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This article provides an analysis of global installations/demand and global production/supply according to regions and technologies. The evaluated timeframe includes years 2010 and 2011. An outlook for 2012 is also provided on a best-estimate basis. Specifically, the implications of module shipments in 2011 and 2012(e) are presented. This is in line with an analysis of production capacities, their utilization rates and the corresponding impact on global profit margins.
As with previous eras of California gold-fever, solar developers might already have exhausted the mines packed with lucrative nuggets of large-scale utility projects. The numbers speak for themselves in the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, which last year disappointed 94% of proposals from developers.
The US military is not where you’d expect to find America’s greatest climate warriors wanting to save the planet. But it’s where you will find the country’s staunchest allies when it comes to support for renewable energy - because it saves lives. US Department of Defense is the highest consumer of energy in the world with a thirst for 300,000 barrels of oil a day. But reducing the DoD’s carbon boot print from the barracks to the battlefield has become mission critical.
-80x80.jpg "State level support drives PV in the US and is often subsidised by ratepayers, not taxpayers.")
California’s US$13bn budget deficit might be dwarfed by the US$15.6 trillion black hole on the US federal balance sheet that is sucking up all hope of continued national support for solar after 2016. But from Sacramento to Washington, publicly funded support for clean energy appears like a luxury rather than a necessity to many policymakers.
“How much capacity is really in the PV industry today?” This question has probably been asked more often than any other question in the past six months. The question is not founded simply upon curiosity. Capacity levels are implicitly linked to supply and inventory levels, module ASPs, planned fab utilization rates and long-term expansion/CapEx plans.
The perfect solar storm that has swept the eastern United States is proof that it really is possible to have too much of a good thing when it comes to the sun. Just ask any small-scale solar developer in the eastern United States who has been burned by crashing prices on the market for solar renewable energy certificates (SRECs).
Polysilicon purchasing strategies are a critical aspect in PV manufacturers’ operations. Get it right and you can be a low-cost module supplier using high-quality wafers and better performing modules. Get it wrong and you ultimately end up bankrupt - like Q-Cells.
Venture capital investors love to use baseball as a metaphor for their wins and losses. The technique to score a home run puts the hitter at risk of being caught out or missing the ball: swinging for the fences is an all-or-nothing strategy.
In 1854, Matthew C. Perry - the Commander of the US Navy - compelled Japan to openup to its economy to foreign trade, after more than 200 years of a self-imposed isolation policy enforced by the ruling Tokugawa Shogun. The Commander arrived in Japan with four black-coloured US Navy warships, billowing black smoke. Later the term ‘Black Ships’ would be coined in Japan to symbolize any threat imposed by Western technology.
Net metering is becoming an increasingly divisive issue in the US, with a dividing line as distinct as night and day. Solar companies and their customers count their sunshine dollars earned or saved – utilities count their revenue losses.
