#Ember on #USA #photovoltaic #solar-energy #energy compared to coal, gas, etc. #Solar finally nosed up over coal in May: 45.5TWh vs. 44.1TWh, which I guess is 61.2GW vs. 59.3GW. But nuclear is still at 63.5TWh/month and gas is at 132TWh/month. Wind is also 41TWh.
on 02026-06-11#news: #photovoltaic #solar-energy “supplied 12.8% of [#USA] electricity in May even as #Trump boosts coal over clean #energy”, while coal was only 12.2% (and probably insignificant outside of electricity). Nice (minimally related stock) photo of #sheep grazing under #solar panels in Saltillo, Texas. “#Seia and Wood Mackenzie said solar and battery storage were practically the only energy resources being built in the first quarter, making up 91% of all new generating capacity [presumably in the US].” Sourced from #Ember but without a proper citation. #energy
on 02026-06-11#photovoltaic #capacity-factor dataviz using Tableau. #energy #USA #solar-energy
on 02026-04-11#NREL #news release from 02017: “Researchers at NREL Find Fewer Failures of PV Panels and Different Degradation Modes in Systems Installed after 2000 (...) Installations between 2000 and 2015 exhibited a median failure rate of 5 panels out of 10,000 annually, while for those panels installed between 1980 and 2000 the rate was twice as high. (...) An article detailing the findings of the research, Photovoltaic Failure and Degradation Modes, appears in the journal Progress in Photovoltaics. The authors are Dirk C. Jordan, Timothy J. Silverman, John H. Wohlgemuth, and Sarah R. Kurtz from NREL and Kaitlyn T. VanSant from the Colorado School of Mines.” #solar #photovoltaic #energy
on 02026-01-13From September: “Rooftop #solar is a fixed-income alternative yielding ~10% ... A solar installation with a six-year payback period generates returns comparable to high-yield corporate bonds. Better yet, these returns come with unique tax advantages and inflation protection. For investors seeking fixed-income, solar deserves serious consideration as part of a diversified portfolio.” #energy #photovoltaic #finance
on 02026-01-13#Scott-Helme computes that his #UK #solar #energy setup (three #Tesla Powerwalls for £25420 and a £13940 Perlight #Enphase #photovoltaic array of 4.2kWp, which is US$18753 or US$4.46/Wp, roughly 45 times current wholesale solar module #pricing) saved him £3078 in 02025, which at £39360 would be a 7.8% return on investment during that year. But he only had “export capabilities” for 7 months, and he anticipates that the ROI would have been 9.2% if he’d had it all year. No thoughts on what the ROI will be when utility-scale solar drops the cost of grid power and eliminates his export capabilities.
on 02026-01-13discussion of #solar #photovoltaic #energy throughout #Africa
on 02025-11-085.35 GW #Esmeralda-7 #solar #photovoltaic #energy project in Nevada, #USA, canceled due to #Trump #politics
on 02025-10-14Gallium-doped #photovoltaic cells are more resistant to light-induced degradation and have become the mainstream form. #solar #energy
on 02025-10-10“I built [a plug-in microinverter #solar #energy household power station] in Utah which is the only part of the [#USA] where it’s currently legal, so I can give you the numbers.
Grand total was $1077, I set them in direct sun on my patio and have generated 6-8kWh per day. At Utah energy prices (0.12 where I live), they will pay off in about 4 years. Somewhere like California with 4x the energy prices as here, it would probably pay for itself in <1 year.” #pricing #photovoltaic
on 02025-10-05"aquavoltaics" #solar #energy fishponds (with regular #photovoltaic panels)
on 02025-08-27#video on Nordic RF #communications #electronics that can feasibly run off some largish photodiodes used as solar cells. “Ultra low power energy harvester from BPW34. Super small and durable power supply for wireless nodes” on hackaday. Also “Solar-powered flashing LED heart pendant PCB coil” by bobricius in 02018. This guy, "Pocket Concepts", got 300mV out of his BPW34 photodiodes, and used it to transmit a temperature datum over #Bluetooth #BLE to his motherfucking phone. His #Nordic chip uses about 50μC of charge (over the 2.25V to 3.6V range) to run for the necessary 20ms, so he needed 37μF, which looks like maybe it’s a tantalum cap. It gets enough power from his fridge light to send a transmission every few seconds (so, say, 0.4% duty cycle, so he’s getting tens of microwatts). But a slightly larger amorphous cell is even better because it works even in a dimly lit room. #electronics #solar #photovoltaic #energy-harvesting
on 02025-08-09#solar #energy produced 22.1% of electricity in the #EU in June 02025, mostly. #Ember #photovoltaic, with wind at 15.8%, hydro at 12.8%, “bioenergy” (biomass?) at 3.5%, and “other renewables” (??) at 0.5%, meaning the EU electrical grid was majority renewables — but not EU energy consumption in general. Nuclear was #2 at 21.8%, so EU electricity was 76.5% from sustainable sources last month. That might mean marketed energy consumption in the EU was majority sustainable last month, I don’t know. Coal was down to 6.1%.
on 02025-07-11#Portugal got 71% of its electrical #energy from renewables in 02024, but only 10% of that (7% of the total) was #solar, though #photovoltaic generation grew 37% from the year before, and PV capacity by 100%. “The Portuguese National Transmission Network connected 776 MW of photovoltaic installations to the grid in 2024, doubling to 1,555 MW of installed capacity, when compared to the 779 MW operational at the end of 2023.”
on 02025-06-17overview of electrical #energy generation in #Spain in 02024: 248478 GWh total generated, of which 59512 #wind (3% less than 02023), 52391 nuclear (4% less than 02023), 43609 #solar #photovoltaic (19% more than 02023), 34909 hydroelectric (36% more than 02023), 29107 combined-cycle [gas] (27% less than 02023), and 2972 coal. That’s 18% photovoltaic and 23% wind out of 28 gigawatts. There’s a handy CSV to download.
on 02025-06-17"MicroLink" Devices in Niles, Illinois, “Recognized as Airbus Key Supplier”, makes ultra-lightweight #solar #photovoltaic panels for #drones etc.
on 02024-12-19#video #forgreg on #solar #photovoltaic sun tracker using his design (but three years earlier) using #3D-printing
on 02024-11-27#Sky #news propaganda #video opposing #solar #photovoltaic #energy. Shows the nameplate of a house-sized Mitsubishi Hitachi hydrogen-cooled steam turbine generator (310RK09-776-1) producing 3-phase 20kV at 50Hz and what looks like 17984 amps, saying it produces 570–580MW, though my calculation gives 360MW from those numbers. Shows a real-time power price of [AU?]$235, presumably per MWh, attributing the high price to a cold snap in Victoria. Says 1200 tonnes of cheap brown coal per hour produces 1140 megawatts electric, which works out to 3.4MJ/kg, which would be about 15% efficiency, which seems improbably low. “[In the past] you were seeing wholesale prices around (...) $20–40/MWh”, says a guy who’s been working in the field for only 30 years; that also seems improbably low. “10 Australian coal-fired power stations closed in the last decade. There are 15 still running, but most are slated to close in the next decade.” 62% of electric generation on #Australia’s main grid is from fossil fuels, the other 38% from renewables. At 7'51”, it profiles Belinda Jones, a pensioner who’s paying AU$1073.31 per month (US$697/month) because she’s paying AU$0.191/kWh for 3410kWh (AU$651, becoming AU$716.63 after GST) and AU$0.216 for 2700kWh (AU$582, AU$640.10 after GST), from which subsidies are deducted. That implies her house is averaging 8400 watts! Possibly in part because she’s using resistive space heaters instead of heat pumps, but more likely it’s not actually a one-month bill — yes, in fact, at 9'13” we see it’s for 92 days, but she’s still averaging 2800 watts around the clock. (The average comes out to 11.4¢/kWh, which is very cheap by retail standards.) Also, we see at 9'22” that the previous bill was only AU$457.45. A different power bill shown at 45'04” shows someone paying $415 with time-of-day billing — also for 92 days. “Energy scarcity emerges everywhere #wind and solar become the dominant form of electrical generation.” Shows the #LNG export gas terminal at Gladston, the Petra Nova #carbon-capture pilot plant in Houston, and a US$21B #nuclear power plant in Georgia, the second to be built in the #USA in the last 30 years. #Microsoft has signed a deal to reopen #Three-Mile-Island. #politics Viper-7 reports paying 27.56-67.44c/kWh: Peak time (4:00pm to 7:59pm): 67.44c per kWh; Shoulder time (7:00am to 3:59pm, 8:00pm to 9:59pm): 29.65c per kWh; else 27.56c per kWh, including GST.
on 02024-11-27#news #video nine months ago from #Deutsche-Welle on #solar #manufacturing in #Europe, for example by #Switzerland company #Meyer-Burger in #Germany, which is opening a new factory in #Colorado-Springs, #USA. Credits national #China policy prioritizing #polysilicon production in the early 02000s. Lots of talking-head filler by Richard Black, director of policy and strategy at #Ember. Says #Brazil is “leading the renewable #energy boom taking place across the continent”, but apparently is trying #import-substitution with tariffs, and #ABSOLAR isn’t convinced local producers are enough. Says #Trump plans to cut Biden’s US subsidies. “Today, solar-powered energy is the cheapest form of electricity for the majority of the countries that use it. (...) Estimates put the cost somewhere between 300 and 900 dollars per kilowatt by 2030.” I guess when they made this video the mainstream solar module price was €0.14/Wp, and now it’s 29% lower at €0.10/Wp (US$106/kWp). Panasonic and LG recently exited the market. #photovoltaic
on 02024-11-27#PDF slides from #CREA (the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, which seems like it ought to be “CRECA”), entitled “#China #energy and emissions trends: August 2024 snapshot”, showing a rise in #coal imports to an all-time high of 500 million tonnes per year! And a rise in total coal use to about 5100 million tonnes per year (at ≈25MJ/kg, that’s 4TW), plus 780 million tonnes a year of crude #oil (1.0TW) and 410 billion cubic meters of gas per year (490GW at 37.8kJ/ℓ), for a fossil total of 5.5TW. There’s a plot of “oil products” but I’m not sure counting that wouldn’t be double-counting. Also plots by-month #solar energy production by month going back to 02018, showing an all-time high of 40 TWh in June 02024 (55GW), which is a pretty low capacity factor given the November stat of 790GW installed from the NEA reports. If we project 790GW backward at a 3.3% monthly growth rate from November to June, 5 months, we predict 672GW installed as of June, of which 55GW would be only an 8% capacity factor. And that’s in the peak month! Not even year-round! So the 54GW they added of fossil-fuel power over the last 12 months is probably still more than the 256GW of solar after adjusting for capacity factors. The slide on p. 7 showing a bargraph of solar capacity added in the first half of each year since 02010 is pretty staggering. It seems to show that the high #pricing for #photovoltaic modules in the 02018-02022 period suppressed demand rather badly in China itself, not just abroad, though that pricing isn’t mentioned.
on 02024-11-27#video by #China propaganda outlet SMG (Shanghai Eye) on 550-hectare #solar #photovoltaic farm in #Azerbaijan, in Gobustan, 60km southwest of Baku. Construction started in April of last year by #Dongfang Electric Corporation. Surprisingly, it uses solar trackers, so it may be able to get above-average capacity factors. Says it produces 500 million kWh of electricity annually (57 megawatts). Seems to be a pretty desert-climate site, but the total absence of vegetation (in contrast to the dry grass nearby) suggests it’s been bulldozed. The timelapse of construction doesn’t seem to show much in the way of concrete foundations, though the main control building is reinforced concrete with brick infill. Later (?) shots show vegetation has returned around the footings of the panels.
on 02024-11-26#solar #photovoltaic wholesale #pricing is now €0.060/Wp for low-cost panels, €0.100/Wp for mainstream panels, and €0.130/Wp for high-efficiency panels. A year ago (November 02023), these were €0.10, €0.17, and €0.25, and two years ago (November 02022, when the cartel failed) they were €0.22, €0.34, and €0.43, roughly the same as when the cartel started; in November 02018, just before the cartel was announced at Davos, they were €0.20, €0.27, and €0.36.
on 02024-11-26A 30MW #solar thermal power plant in Port Augusta, #Australia, by company Vast Renewables, “the first large scale #solar-thermal project in the country”, may get funded, but it apparently needs [AU]$360–390 million? Which would make it AU$12–13/W, which at 64.6¢/AUD would be US$8/W, about twenty times the price of #photovoltaic power plants (and 120× the price of photovoltaic panels). So it’s trying to get grants from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena). #CSP #concentrating solar power
on 02024-11-26353MW Walla Walla #solar #photovoltaic farm in Riverina, New South Wales, #Australia, “consisting of approximately 700,000 solar panels installed across 605 hectares,” comes online, the biggest of the eight solar farms built by Spanish company Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV). No notes on contract pricing. #energy
on 02024-11-26Press release from #China’s National #Energy Administration (国家能源局), saying, “the installed capacity of #solar power generation is approximately 790 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 48.0%; the installed #wind power capacity is approximately 490 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 20.3%.” (“太阳能发电装机容量约7.9亿千瓦，同比增长48.0%；风电装机容量约4.9亿千瓦，同比增长20.3%。”) They also increased thermal power capacity (火电, which apparently specifically means fossil fuels and excludes an almost insignificant #nuclear) by 3.8% to 142597 tens of thousands of kilowatts (万千瓦); if I have the units correct, that’s 14200 gigawatts total fossil generation capacity, increased by 54 gigawatts, vs. 256 new gigawatts solar. More than half of all installed renewable capacity is wind (486GW) and hydro (431GW) so the 22.1% capacity factor I calculated from the other press release is probably mostly due to hydro’s typical 90+% and wind’s typical 40+%, with solar still down in the teens. If we assume 15% for solar and 700 gigawatts as the average installed capacity over the year, we would have 105 gigawatts of generation on average, which would be about 10% of the 1.08TW total inferred from the earlier press release. At 48% per year exponential growth, in 49 months (02028) they’d get the majority of their electricity from solar, and in something like 6 years (02030) the majority of their energy. #photovoltaic
on 02024-11-26press release from #China’s National Energy Administration (国家能源局); auto-translation: "In the first nine months, newly installed renewable #energy power generation capacity exceeded 200 million kilowatts
Release time: 2024-11-15 Source: Economic Daily
Data released by the National Energy Administration on the 31st showed that in the first nine months, the country’s newly installed renewable energy power generation capacity was 210 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 21%, accounting for 86% of the newly installed electricity capacity. Among them, hydropower has added 7.97 million kilowatts, wind power has added 39.12 million kilowatts, #solar power has added 161 million kilowatts, and biomass power has added 1.37 million kilowatts. As of the end of September this year, the country’s installed renewable energy capacity reached 1.73 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 25%.
At the same time, in the first nine months, the country’s renewable energy power generation reached 2.51 trillion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 20.9%, accounting for approximately 35.5% of all power generation. (Reporter 王轶辰)” Here “power generation” is a translation of “发电量”, which is specifically electrical power generation. 2.51 trillion kilowatt hours is 9.04 exajoules, which works out to 382GW over 9 months, which is an overall capacity factor of 22.1%, a weighted average across presumably solar, hydro, wind, and biomass. #photovoltaic
on 02024-11-26the Renew Economy article on #China’s 210GW of new renewable #energy generation capacity installed in the first three quarters of 02024, “an increase of 21 per cent on this period in 2023 and accounting for 86 per cent of all new power capacity added in the year”, according to the National Energy Administration (nea.gov.cn). “(...) new capacity installed through the first nine months was led by #solar, which added 161GW of new capacity added.
A further 39.12GW worth of new wind power, 7.97GW of new hydropower, and 1.37GW of new biomass power rounds out the new capacity added so far in 2024.
At the end of the first three quarters, then, China’s renewable energy generating capacity had reached 1.73TW, a year-on-year increase of 25 per cent.” Perhaps more important still: “In terms of actual generation, the NEA figures showed that China’s renewable power generation reached 2.51 trillion kWh, an increase of 20.9 per cent over the same period in 2023, and equivalent to around 35.5 pct of total Chinese power generation through the first nine months of 2024.” Presumably that’s only counting electric power in the denominator; that would be 382GW on a total of 1.08TW, and I’m pretty sure China overall uses more than 1.08TW of energy. Like, probably more like 2–3TW. #photovoltaic
on 02024-11-26#news #video on a 1-gigawatt #solar #photovoltaic offshore farm in Shandong, #China, consisting of 2934 solar platforms built on steel trusses, connected with 66kV transmission. Predicted production would be 1.78 billion kWh/year, which is 203MW, a 20.3% capacity factor, which I think is roughly double the Chinese average. I wasn’t expecting this for 20 years. #energy
on 02024-11-26#clickbait #video on #solar #energy claiming #China is “no longer approving” coal power plants. Talking-head filler interspersed with web-page screenshots and misleading stock footage (e.g. of concentrated solar power to illustrate a #photovoltaic plant). Claims #Australia will build an even larger solar farm than China’s at, implicitly, Crescent Dunes within the next 5 years. Claims 210 gigawatts of renewables added so far in 02024 (as of November 19, according to a Renew Energy reneweconomy.com story) of which 161GW was grid-scale solar, 39.1GW of #wind power, 7.97GW of hydroelectric, and 1.37GW of biomass, and that coal power plant approvals have fallen 80% according to Greenpeace, or that last year approvals for new coal power plants fell by 92%, or that over the first 9 months of 02024, an increase of 21% over last year; “86% of all power added to the Chinese grid was renewable energy” (unclear if peak or average). Claims that the average [residential?] solar [power] system being installed in #Australia now is 10 kilowatts. Claims that 70% of coal power plants are running at a loss, and that coal power plants need to hit a 70% capacity factor [in what country or countries?] to be profitable. Claims that China shuts down its coal power plants during the day, which seems unlikely to me. Claims that at the end of the third quarter this year, “China’s renewable energy generating capacity had reached 1.73 terawatts, a year-on-year increase of 25%.” Confusedly claims that the difference between the 25% increase in total renewable energy capacity and the 21% increase in the pace of renewable energy installations results from installing batteries and therefore improving the capacity factor of solar, but of course there is not particular reason why these figures ought to be close (it just indicates that growth is nearly exponential) and both numbers are nameplate capacities into which the batteries don’t figure at all. Claims China has installed more solar than the rest of the world combined this year, which is of course true. Claims Tesla’s installation of [utility-scale?] batteries this year is double that of last year, and that they have a two-year backlog of orders.
on 02024-11-26#video about #energy from bifacial #solar #photovoltaic panels mounted vertically in Ohio, showing production curves throughout the day, and how some reflectors on the ground change them. He says Sirius brand bifacial panels, from a company in Texas, are 45¢ a watt, assembled; cloudy days have about a third as much energy as sunny days, but affect the vertical panels less; and overall the vertical panels only produce 79% of the conventionally mounted south-facing bifacial panels. It looks like he’s using a roll of shiny wrapping paper for his ground reflector (he says it’s a large roll of mylar) and stretched it over wooden boxes, supported on pallets 20° from horizontal. Reflector results plot at 12’01". They’re still not as good as conventional south-facing panels (8% better than vertical bifacial panels without reflectors, but only 83% as good as bifacial south-facing panels) but maybe different reflector designs could improve this. The midday dip was only down to 150 watts per panel instead of the previous 100. Lots and lots of time-wasting talking-head footage, even if he is standing in front of a solar panel.
on 02024-09-17#solar #photovoltaic panels conventionally contain 30 cells in 3 10-volt strings, each with a bypass diode, but now “half-cut” cells are becoming popular to reduce resistive losses #energy
on 02024-09-12#Australia to build a 2GW #HVDC powerline to #Singapore to sell #solar #photovoltaic #energy
on 02024-08-21#video about #Sunamp phase-change thermal #energy-storage; apparently the Sunamp Thermino “thermal batteries” use sodium acetate as the phase-change material. This guy’s leaked 7 liters onto the floor, so Sunamp is replacing them under warranty with a new unit (model Sunamp UniQ eHW 12+ iPV, 14kWh of storage, 2800 watt continuous electrical load, contains 13.7ℓ of water, appliance tag in the video) which weighs 220kg. Supposedly it can charge the acetate at up to 3400W. He powers it off his #photovoltaic #solar panels on the roof, which generate 200 watts even on the “quite overcast” day he’s filming, though they look like several kilowatts peak. He also has electrical batteries for storage.
on 02024-08-13#SEIA touts #photovoltaic installations increasing in #USA in 02023: “For the first time in history, #solar accounts for over 50% of new electricity capacity added to the grid.” But it was still only 32.4 gigawatts! And of course its capacity factor is lower than the other 47%. Abigail Ross Hopper touts “helping America’s solar module manufacturing base grow 89% in 2023,” which would be great if were in the ballpark of China’s pricing. And also that manufacturing capacity only grew “from 8.5 GW to 16.1 GW”, presumably per year. #energy
on 02024-07-28#Australia #solar #photovoltaic and other renewable #energy: “In 2024, we expect at least 3.1 GW of rooftop solar and 2.5 to 3.0 GW of large-scale renewables to be added. If the large-scale power stations under construction progress on schedule, the total renewable capacity added in 2024 could exceed 6 GW.”
on 02024-06-18#photovoltaic #solar #energy report from this year with lots of data, covering the history of energy payback times (EPBT), irradiance, wafer thickness, efficiency history (including CIGS, CdTe, and perovskites), European fabs by manufacturing capacity, cumulative PV installation, percentage material composition of the modules (aluminum frame, glass, backsheet, adhesive, cells, junction box), experience curve, etc.
on 02024-06-18#solar #energy #predictions: “The global [#photovoltaic] cumulative capacity grew to 1.6 TW in 2023, up from 1.2 TW in 2022, with from 407.3 GW to 446 GW[1] of new PV systems commissioned – and [on] the order of an estimated 150 GW of modules in inventories across the world. After several years of tension on material and transport costs, module prices plummeted in a massively over-supplied market, maintaining the competitivity of PV even as electricity prices decreased after historical peaks in 2022.”
on 02024-06-18narrative #history of #solar (#photovoltaic and other) #energy generation, with a number of linecharts and the World Bank’s solar resource map
on 02024-06-18660 gigawatts of #solar #photovoltaic #energy installations expected in 02024 (dateline February 26) according to BloombergNEF’s “1Q 2024 Global PV Market Outlook”. #predictions “around 2,437,500 metric tonnes of polysilicon will be produced in 2024.” “Chinese producers will sell their polysilicon at US$6-7 per kilogram this year, while non-Chinese companies will sell at around US$22 per kilogram in early 2024.”
on 02024-06-18“Crystalline Silicon #Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, From the People’s Republic of #China: Final Results and Partial Rescission of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review; 2020” #USA #solar #politics #tariffs #subsidies
on 02024-06-16#history of #USA #solar #photovoltaic #energy trade barriers
on 02024-06-16#solar #photovoltaic panel #pricing in the #USA is closer to 20¢/W than 10¢/W. Also batteries: “Last summer, battery cell prices in China ranged from $120/kWh to $130/kWh but are expected to drop to $40/kWh or less this summer.” #energy
on 02024-06-16Last month: “Spanish developer Solaria says it bought 435 MW of #solar modules from an undisclosed supplier for €0.091 ([US]$0.09)/W. Kiwa PI Berlin confirms that average solar module prices for large-scale PV projects in Spain are now around €0.10/W.” #pricing #photovoltaic #energy
on 02024-06-16actual new #USA tariffs on EVs and #solar #photovoltaic panels from #China #toread
on 02024-06-16potential new #USA #tariffs on #EVs and #solar #photovoltaic panels from #China #toread #energy #politics
on 02024-06-16“Maxeon expands Mexico factory making tariff-free solar panels for US market” #solar #photovoltaic #energy #USA #politics news
on 02024-06-16#photovoltaic #energy #history growth by year #solar (this is where the table of cumulative total installed capacity is found, with numbers on mouseover of a barchart as well)
on 02024-06-15more #SEIA #USA #photovoltaic #energy data. Mentions that 6% of all US electrical generation is now #solar (though it’s unclear if this is nameplate capacity or generated energy). CSP remains marginal.
on 02024-06-08More from #SEIA’s #USA #photovoltaic #energy report (this is the executive summary): Florida installed 2.7 gigawatts in Q1 02024, Texas installed 2.6. New installations in the “commercial #solar segment” (“distributed solar projects with commercial, industrial, agricultural, school, government, or nonprofit offtakers, including remotely net-metered projects”) declined 34% from Q4 02023 to 434 megawatts. “Community solar” (“part of formal programs where multiple residential and non-residential customers can subscribe to the power produced by a local solar project and receive credits on their utility bills”) also declined, 32%, to 279 megawatts. Interestingly, SEIA here cites import tariffs as a major problem: “In this report, we’ve accounted for the updates to the Section 201 tariffs, notably the removal of the bifacial module exemption. And while the Section 301 tariffs were doubled (from 25% to 50%) for Chinese solar cells and modules, the tariff increase will not have a significant direct impact on the US solar industry, given the low volume (less than 0.1%) of Chinese imports. This report does not yet incorporate the impacts of potential new antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) on imports of crystalline silicon cells and modules from four Southeast Asia countries.” I somehow thought SEIA were among the people backing the tariffs; I guess I got that wrong! Apparently part of the spike here is that the AD/CVD had a temporary two-year waiver which just expired, and the cells imported under the waiver had to be utilized within 180 days. Most alarmingly: “While [the expectation of installing 40 gigawatts a year over the next five years] is certainly proof of the solar industry’s strong standing in the energy transition, it also represents a slowdown of industry growth. The growth patterns vary amongst segments, but average annual growth between now and 2029 is 3%.” They also have a set of cost breakdowns for “turnkey installed price”, coming in at 98¢ per watt for “utility-scale fixed-tilt”, slightly higher than last year and almost half due to about 40¢ for the PV module itself. Residential is at 325¢, with about 20¢ for the PV module.
on 02024-06-08#SEIA talks more about #USA #photovoltaic #energy: 11.8 gigawatts (“GWdc”) installed in Q1 02024, 9.8 of which was utility-scale #solar. Residential solar installations shrank 25% from a year ago to only 1.3 gigawatts, due to California.
on 02024-06-08#solar #energy update from the #USA in this #SEIA press release from two days ago about the “U.S. Solar Market Insight Q2 2024 report”: manufacturing capacity increases to 27 gigawatts in Q1 02024 (per year), 11.8 gigawatts pear year more than Q4 02023; 10 new gigawatts of utility-scale #photovoltaic deployed in Q1 (largely in Florida and Texas, but also including 686 megawatts in New Mexico and 546 megawatts in Ohio); and total US solar capacity (installed nameplate generation capacity, I think) is expected to double over the next five years, reaching 438 gigawatts by 02029. According to the slide at the top, solar represents 55% of new US electricity-generation capacity added in 02023 (“over 40 GW”) and 75% of new capacity in Q1 02024; the remainder is 9% of storage and 16% of wind. In 02023 storage was 14%, wind was 12%, natural gas was 17% (fairly steady since 02020), and “other” was 2%. Coal has been at zero since 02015.
on 02024-06-08#video on a nice #vanlife conversion for about US$900: 12-volt chest fridge (US$250), furniture from scrap wood or modified thrift-shop goods, metal bed frame off Craigslist, mattress (US$300), blackout curtains for #stealth-camping, custom insulation panels fit to (“ceramic” tinted) windows, 4 100W “Renogy” #photovoltaic #solar panels for #energy feeding two 100Ah LiFePO₄ batteries under the bed, no inverter, “shore power”, dc-to-dc charger for when driving, one-burner camping stove, 12-volt electric blanket, fuse panel under bed, smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector, “Renogy Rover” 40A charge controller. I think he’s maybe forgetting a lot of the costs and the real cost is a lot higher. USB fans for ventilation. Diesel space heater hooked up to a gas can screwed to the back door. Indiana plate C843CA. Two fire extinguishers. No toilet, uses public restrooms, bucket for emergencies. Showers at Planet Fitness, friends’, and truck stops.
on 02024-05-03#Al-Mundo-con-el-Mate apparently bought these 380-watt-peak #photovoltaic #solar #energy panels for his #vanlife, 20.83% efficient PERC, “Oushang Solar” brand OS-HM60-380. Currently US$160.
on 02024-05-02#Al-Mundo-con-el-Mate #video #vanlife about the electrical setup in their van. They use a US$350 “Daza” brand “pure-sine-wave” 1500-watt inverter which consumes 33 watts when idle, mostly to charge their laptops, and had to replace one of its MOSFETs at one point (though he misleadingly displays a 2N2222 at this point in the video), which was a huge problem because the particular US$5 transistor model was unavailable in #Argentina. (A commenter says he overpaid for the big inverter.) So he replaced it temporarily with a small 300W modified-square-wave inverter which “only” consumes 3 watts idle. The electrics boxes (built under one of their bench seats) are wooden, which I don’t think much of. Their #photovoltaic #solar panels are 380 watts peak, which is all they had space for on top of the Sprinter. The solar panels connect to an “Epever” brand 30-amp MPPT charge controller, and then they have a ridiculous 6-breaker 240VAC panel through which they’re running their 12-volt power (because 240-VAC breakers are much cheaper than 12-VDC breakers, like US$35 each?), plus some car fuses. He’s still confused about the difference between amps and amp-hours, again incorrectly describing his 2500-amp 275-amp-hour (each) gel batteries (GreensunSolar JFM275-12 if the photo he showed in a previous video isn’t fake news) as “275 amperes”. Again he shows the “Aleba” BC-1240 40-amp battery charger they use to charge from “shore power”. They chose lead-acid batteries instead of lithium so they could afford them without selling the van, although I think probably they could have gone with a much-lower-capacity battery, which he seems to agree with. One time he forgot he was charging the house batteries from the van’s starter battery (he has a switch) and drained it halfway.
on 02024-05-01#vanlife #video of carpenter Daniel Metrailler (IG @callejer0s_viajer0s) from Caseros, Entre Ríos, who built a 1400kg wood-siding-covered trailer out of phenolic to live in with his three dogs, pulling it behind his 01974 Peugeot 404, license plate UQX 538. The trailer’s brakes are activated by compression into the car, and it has a 6ℓ hot-water heater on the front of it. On top it has two 110-watt #photovoltaic #solar panels for electrical #energy and a “100 ampere” (probably erroneous) battery. The sides of the trailer have architectural-salvage windows with screens, so it’s about as far from a stealth-camping trailer as can be. The interior furnishings (drawers, cabinets, kitchen countertop) appear to be wood. He’s removed the stove he used to have in favor of a small gas burner next to the sink, powered by a gas cylinder under the sink; vinyl fake-ceramic wall tiles line the kitchen wall. He still has a 220-volt fridge, but his inverter is insufficient to run it. The bed is a loft level about head height which can be moved aside to allow you to stand up, ceiling height 192cm. The air conditioner runs off 12 volts. Mateo of #Al-Mundo-con-el-Mate reveals his height as 176cm. There’s a bathroom with a sink and super-luxury shower, with cuerina (naugahyde) to keep the water vapor in. The toilet is a baño seco, a separating toilet with sawdust to dehydrate the poop; he made the urine separator out of PVC pipe.
on 02024-05-01#stories-from-a-van #stealth-camping #vanlife #video. Has 200 watts peak of monocrystalline #photovoltaic panels for #energy autonomy, dropping down to 20 watts on cloudy days. Reviews dc-to-dc chargers, automatic charging relays, “shore power” (plugging the car into an outlet), etc. He did the Nissan NV200 (car) conversion in 02018, with only 100 amp hours of deep-cycle lead-acid, after an earlier fancier Mercedes Sprinter conversion with 400 amp hours of LiFePO₄ batteries; he says it no longer makes sense to use lead-acid batteries because LiFePO₄ only costs 40% more. (That was August 6, 02021.)
on 02024-04-29#IEA #energy investment report in 02023 covering #photovoltaic, fossil fuels, nuclear, etc.; they say that in 02023 US$1740 billion in 02022 dollars will be invested in "clean energy" but are counting things like #electric-cars. This is up from about US$1225 billion in 02022 dollars in 02019 and exceeds the US$1050 billion in fossil-fuel investment, which is pretty steady since 02016. Renewable power investment in particular is some US$659 billion, up from US$451B in 02019. Nuclear is only US$63B. #Pricing for solar panels has remained steady since 02019.
on 02023-07-12The experience curve or learning curve for #photovoltaic #pricing is called “Swanson’s Law”
on 02022-05-26we’ve just crossed 1 terawatt of installed #photovoltaic #energy generation capacity due to 183 GW installed in 02021, with a doubling time a bit under three years. Tongwei says they’ll have a million tonnes of polysilicon production by 02027; currently 3 g per (peak?) watt is needed.
on 02022-05-21IEA #WEO says #solar #photovoltaic #pricing is now the “cheapest electricity in history” and offers the chance to stop global warming. “New utility-scale #solar projects now cost $30-60/MWh in Europe and the US and just $20-40/MWh in China and India.” Includes a plot of the IEA’s abysmal past record predicting solar — from which we can see that PV’s exponential growth did in fact smash into a wall in 02017, when 95 GW were installed, up from 46 GW in 02014, 25 GW in 02011, and 7 GW in 02008. The WEO’s figure for 02020 is 103 GW, nothing like the 196 GW you'd expect if the exponential trend had continued. #CC by-nc-nd #climate-change #energy #pricing #history
on 02021-01-24“I made a graph showing the historic track record of the IEA in predicting solar: reality steeply increasing but IEA is having none of it.” #solar #photovoltaic #history #energy but no pricing. Also, ends in 02016. #WEO
on 02021-01-24Tableau data explorer of #USA #solar PPA #pricing (mostly #photovoltaic) historical data since 2006
on 02021-01-21in August, 02019, analyst Tom Heggarty speculates that recent low #photovoltaic PPAs like Portugal’s US$16.48/MWh #pricing represent not the true LCoe but a bet that the market value of the #solar plant in 15 years will be substantially higher than it is today, because the market price of electrical #energy is, like, US$34/MWh or US$56/MWh: after the PPA is over they can sell on the spot market. VP of Development at Scale Microgrids @duncan__c agreed on Twitter, and BNEF analys Jenny Chase also confirmed that “seemingly negative NPV PPA bids” are now common
on 02021-01-21Electrical #energy #pricing in the #USA in 02019 for new PPAs averaged US$27.40 per megawatt hour, down 4.7% from 02018, including non-renewables. #Solar, nearly all #photovoltaic, dropped slightly, wind rose slightly. #Google was the biggest buyer globally.
on 02021-01-21#solar #energy #pricing record in January 02020 in #Qatar was US$15.67 per megawatt hour (US$0.01567/kWh) with a 25-year PPA for 800 MW #photovoltaic
on 02021-01-21#Don-Lancaster’s 2020 blog, covering power electronics #hardware, the CMOS cookbook, hanging canals, HVAC efficiency, #photovoltaic #energy, and so on.
on 02020-11-11#photovoltaic #pricing information provided as a PNG, again including not just cells but various kinds of inputs. #energy
on 02020-11-11weekly #photovoltaic #pricing information, not just cells but various kinds of inputs. #energy
on 02020-11-11Article from 2019-04-19: Solarpack Corp. Tecnológica won a contract in Chile to build a 120-megawatt #photovoltaic #energy plant in the Atacama desert and sell the energy at US$29.10 per megawatt-hour. “As part of this current deal, families and business owners in Chile will see their electricity bill fall by 20 and 25 percent, respectively, from 2021.”
on 02019-07-05more on #photovoltaic lifetime. #energy
on 02019-02-11#photovoltaic lifetime and degradation data. #solar #energy
on 02019-02-11#energy including #solar #photovoltaic, wind, and utility-scale energy storage
on 02019-02-11utility-scale #photovoltaic power plants in #USA. #energy
on 02019-02-09even in 2016 #nuclear #energy cost more than #photovoltaic to build, by an order of magnitude
on 02019-02-092014 #solar #photovoltaic #energy capacity factors in the #USA are estimated at 13%–19%, averaging 16%, including rooftop installations, but the EIA estimated 28% for utility-scale installations in 2016, which may be a few percent too high, with 25.2% perhaps being more accurate; but it varies greatly by state, from 28.1% in California, 27.0% in Arizona, 26.7% in Nevada, and 25.8% in New Mexico, down to 15.5% in Maine and 16.1% in Pennsylvania.
on 02019-02-09Chuck McManis is skeptical that #photovoltaic #solar #energy is going to get more expensive
on 02019-01-28#photovoltaic #solar panels are expected to rise in price by 10% to 15% over the next couple of years — by a Chinese solar-panel company executive speaking at Davos! #energy #cartels
on 02019-01-28in German, historical by-month spot #market prices for crystalline #photovoltaic #energy modules. Now at €0.19 per peak watt for low-cost panels!
on 02018-12-282.5 GW of #photovoltaic #energy production installed in the #USA in 1Q 2018, 55% of all new electrical generating capacity, but up only 13% from a year earlier. 2010 849 MW, 2011 1900 MW, 2012 3400 MW, 2013 4800 MW, 2014 6200 MW, 2015 7500 MW, 2016 15.1 GW, 2017 10.6 GW, 10.6 GW forecast for 2018, from SEIA and GTM Research.
on 02018-06-12The #Suniva #photovoltaic tariff hearing. #USA #energy #politics
on 02017-09-10#USA #photovoltaic #energy #predictions: Morgan Stanley says, ‘“by 2020, renewables will be the cheapest form of new-power generation across the globe,” with the exception of a few countries in Southeast Asia.’ Also, ‘the price of #solar panels has fallen 50% between 2016 and 2017.’
on 02017-08-06Massachusetts, #USA, installed 1.6 gigawatts of #solar #photovoltaic power in 2012–2017, its goal for 2020, and so it’s going to try installing another 1.6 gigawatts by 2022, citing a 5-year 64% decline in installation costs. #energy
on 02017-07-23#solar #photovoltaic #energy is “now” (2017-06-09 I guess) 1.6% of #USA electricity, and should reach 2% by the end of 2017, despite #Trump, according to SEIA. Also mentions #Suniva. Naïve extrapolation of such a 25%-semestral exponential growth rate would project that solar would reach 25% of total US electric supply 5.7 years later, around August 2022.
on 02017-06-17utility-scale #photovoltaic #solar #energy prices in #USA are below US$1 per peak watt now, including the whole plant cost. It was 39% of new US electricity generating capacity additions in 2016 (compared to 29% natural gas, 26% wind, and 6% coal) and 30% of new capacity additions in Q1 2017, but presumably that’s before you derate it for its lower capacity factor.
on 02017-06-14“Tucson Electric Power…igned a 20-year power purchase agreement with NextEra #Energy Resources to buy #solar power from a new 100-megawatt solar power plant that will be built and operated by NextEra” for “less than 3 cents per kilowatt-hour. … the unsubsidized cost of electricity from fossil fuels has a low end of about 4.8 cents per kilowatt-hour in the US. … The average cost of residential electricity in the US is 13 cents per kilowatt-hour and the average cost for commercial customers is 10.5 cents per kilowatt-hour." #photovoltaic
on 02017-06-07#solar #photovoltaic #energy #politics "Suniva" tries to impose punitive tariffs on silicon photovoltaic cells of US$0.40/W for four years.
on 02017-05-24a 2016 #paper on #solar #energy payback times and EROEI (“EROI”) and life-cycle analysis (LCA) and net energy analysis (NEA). In particular fixed ground-mounted “multicrystalline” silicon #photovoltaic cells have EPBT of 0.9 to 2.1 years depending on irradiation (insolation), and an EROEI of 15 to 35. This is surprising because that’s pretty much what it was when NREL published an EPBT analysis around 2001 or so.
on 02016-12-21National Geographic documentary #video about Adani’s new #solar #photovoltaic #energy plant that was built in 8 months in #India. Seems like they graded the site but didn’t concrete it, and use a dry robotic brushing system to clean the panels.
on 02016-12-21discussion of #energy; mentions capacity factors of 32.2% for wind and 25.8% for utility-scale #solar #photovoltaic in the US in 2015. Includes the rather terrifying report from Japan, “They are clear cutting forest to put up installations everywhere.”
on 02016-12-21#solar #photovoltaic #energy is now cheaper than wind at US$1.65 million capex per megawatt (nameplate I guess). And the latest auctioned solar contracts (US$29.10/MWh in Chile) are half the price of coal energy.
on 02016-12-21#solar #photovoltaic EROEI just crossed oil #energy at about 14:1 or 15:1
on 02016-12-21discussion of how #solar #photovoltaic EROEI just crossed oil #energy at about 14:1 or 15:1
on 02016-12-21More #solar #photovoltaic #energy #predictions. The Powerwall sold out, selling a billion dollars’ worth of batteries in a year or so.
on 02016-10-07Still more about the #solar #photovoltaic #energy project in Abu Dhabi, #UAE. Lots of #predictions.
on 02016-10-07a “looming glut of panels” should send #photovoltaic prices down again at last, 10% to 44.7¢/W (Wp I suppose) in the last 6 weeks and maybe another 15% by the end of the year, maybe even catching up to their former exponential curve; global panel production capacity should grow 18% in 2016. Mentions that there was a “two-year slump” starting in late 2011 due to this happening before. “World’s largest panel maker” is Trina, and its shipments are actually falling in the third quarter. #China is the world’s biggest market, installing 22 GW in the first half of 2016 before subsidies expired on June 30, and probably 6 to 8 GW in the rest of the year. “Global installations this year may reach about 67 gigawatts, up 27 percent from last year, according to New Energy Finance. In 2017, it’s expected to increase by 25 percent, and in 2018 it will rise 23 percent.” #solar #energy
on 02016-10-07More details about the Abu Dhabi Sweihan #solar #photovoltaic project auction. #UAE
on 02016-10-07“Huge growth in PV and wind helped renewables grow to over 30% of installed global power”; that seems to be 30% of electrical generation, not 30% of world marketed #energy consumption. More than half of that 30% is still hydroelectric. 181 gigawatts of #solar #photovoltaic was the installed capacity in 2014, with a 51% annual growth rate over the previous 10 years, and 211 TWh were produced with it. 154 GW of renewables were added in 2015 (at a cost of US$286 billion, or US$1.86 per watt; unfortunately the article doesn’t give broken-out numbers for PV and wind, just a total across all renewables) and 97 GW of conventional generation.
on 02016-10-07Even in the US, #solar #photovoltaic #energy panel #pricing is US$370 for a 265-watt panel, US$1.40 per watt. This uses 19%-efficient cells.
on 02016-07-11A 250-watt peak #solar #photovoltaic #energy panel costs AR$7000 (=US$467) now here. That’s US$1.87 per watt, which is almost four times what such modules supposedly cost in bulk. The brand is “Luxen”. 20kg, 1640mm × 992 mm × 40mm, suggesting about 15% efficiency. #pricing
on 02016-07-11Capacity factors of industrial #solar #photovoltaic systems with north-south axis trackers “are reaching just over 30 percent at the best sites in the U.S.” at a cost of US$1.50 per watt.
on 02016-05-04#photovoltaic #energy is cheaper in India than new coal plants now: “a new record low in January with the auction of 420 megawatts in Rajasthan at 4.34 rupees a kilowatt-hour. In comparison coal tariffs range between 3-5 rupees/kWh.”
on 02016-04-19Jordan is installing a 5 km² 160MW #photovoltaic #solar plant outside Ma’an; Jordan imports 96% of its #energy as fossil fuels, amounting to 10% of its GDP. China, since 2015 the biggest producer of solar energy, subsidizes PV plants, now producing 3% of its electricity; it’s expected to install 12GW in the first half of 2016. India, the other leading country, is still shooting for just 100GW in 2022; KPMG thinks solar will provide 12.5% of India’s energy by 2025. “Such is the frenzy that officials in sunny Punjab are urging farmers to lease their land to solar developers rather than till it.” Global solar-energy capacity rose by 26% last year. Saudi company Acwa Power won a 200MW contract in Dubai in 2014 at a levelized cost of “less than $60/MWh”; Acwa also built the world’s largest #CSP plant, in Morocco, and bought a 50MW Jordanian plant initially started by Greek company Sunrise. Italian company Enel Green Power won a 20-year contract in Perú in February for “just under $48/MWh” and a “similarly lengthy” contract in Coahuila for “about $40/MWh”.
on 02016-04-16#photovoltaic and other renewable #energy sources are now adding capacity (?) faster than other sources of electricity.
on 02016-02-22historical by-month spot #market prices for crystalline #photovoltaic #energy modules. Until August 2013, they also tracked thin-film modules. They’re now at about €0.5 to €0.7 per peak watt (“Wp”), with very little price change over the last year (!!). In China they’re €0.56 now, €0.57 in July 2015, €0.54 in January 2015, €0.55 in July 2014, €0.58 in January 2014, €0.56 in July 2013, €0.53 in January 2013, €0.64 in July 2012, €0.79 in January 2012, €1.12 in July 2011, €1.47 in January 2011, €1.62 in July 2010; and €2.17 at their farthest-back datum of May 2009. Optimistically this is no change over three years; pessimistically it’s a 6% price increase! This is all the more surprising given the 36% per year price decreases over the previous two and a half years. Another two years of such price decreases would reach the magic 25¢ per peak watt that Don Lancaster thinks will be needed to go net energy positive.
on 02016-02-18#solar #photovoltaic #energy is only four times less CO₂ intensive than conventional grid electricity if the panels are made in China and installed in northern Europe, assuming you don’t have to worry about intermittency.
on 02015-11-03crystalline silicon #photovoltaic #solar cells have fallen “to $0.4-0.5/W with fair efficiency in early 2015”. #energy
on 02015-10-07Tom Murphy worrying about economic #collapse from an #energy crunch in 2011, using NREL #EROEI figures about #photovoltaic modules from 2000. From my point of view, a 4-year energy payback time is the same as a 25% limit on the annual economic growth rate: if energy is like super expensive and PV is the only way to get it, then making PV cells will consume nearly all of the energy produced with them, and we can expect the amount of PV power available to double every three years under those circumstances, even if no fossil fuel is available. In 2010 the world produced 31.4 TWh of #solar energy and marketed 148000 TWh of all energy, so about 12 doublings were needed for solar to reach world marketed energy consumption. At three years per doubling, that would be around 2046. The availability of some fossil fuels can only accelerate that trend, under capitalism, anyway. (He makes a good point that a central planner might very easily prefer to devote today’s energy to today's needs instead of investing it to produce returns tomorrow.)
on 02015-08-15Tom Murphy dooming about #collapse as of 2012 because #energy. Specifically he’s worried that an #oil crunch “within the decade” will make #transportation very expensive, which will cause the #economy to collapse, and then we won’t be able to make #photovoltaic solutions. This is causing him a motivational crisis because he worries that his scientific work will be lost in the collapse.
on 02015-08-15