Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Suntech's Lianyungang City PV Power Plants

According to relevant agreements, Suntech intends to input a total of 2.5 billion yuan in building ground PV power plants in the coastal areas of Lianyungang City with a combined installed capacity of 100MW. It will be the largest PV power plant in Jiangsu Province.

The first phase project, with an investment of 500 million yuan and an installed capacity of 20MW, started construction in Banqiao Industrial Park of Lianyungang City on Mar.27, sources reported.

The project is planning to utilize about 600 mu of costal beach, and is scheduled to be operational by the year end.

(China Energy Net,Mar 30,2010)

Monday, March 8, 2010

Hunan Plans for Power from New Energy to Reach 18.45 Gigawatts by 2020

BEIJING--March 8, 2010--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Central China's Hunan province recently published the Stimulation Plan for New Energy Industry (2010-20), the Development and Reform Commission of Hunan Province announced March 3, 2010. According to the Plan, the installed capacity of new energy (excluding hydropower) in Hunan province will reach 18.45 gigawatts (GW) by 2020, accounting for about 35% of total installed capacity; the accumulative direct investment in new energy will reach about $44 billion; and the sales income from new energy equipment will exceed $73 billion.

Hunan has a proven uranium ore reserve of 26,000 tons, ranking the province third in China; a fundamental reserve of coal gangue resource of 1.07 million tons, accounting for 30% of the proven reserve in China. The province is also rich in resources such as coal-bed methane, biomass energy, wind power, and solar energy.

According to the plan, utilization of new energy will be focused on nuclear power, with diversified development in biomass, solar and wind energy. Among the 18.45 GW of installed capacity in new energy, there are 9.6 GW of nuclear power, 4 GW of coal gangue utilization, 2.3 GW of pumped-storage, 0.65 GW of wind power, and 1 GW of biomass power generation facilities. The province will try the best to begin construction of the 4,000-megawatt Phase I project of Taohuajiang Nuclear Power Station within this year, and to have the Phase I of Xiaomoshan Nuclear Power Station be included in the nation's nuclear power development plan. In addition, a batch of waste-to-energy projects, and a batch of wind power projects in the Dongting Lake, South Hunan and West Hunan regions will be built. The province also will begin implementation of its Roof Development Plan and the Golden Sun Program.

In the aspect of new energy equipment industry, the province will mainly focus on wind power equipment, solar energy equipment, thermal pumps, and hydrogen energy equipment. With XEMC Wind Power Company Limited (Xiangtan, Hunan) as the backbone enterprise, large wind-power generating sets will be developed; a gigawatt-level, crystal-silicon photovoltaic industry chain will be established; and the development of nuclear power related pumps, valves and vessels as well as energy-conservative industrial boilers and hydrogen-based equipment will be promoted.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project spending opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Prudent Energy sees minor pullback in storage space as it looks towards US and Chinese growth

Energy storage device manufacturer Prudent Energy president Tim Hennessy told NewNet there will be a general pullback in the energy storage space but the slowdown will not be as bad as previously anticipated.

Earlier this week, the energy storage technology developer raised $22m in a Series C financing round led by Chinese investment, which Hennessy said will go towards building its US sales in the renewable energy space.

‘Wind and the photovoltaic sector are primary aims for us, we will be looking at these two areas as our major thrust,’ he said.

The global economic downturn which has stalled many large-scale renewable energy projects has been felt downstream in the energy storage sector, Hennessy said, and cited the reduction in the Spanish market as particularly significant.

‘I certainly see margins as being squeezed and there is a lot more competition that has made those margins tighter. Going vertically down to the ancillary support services such as storage and smart grids, I think there will be a general pullback but it will be slower than people had originally envisaged.’

Prudent’s recent fundraising was oversubscribed, however, and led by investors in China, a particular area of focus for the firm since it switched its manufacturing base to Beijing last year.

New investors that committed funds in the round included Northern Light Venture Capital and Sequoia Capital China, with previous investors Draper Fisher Juryetson and DT Capital also taking part.

‘We are not only going to be focusing on Chinese funding but it is going to be a big piece of it. There is a lot of money available in China and it is looking for a home that it believes will give it a very good return,’ Hennessy said.

The flow batteries in Prudent’s portfolio were designed by Canadian start-up firm VRB Power Systems which Prudent acquired in January 2009 but Hennessey told NewNet it does not have any future acquisitions in the pipeline.

‘It will be an organic growth at this stage, partnering is one thing but we are not looking at acquisitions per se,’ he said.

For the next few months, the company is focused on expanding its production capabilities and expanding its presence in the North American markets.

‘The renewable portfolio standard targets and the initiatives the US government is driving are really pushing renewable penetration which obviously pulls along the storage element. We will be essentially reentering the US market in the next couple of months and part of the recent funding will be used to support those activities,’ Hennessey said.

He said the wind and solar sectors are particularly suited to Prudent’s product offerings as the large physical size of their storage devices is not hampered by the sites where these projects are built.

Also on the company’s radar are regions that are not connected to the grid and therefore rely on large energy storage for their electricity supply.

‘Alaska, Hawaii, some of the Mediterranean islands and the Caribbean are also very nice low-hanging fruit targets as well,’ he said.

But it is the scale with which China carries out its operations that has put it into focus for the coming year.

‘The primary focus is to have a local product in China for local supply for what is a very rapidly moving renewables space,’ Hennessey said.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins, says China ahead of US in Developing Clean Tech

China is leapfrogging ahead in the development of green technology, and the United States is "barely in the race," a prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist said on Thursday.

"China's growth in renewables is astounding," said John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins, one of the most prolific and successful venture capital firms in the United States. "The results of their policies are really staggering."

Kleiner Perkins, which typically invests in early-stage start-up companies, is best known for its investment in Netscape, Amazon (AMZN.O: Quote), Google (GOOG.O: Quote) and Genentech.

"My conclusion is China is winning," Doerr said. "My conclusion is that we are barely in the race today."

As an example, Doerr said, China grew its market share in the solar industry to nearly 50 percent in the fourth quarter of last year from just 2 percent three years earlier.

The United States, on the other hand, went from 43 percent to 16 percent in the same period.

China has also pushed ahead fast in developing wind power. It overtook the United States in new installations and in manufacturing of wind turbines last year, nearly doubling its wind generation capacity from 12,100 megawatts in 2008 to 25,100 megawatts at the end of 2009.

China still lags behind the United States in total wind generation, but experts say it may grab the No. 1 spot this year.

The Chinese government has aggressively encouraged green projects and new technologies through funding and regulation, while the U.S. industry, struggling from a lack of financing because of the credit crisis, is hoping for more action from Washington on federal renewable-energy policies.

Topray Solar Gets RMB 70m Golden Sun Subsidy

Shenzhen-based solar component company Topray Solar (002218.SZ) announced March 3 that its Shaanxi subsidiary has received an RMB 70 million subsidy from the government as part of the "Golden Sun" incentive program for Topray's 10MW photovoltaic project in Pucheng, Shaanxi province.

In October 2009, Topray Solar began to generate electricity from the first, 100KW solar module phase of its 10MW Shaanxi project.

Suntech Profit Hits $50m, Shipments Top Guidance

Photovoltaic module manufacturer Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE:STP) booked net income of $49.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, or $0.27 per diluted ADS, up from income of $29.8 million in the prior quarter and a loss in the year-ago period, Suntech announced March 4. Gross margin rose to 23.8% in the period from 17.8% in the third quarter of 2009 due to a drop in silicon wafer and processing costs, Suntech said. Total net revenues for the period came to $583.6 million, an increase of 23.4% sequentially and 40.8% annually.

For the full year 2009, net revenue fell to $1.69 billion from $1.92 billion in the previous year, which Suntech attributed to the decrease in the average selling price of PV products. Net income was $91.5 million, or $0.53 per diluted ADS. The company shipped 704MW in the full year, up 42% from 2008 and above the company's most recent estimate of between 640MW and 660MW.
www.EnergyChinaForum.com
Suntech expects first quarter 2010 shipments to increase by 5-10% sequentially, with gross margin in the range of 18-20%. The company said it expects to ship more than 1.25GW in the full year 2010 and reiterated its goal to expand its production capacity to 1.4GW of cells and modules by mid-2010, of which 450MW will be Pluto-enabled. Capital expenditures are expected to be roughly $200 million in 2010, up from $142.6 million in 2009.

Satcon Shipping 38 MW Of PowerGate Inverters To China

Satcon Technology Corp. has been selected to ship 38 MW of its PowerGate Plus 500 kW solar PV inverter solutions to GCL Solar Ltd., a China-based utility-scale solar power plant developer.

The inverters will be installed across three separate solar power plants and are in addition to the previously announced 23 MW supplied for projects in China, Satcon adds.

The first 10 MW site will be located in Youyu City, Shanxi province and will supply power to Shanxi International Power Solar Power Generation Ltd. Another 10 MW plant will be located in the Ningxia Hui Nationality Municipality, Shizuishan City, Pingluo County, and will supply power to Ningxia State Power CSI New Energy Developer Ltd.

An additional 20 MW site will be constructed in the first half of the year and is expected to be energized in late summer.

SOURCE: Satcon Technology Corp.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

German FIT Cuts for July

Germany’s cabinet has agreed for proposed cuts to solar feed-in tariffs (FITs) to begin in July, according to reports.

A government source told Reuters that the expected 16 per cent cut to rooftop photovoltaic installations as well as the 11 per cent decline to incentives for solar power sites on dumps and unused army bases have been approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet.

Most crucially for investors in large-scale projects, it has also agreed to cut out any incentives for installations to be built on converted farmland, put many future projects in jeopardy.

The plans will now need to be passed by the lower house of parliament which is expected to happen later this month, according to the news service.

The FITs had pushed Germany to the forefront of solar power but many in the industry have expressed concern as to the impact that any reduction may cause.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

China Sets Out Ten-year Plan to Boost Renewables

The Chinese government has put together a ten-year programme to boost the generation of clean energy and ensure it accounts for 15 per cent of the country’s electricity by 2020, according to reports.

Chinese state-owned newspaper China Daily said the government will invest billions in the construction of wind, solar and nuclear plants to realise its goal.

National Energy Administration chief Zhang Guobao said the programme will be made public soon but did not set out a specific date.

Official figures China has released show that renewable energy accounted for 9.9 per cent of the country’s total energy consumption last year, up from 8.5 per cent in 2008.

The country, as part of the Copenhagen Accord, has committed to cutting its carbon intensity - its carbon dioxide output per unity of gross domestic product - by up to 45 per cent by 2020 but it has so far refused to cap its carbon emissions.

A recent report by the Global Wind Energy Council found China to be the largest market in wind generation after a 100 per cent growth in 2009, taking its installed capacity to 25.1GW.

But last month new legislation into its offshore wind farms containing rules on the governance of offshore wind farms may shut out foreign investment into the sector.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Canadian Solar Optimistic about Prospects

Solar cell manufacturer Canadian Solar said it remains optimistic about its prospects in 2010 with an increasing customer base in emerging markets and the ability to leverage Canadian feed-in tariffs, as it posted a 2009 revenue decrease of about $40m.

Faulty equipment caused the company to cut its margin estimates in previous weeks but Canadian Solar chairman and CEO Dr Shawn Qu said its revenues had rebounded from first quarter figures towards the end of the year.

‘2009 was an important year for Canadian Solar. We made considerable progress in the growth of our company and built out our global customer base,’ Qu said in an earnings call today.

Revenues for the year totaled $663.8m, compared with $705m for 2008 with fourth quarter income increasing to $14.9m against a net loss of $49.2m for the fourth quarter of 2008.

During the year the company is aiming to increase its global presence and drive efficiency by increasing its internal manufacturing capability, Qu said.

‘We are aiming to be a top five module producer with a ten per cent market share in the next couple of years.’

For the first quarter of 2010, Canadian Solar expects shipments of approximately 180MW to 190MW and gross margins in the mid-teens. The company was less concrete on figures going forward but said it expects shipment growth in the second quarter accompanied by a relatively stable pricing environment.

Qu said new markets and new feed-in tariffs in Canada would hold-up demand.

‘We believe demand will remain strong in 2010 as new markets take hold and we continue to gain market share,’ he said.

‘We are also optimistic about Canada. We have started the selection and approval process in Ontario to maximise feed-in tariffs… We expect to gain traction in this new market.’

Canadian Solar recently completed and sold its first 250KW photovoltaic system in Ontario.

Qu cited Japan, Korea and Czech Republic as markets it plans to expand in during 2010 but said the firm will take a country-by-country strategy.

‘We are listening closely to the partners and customers in each market,’ he said.

‘We have delivered products to more than 300 customers in seven core markets and 18 secondary markets.’

The company revised its margin estimate for the fourth quarter 2009 from the high- to mid-teens on 19 February blaming faulty equipment at its new ingot and wafer plant.

It said its fourth quarter shipments totaled 155.5MW, including 146.5MW of module sales and approximately 6.5MW of off-spec solar cells.

It expects to have an equal or slightly higher volume of externally purchased cells than internally produced cells during the first half of the year.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Yingli Sundurance Deal

Yingli Green Energy (YGE) has signed a 10MW sales agreement with New Jersey based SunDurance to supply them with PV modules through the 3rd quarter of this year. The company’s have worked together before but this is the largest deal between the two as Yingli works to expand their business in the US.

Managing Director of Yingli Americas Robert Petrina commented: “Our growth strategy in the U.S. is focused heavily on the commercial and utility-scale markets, where we are pleased to have several projects already underway with SunDurance Energy and other large-scale developers. As today’s announcement signifies, we’re dedicated to not only building our customers’ loyalty and trust through our reliable products, but also through our ongoing superior customer support.”

Shares are up about 2% in premarket trading, but remain submerged below key resistance of both the 50 and 200 day moving averages.
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