reorganizing former solar pioneer Suntech (NYSE: STP). The decision is interesting both because of who the bankruptcy court selected, and also because of who lost the bidding. The selection of Shunfeng looks particularly significant, as it could mark the emergence of a new major player as the battered solar panel sector finally starts to emerge from its 2-year-old downturn. The latest reports don’t contain...
Are Solar PV and Wind Incompatible with Nuclear and IGCC?
Paul Denholm, a Senior Analyst at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), sees an upcoming struggle between renewable sources of electricity such as photovoltaics (PV) and wind with low-carbon baseload alternatives for space on the low carbon grid of the future. These baseload alternatives are nuclear and Internal Gasification Combined Cycle coal plants with Carbon Capture and Sequestration (IGCC w/ CCS, refereed to by advocates as "Clean Coal). This may come as a shock to advocates of the idea that Global Warming is such a big problem that we will need all forms of low carbon electricity, because the...
The Solar Bears are Wrong
Dana Blankenhorn There are a growing number of “solar bears” out there like Jim Chanos, a professional short-seller who is convinced China is poised for a 2008-style crash and who is also selling short stocks like First Solar (FSLR) and Vestas Wind (VWDRY.PK). (What does Chanos like? Would you believe Citibank?) (Picture from Wikipedia.) Personally, I don't know whether Chanos is right about those stocks or not. First Solar is a popular short because it's the best-performing U.S. solar play. Fly high and the assumption is you'll fall fast. But two big mistakes are being made here: ...
The Solar Trade Wars: Which Side Are You On?
Marc Gunther Should we worry about Chinese government subsidies to its solar industry? Or send the Chinese a thank-you note? A group of seven US-based manufacturers of solar panels is alarmed. These manufacturers, led by Solar World (SRWRF.PK), a German firm with a plant in Oregon, filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission, which reached a preliminary conclusion in December that US companies were, in fact, being harmed by subsidized imports. If the Commerce Department goes on to find that Chinese firms have been dumping solar panels on the US market at prices below their costs,...
Jinko Collapses 28% Amidst Environmental Crisis
by Clean Energy Intel Shares in JinkoSolar Holdings (JKS) fell a full 28% yesterday after the company was forced to idle its manufacturing facility in Haining following three days of protests over allegations that the facility has been polluting the local river. The difficulties relate to one of the company's wholly-owned subsidiaries, Zhejiang Jinko, and the company has now admitted that the local environmental protection authority is investigating the allegations that the company has been discharging hazardous waste into a river: "There have been reports that Zhejiang Jinko Co., Ltd. ("Zhejiang Jinko"), a wholly owned subsidiary...
Ascent Solar: Grounded
By Brandon Qureshi Recently, Ascent Solar Technologies (ASTI: Nasdaq) , a publicly traded solar power company, received an additional $5.0 million from institutional investor Ironridge Technology, thereby completing a $10 million Series B Preferred Stock investment. AST, based in Thornton, Colorado, has emerged as a leader in the development of flexible, thin, high-performance solar panels. In order to examine AST within an industrial context, a profile of the solar power industry is necessary: According to sources such as Time and E&E Publishing, the industry has experienced record levels of popularity in the United States in the last...
New Loans For LDK and Canadian Solar Just Band-Aids
Doug Young Stock Band-Aid Image via BigStock A couple of items from the struggling solar panel sector are showing how the industry is limping forward, receiving minor rescue loans to continue funding operations while manufacturers await a bigger rescue package from Beijing. I can only guess that the bigger package, which has been talked about for much of the last half year, will finally be rolled out by the middle of this year. That will finally allow the industry to try and put itself on more sustainable long-term...
Community Solar Providers In NYSEG Territory
See the Buyer's Guide to New York Community Solar for details on how New York community solar works and lists for other utility territories.
This list last updated on 9/9/2020.
VENDOR NAME
PRICING STRUCTURE
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
SPECIAL OFFERS
Abundant Solar Power
10% discount subscription model
Contract to be signed
Astral Power
10% discount subscription model (Broker for solar farms)
No cancellation fee. Bill needed in customer’s name
$100 check and $100 donation to Feedmore WNY
BlueWave Solar
10% discount subscription model (Broker for solar farms)
Links to own development as well as any external ones. Available services in your area found through ZIP code search.
Citizens Energy
20% discount subscription model (Nonprofit)
free cancellation; no fees; no credit...
Suniva, SunPower, Enphase, SolarBridge and SolarWorld – Six Degrees of Solar Separation
by Paula Mints
In June, Suniva crawled out of its badly managed grave courtesy of a request to the U.S. Bankruptcy court made by its partner-in-tariff-petition, SQN Capital Management, which had sought relief for itself and Suniva’s other creditors. A public auction will be held sometime between June and August for, what was described as, some of Suniva’s manufacturing equipment. Meanwhile, back on planet hope-springs-eternal, investment is being sought to restart manufacturing with whatever equipment remains. Lucky SQN now owns Suniva’s monocrystalline cell manufacturing capability, its module assembly capability and its licenses.
Comment: Concerning the upcoming auction … if you’ve got...
US Finalizes China Solar Tariffs
Doug Young President Obama's election victory has dominated US headlines over the last 2 days, but Washington showed it was still hard at work with news that the Commerce Department has finalized punitive anti-dumping tariffs against Chinese solar panel makers. In a way, this kind of quiet ending seems appropriate for a drawn-out process that began more than a year ago with a Congressional probe into a bankrupt US solar firm. With this trade issue now resolved, China, which produces more than half of the world's solar panels, can now focus on simply saving an industry that is...
