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In this guest blog, Edwin Koot, founder of solarplaza.com, discusses the growing trend of the ever-increasing size of utility-scale PV power plants and the implications facing the industry as both the scale and number of such projects are set to increase.
Alan King of Canadian Solar notes that while the extension of the U.S. Treasury’s 1603 cash grant program has positive implications for the solar industry in 2011 and beyond, there’s much work still to be done to increase PV’s percentage of the country’s overall energy portfolio.
On December 10, 2010 the Czech President Vaclav Klaus approved a retroactive solar tax for solar power plants in the Czech Republic
In reporting its fourth-quarter earnings, Applied Materials (AMAT) announced net sales within its Energy & Environmental Services (EES) segment (which includes PV tool revenues) of US$606 million. Accordingly, Solarbuzz equipment supplier analysis reveals that AMAT has just reached a significant landmark: the first equipment supplier to reach and exceed the US$1 billion barrier for PV-specific trended ttm tool revenues. Certainly, this achievement offers comfort to tool suppliers that the PV segment has grown to an appreciable level. However, while every other PV tool supplier would welcome reaching this milestone, AMAT’s road taken to the US$1 billion PV revenue mark has been far from incident free.
The supply and market dynamics of the PV inverter sector continue to play-out this year as this guest blog by Ash Sharma, Renewable Energy Research Director at IMS Research, highlights the next expected supply/demand scenario.Whilst in the first three quarters of 2010 inverter suppliers enjoyed tremendously high demand, tight supply and stable prices, a drastic reversal in their fortunes may quickly be seen as demand wanes, supply massively grows and inventory builds.
At the end of October, the Czech government approved special measures against the ongoing solar boom in the country. Many of these measures are being abruptly negotiated and passed by the Czech Parliament so that they can take effect starting in January 2010. One of these measures will be a brand-new retroactive ‘solar tax’ imposed on producers of solar energy.
Between 2006 and 2009, First Solar set clear benchmarks for all solar cell and thin-film panel manufacturers by expanding at unprecedented rates while, at the same time, commanding industry-leading capex, opex and yield metrics. Over this period, their rapid ascent to leading worldwide producer in 2009 with a (production) market share of 12% was an inevitable consequence of enacting meticulously on this game plan. Indeed, midway through 2009, projected global market demand for 2010 suggested that continuous improvement by First Solar in operating costs, production line throughput, and efficiency would be more than sufficient to retain—or even expand upon—current market share.
Have you been confused by the current “sold-out” situation for PV manufacturers and then see reports stating that factory utilization levels averaged 50% or 60%? Finlay Colville, senior analyst at Solarbuzz, explains in this guest blog that a more accurate way of reporting utilization rates among PV module manufacturers is required, one that better matches real-world utilization rates.
The Czech government announced recently that it was about to take special measures against the ongoing solar boom in the country. These measures are to limit the rapid construction of solar power plants, which would otherwise lead to a dramatic increase in the price of electricity in the future. One of these measures maybe a brand-new tax imposed on producers of solar power.
This guest blog was provided by Finlay Colville, Senior Analyst, Solarbuzz.Aligning with PV industry leaders with a long-term strategic roadmap is a given prerequisite for equipment adoption by every tool supplier, regardless of the segments their equipment serves. But realizing this in practice can be a different challenge altogether. Such has been the dilemma for many equipment suppliers seeking to break into the PV equipment supply chain or diversify from one customer group or cell technology to another.
