sunjacket

China Renewables Road Map to 2050: http://www.rff.org/Documents/Events/150420-Zhongying-ChinaEnergyRoadmap-Slides.pdf Apologies if this has been posted before. This was issued in April/15 and escaped my attention at the time. It was issued by the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission, the lead Chinese economic planning agency, a powerful ministry. It projects 174 GW of Solar by 2020 and 2204 GW by 2040 with 86% of electrical energy from renewables, principally solar and wind, by 2050. Fossil fuel consumption is projected to peak in 2025.

Germany leading the way in storage. There are interesting storage experiments in Britain and California and, as mentioned in this article, in Japan and Australia. http://planetsave.com/2014/12/28/solar-power-storage-prices-drop-germany/

This link gives some of the background and detail of the plans to marginalize solar: http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/ret-review-panel-calls-for-large-scale-solar-schemes-to-close-39648 "The RET Review panel said it“recognises that repeal (of the existing solar program) may result in adverse financial implications for existing investors.” ... It accepted all the arguments put forward by the fossil fuel lobby on the costs of abatement, and the cost of the policy, and downplayed findings by its hand-picked modeller that suggested the costs of the target to consumers were more than offset by the fall in wholesale electricity prices." This is about payoff to the Australia coal and centralized generation industry who are major backers of right wing Prime MInister Abbott and his coaltion govt.

China's 2020 Ban on Coal http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/blinded-by-smog-chinas-2020-ban-on-coal/4545 This link is to an oil and gas energy site so it is not surprising that they are salivating over nat gas demand as a substitute for coal. But this major move by China will of course further underpin the transition to solar.

Sunny article about solar in West Africa (part of a series - "Are We Screwed?"): http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/07/21/Clean-Energy-Not-Oil/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=210714

Article on CSIQ Pres./CEO Qu: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/careers-leadership/boring-engineer-has-his-day-in-the-sun/article19473263/?page=2

Another gambit by Solarworld: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/07/01/us_manufacturer_wants_commerce_dept_to_penalize_china_for_cyberattack_0?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Flashpoints&utm_campaign=Flashpoints_July%202 "A U.S. solar panel manufacturer whose business secrets were allegedly stolen by Chinese computer hackers has asked the U.S. government to investigate the matter, setting in motion a process that could see the United States impose trade penalties for the first time in response to state-sponsored cyber-espionage against an American company. In a filing with the Commerce Department on Tuesday, July 1, the U.S. subsidiary of German company SolarWorld, which builds solar panels and equipment, asked officials to investigate allegations contained in a recent criminal indictment accusing five members of the People's Liberation Army with hacking the company's computers and stealing proprietary information. Prosecutors say that the hackers took SolarWorld's price lists, product designs, and communications between the company and its lawyers in a series of computer incursions that began in 2012".

Chinese citizen sues government over pollution: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10661001/Chinese-man-sues-government-over-smog.html

Building Integrated Solar Awnings http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/solar-powers-new-wave/article16925532/ "This is one of the few installations in Canada of “building integrated” photovoltaic solar panels, also known as BIPV. It’s an approach to renewable energy that is poised to expand dramatically in the coming years, with global industry revenues set to leap from around $2-billion a year in 2012 to more than $35-billion in 2019, according to an analysis from Virginia-based research firm NanoMarkets. On average, the solar-panel-equipped drive-through canopies generate 12 to 18 per cent of each (bank) branch’s electricity needs. And now that the construction has been standardized, they are actually cheaper to build than the non-solar canopies. .......many ambitious projects are now in the works. Mr. Lyster says his company is working with a builder on two planned 50-storey buildings in Toronto where solar panels will be incorporated in the spandrels – the panels between each row of windows. If we put building integrated there, we can get up to a 500 or 600 kilowatt system,” he says. “That can make a big difference in the [power] a building is going to need to operate.” TD is the largest Canadian bank company and it also operates in the northeast US.

DC microgrids and the virtues of local electricity http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/buildings/dc-microgrids-and-the-virtues-of-local-electricity/?utm_source=energywise&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=021214 "Many of the gadgets and conveniences of modern life—LED lights, variable-speed motors, computers, televisions, and countless other forms of consumer electronics—demand DC power. With these devices’ steadily increasing market share, AC-to-DC conversion losses are eroding the main benefit that put AC ahead so long ago. It is on those shifting sands that direct current may stage a comeback in the form of DC microgrids. Because of their limited size, these local power generation and distribution systems avoid most transmission and distribution losses as well as the energy wasted in the conversion of AC to DC. " There is a lot of interesting progress being made in grid technology, almost as important as PV tech advances to widespread cost parity and adoption of solar.

Hitachi do not fabricate modules.In the past they have used Sharp modules for some of their EPC projects in Japan. I don't know who the module supplier will be for the 2 Etrion projects. Etrion are usiing Sunpower modules in their 70MW Chilean project. The Etrion senior management as well as a director were previously employed by Sunpower. Hitach do produce inverters and storage/grid regulation systems They have recently introduced container held 1MW Li battery based storage systems to the market.

Etrion finalizing 34MW of projects in Japan: http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140203-901307.html This follows Etrion's recent announcement finalizing their private placement financing that should carry them through construction of these projects.

Storage info Recent US storage update: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/01/energy-storage-roundup-xtreme-power-rhubarb-compressed-air-does-grid-scale-push Japan 60MW battery: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/25/business/big-battery-eyed-as-green-energy-cure/ This was announced last summer and noted on this forum. It is now under construction and due to be completed late this year (though there is conflicting info on completion date). An earlier look at some of the grid issues in Japan: http://www.cleanbiz.asia/news/big-battery-project-symptom-japans-power-industry-gridlock

Thanks for the info on the Japanese grid. From informal sources, people who have worked in China and have an interest in renewables and grid capacity, I hear real doubts about the grid upgrades keeping up to new installations in 2015.

I wouldn't be glad if it happened because of the difficulties of integrating new solar farm production into the grid and the fact that DG, less grid reliant, is in its infancy in China. We really do need orderly development to avoid the solar bubble bursting and a big part of that is dependent on concurrent grid development. We're focused on solar but wind capacity is ramping up faster than solar in China, most of it in western China. Total installed capacity is now 75GW and the plan is for 200GW by 2020: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25623400 Wind installations were in 2009 13.8 GW, 2010 18.8 GW, 2011 17.6GW and 2012 15.9GW. Figures for 2013 are uncertain but probably around 15GW. Hidden in those figures is that a lot of the installations in 2010 and '11 were stranded by lack of grid capacity and it was a huge setback to the wind industry. Western China is of course where many of the major solar farms are planned, far from the cities in the east and south. To a degree solar and wind complement each other because wind velocities often pick up at night but there is nevertheless competition for grid space between solar and wind. If anyone on these forums has solid information about grid development in China I'd like to hear it. I think it will be a big factor in the success of the Chinese solars and we ignore it at our peril. Likewise I'd like to better understand the situation in Japan, where I understand grid capacity is already lagging intermittent power source generation capability in some parts of the country . The grid has not been an issue in Germany because it has one of the most developed, flexible and reliable grids in the world and they are doing a major upgrade. But even in Germany they are bumping against the limits of intermittent generation hence the heavy incentives to develop storage technology.