Business Features
| 11 February 2013
With utility scale solar installations growing at a record pace, the number of acquisitions of operational solar plants is also increasing. In fact, more project acquisitions of solar projects took place in the first three quarters of 2012 than the total number of project acquisitions in any previous year. Financing of operational projects versus preconstruction projects has some discernible benefits for the investor and risk is mitigated as the track record of the plant becomes established and can be used to predict future performance. For the investor or lender to quantitatively assess the potential reduction in risk, the expected annual energy production of the plant should be reevaluated.
| 23 January 2013
Fronius GmbH is an Austrian company with three divisions, namely solar electronics, welding technology, and battery charging systems. Its solar activities concentrate on inverters for residential and smaller commercial PV applications. Solar Novus Today Senior Editor Andreas Breyer spoke with Martin Hackl, Solar Electronics Division Manager about the companies’ strategy, new products and the future of fuel cell technology.
| 21 January 2013
In the past five years, the US solar energy industry has experienced sustained growth thanks to rising demand, falling costs, and new financing options. Since 2008, the amount of solar powering our homes, businesses, and military bases has more than quadrupled from 1100 megawatts to more than 6400 megawatts today, which is enough to power more than one million average American households. Existing policy frameworks at the federal and state level, including maintaining and expanding commitments to renewable energy initiatives have spurred and leveraged private sector investments in the solar industry. And we expect 2013 will be another year of record growth for our industry.
| 16 January 2013
The government of India is planning to tap the most talked about solar rooftop segment potential (estimated at 92.7GW) in a big way, adding at least 1000MW capacity by 2017. This will be done by integrating a central subsidy plan under phase 2 of National Solar Mission with initiatives being taken at the state level. In reality, India’s power success story is hindered by limited, inefficient (technically and operationally) and poorly managed grid infrastructure.
| 19 November 2012
Legal issues affect practically all areas of the PV value chain, from world trade cases as they are currently conducted by European and Chinese manufacturers alike, to more practical but no less important issues such as local and domestic laws regarding the acquisition of land to build free field installations. However, until now the most important legal challenge for the PV industry around the globe remains the level of governmental subsidies given for PV installations; be it through a quota system or a FiT. Here, also the reliability of the government plays an important role, as the suspension of all supports for PV systems in Spain early this year has proved.
| 22 October 2012
The market for renewable energy certificates (RECs) in India has been well established for the non-solar market. In “RECs Drive the Renewable Energy Sector in India,” Contributing Editor, Varun Mittal, gave an overview of what RECs are, how they work in India, how India’s REC mechanism compares to others around the world and he provided a status update on the current trading market. It is clear that many barriers have to be overcome for the market to flourish and in this second article in a two-part series, we look at what those barriers are and what has to change in order to move the use of renewable energy forward in India.
| 15 October 2012
Renewable Energy Certificates are a financial mechanism instituted in many areas around the globe as an attempt to address the mismatch between the availability of renewable energy sources in some areas and the requirement for renewable energy standards.
| 04 September 2012
Driven by SolarWorld on 26 July, the initiative EU ProSun called on the European Commission to start investigations regarding unfair trade practices by Chinese manufacturers. For insolvent Sovello, another German manufacturer who joined the antidumping initiative, the call on the EU commission is probably too late: The company has stopped its production on 27 August and will lay off the remaining employees.
More Articles...
- Solar PV EPC Players in India
- PV Opportunities in India
- Exclusive Interview: Q-Cells is here to stay
- The Rise and Fall of the European FiT
- Solar in Latin America: Focus on Argentina
- Solar Training and Jobs in the US
- Incentives and Financing of Solar in the US
- Insuring Against Risk in Solar Installations
- Misconceptions about Residential Solar Costs
- Solar in Japan: In the Wake of the March 2011 Disasters
