Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Solar PV installations to hit 17GW in 2011, research says
Solar PV installations to hit 17GW in 2011, research says
Global solar photovoltaic (PV) installations are forecast to reach 13GW by the end of this year and 17GW by 2011 on production growth and declining prices, a research paper shows.
“We expect a virtuous cycle of falling production costs and module average selling prices (ASPs) to stimulate demand further,” says Goldman Sachs Gao Hua, an affiliate of China-based Gao Hua Securities Investment Research.
The Goldman Sachs Global Clean Energy team bases its installation forecast on supply forecast of 20GW and 28GW in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
Supply is likely to come from lower cost producers such as thin-film makers and Chinese crystalline module makers, the research paper says.
“We think demand may arise where government mandates for increased renewable energy remain strong, finance is readily available, and where domestic and utility scale demand are expected to rise,” it says.
“We expect module production to increase as ASPs decline, enabling PV installation at reasonable internal rate of returns (IRRs).”
Germany “should remain the largest and most important solar market globally for the next two years.”
PV installation in Germany is predicted at 6.5GW and 7.5GW in 2010 and 2011 respectively, and 18GW to 22GW in 2012.
The German market’s feed-in-tariff (FIT) will likely be cut given the lower trend in ASPs by 15% and 12% in the second-half of 2010 and full year 2011 respectively, for European module prices.
The research also believes that both Chinese crystalline module makers and thin-film makers will continue to gain market share due to their 30% lower cost advantage over European and Japanese manufacturers.
“This should encourage more installations so as to optimise production capacity and return on capital,” the paper says.
“We expect the ASPs of Chinese solar modules to fall by 27% and 15% in 2010 and 2011, in line with other regional players.”
Current cost reduction targets also suggest that cost parity between solar energy and conventional energy is within reach between 2012 and 2014, depending on the market.
Published: Monday, June 28 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
BP to Proceed With Costner Centrifuge Devices to Cleanup Gulf Oil Spill
British Petroleum signed a letter of intent with Ocean Therapy Solutions to deploy thirty-two centrifuge machines to assist in the cleanup of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. BP agreed to use the technology after testing machines during the past week.
In testimony yesterday before the House of Representatives' Science and Technology committee, Ocean Therapy Solutions partner Kevin Costner told the panel about the challenges he faced bringing the technology into industrial use, including his own personal investment of over $20 million developing the technology. He urged committee members to legislate that oil rigs be required to have mitigation equipment onsite. ”We've legislated life preservers. We legislated fire extinguishers,” Costner said. ”We legislated lifeboats and first aid kits. It seems logical that as long as the oil industry profits from the sea, they have the legal obligation to protect it, except when they find themselves fighting for life and limb.”
Just one of the company's V20 machines can clean up to 210,000 gallons of oily water per day. There are 3 V20 centrifuge machines currently operational in the Gulf. Ten more should become operational within weeks. ”Once production at our factory in Nevada ramps up in July, OTS will be able to produce 10 machines a month,” said Pat Smith, Chief Operating Officer for OTS. ”We are currently ramping up production of new machines with a goal toward deploying the machines along the entire coast,” he said.
”We have chosen teaming partners that are at ground zero and understand the challenges we face, including Edison Chouest Offshore, the largest offshore supply company in the Gulf of Mexico,” said John W. Houghtaling II, Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Therapy Solutions.
The centrifuge machines are sophisticated centrifuge devices that can handle a huge volume of water and separate oil at unprecedented rates. Costner has been funding a team of scientists for the last 15 years to develop a technology which could be used for massive oil spills.
The machines are taken out into the spill area via barges, where they can separate the oil and water. The machines come in different sizes, the largest of which, the V20, can clean water at a rate of 200 gallons per minute. Depending on the oil to water ratio, the machine has the ability to extract 2,000 barrels of oil a day from the Gulf. Once separation has occurred, the oil is stored in tanks. The water is then more than 99% clean of crude.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
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