Solar panel blast triggers panic

Panic spread in the busy Sayajigunj area on Wednesday morning when a deafening blast rocked a lane opposite traffic police station. It took a while for locals to realize that the bang that travelled for quite a distance came from the terrace of Asopalav (Sharad) apartments.

One of the five huge solar panels installed on the terrace broke down after a blast occurred in it at 9.45 am. The hot water and glass pieces got strewn across the terrace.

Interestingly, the panels weighing thousands of kilos were being used for heating water that was used by Surya Hotel adjacent to the apartment. Residents of the apartment accused the hotel owner Hasmukh Shah of illegally installing the panels on their building terrace. Shah, however, refuted the charges and said that the panels were installed legally as he owns a flat in the building. "We had opposed Shah when he tried to install the panels the terrace in January this year. But, he went ahead and installed such heavy panels that are dangerous for our 35 year old building. The blast also shows how they can be hazardous for the residents," said Ketan Purohit, who stays on first floor.

"When we locked the terrace, the hotel authorities broke it. We immediately approached the police to register complaint. But, the cops just accepted our application. Instead of questioning Shah, the cops harassed us by incessant probing. We also approached the fire-brigade officials but they too didn't act. Instead, they told us that the building is technically fit to sustain weight of the panels," Purohit told TOI.

The residents had also a filed suit in February this year requesting that the panels be removed from their terrace. "We wrote to state principal secretary, energy and petrochemicals D J Pandian in March this year informing him about the illegal installation and trespassing. All the residents have been running from pillar to post but it has not yielded any results. What if someone would have suffered injuries or died during the blast?" questioned another resident Janak Pawar.

Shah, who owns the hotel, said, "The installation is legal and I have certificate from structural engineer stating that the building can support the solar panels. The suppliers are sending their technical team to know the reasons behind the blast. It is not such a big issue."

When asked whether he is contemplating to remove the panels, Shah said if the technical team advises, he may remove them.

Solar customers furious with utility over proposed rate change

Homeowners who sank thousands of dollars into solar power systems are hopping mad at San Diego Gas & Electric Co.'s proposal to charge them for using the electrical grid.

"I'm new to solar," said Rich Perkins, an Escondido homeowner. "On Monday they turned my system on, and Monday was when they (SDG&E) filed papers to do some kind of rate hike for solar customers. It's frustrating to somebody like me."

Solar installers are right there with him in their outrage. Daniel Sullivan, owner of Sullivan Solar Power in San Diego, said customers have been calling him all week.

"The whole concept SDG&E is putting forth is ludicrous," he said.

On Monday, SDG&E filed a request to the California Public Utilities Commission that would allow it to separate how much it charges customers for electricity from how much it charges to transport that electricity. For traditional customers, the change would have little impact on their total bill. But solar customers would end up paying an average of $11 extra per month, according to utility spokeswoman Stephanie Donovan.

Donovan said the utility sees the change as a question of fairness, but solar installers and solar customers such as Perkins feel blind-sided.

"I put up a big array," Perkins said. "I have a family of five, so I'm trying to do the right thing. SDG&E preaches conserve, conserve, conserve, then when you go conserve or do other things to make your life better and to reduce greenhouse gas and all that, they do everything they can to snuff that out."

Perkins bought his panels under the current rates to take advantage of "net metering."

When his solar panels produce a kilowatt-hour during the day that he doesn't use, the utility credits him for a kilowatt-hour he uses at night, when his panels are dormant. For many solar customers, net metering can lead to dramatically lower electric bills, and often a bill close to zero.

But in SDG&E's view, this means those customers aren't paying for the work the utility does to maintain its grid. Solar customers produce electricity, which the utility buys; but they also use the lines, whether to draw power in at night, or to pump it out during the day, said J.C. Thomas, SDG&E's manager for government and regulatory affairs, in an interview last week.

Under current rates, non-solar-power customers are covering the expense of the grid for solar customers, Thomas said. By SDG&E's calculations, an average solar-power customer receives an $1,100 subsidy from SDGE's 1.4 million customers, or a total of $15 million a year.

But solar-power customers aren't buying that argument.

"I'm thinking, 'Now, wait a minute,'" said Tim Regello, a local government employee living in San Marcos with a 7-kilowatt solar system. "In the daytime, my system overproduces, I'm putting my electricity into the grid. It's not going to them (SDG&E), it's going to other people that need it during the day, my neighbors. It seems like they're (SDG&E) double-dipping on the charges."

Other customers said the utility benefited by not having to build extra infrastructure.

"One of the rationales for solar being good for the state, and good for the utilities, is the idea that it reduces the need for the purchase of new generating plants and transmission lines and so on, which actually have a benefit to all customers," said Chris Brewster, a retired chief lifeguard who has a solar system on his San Diego house.

Brewster also disputed SDG&E's argument that solar customers pay nothing for the grid. He forwarded his electric bill to the North County Times.

"Note that they charged me $5.10 for 'distribution,' and that they define this as: 'This line reflects charges to distribute power to customers. It includes power lines, poles, transformers, repair crews and emergency services," he wrote in an email.

Sullivan said that he is worried about the potential changes. By his calculations, SDG&E's new charge would recoup $8 million a year. But mostly, he doesn't buy the whole concept of a subsidy.

"The energy produced by a solar homeowner, it leaves their house and it goes next door, or it goes down the street, so they're not using the distribution grid the way SDG&E is representing it," he said. "They're reducing the stress on the grid."

Sunny outlook for emirates in drive for more solar energy

Shiny blue panels are harvesting the sun's energy on Abu Dhabi's roofs, and Dubai is soon to unroll its own solar programme, officials said yesterday.

The transition to clean energy will be hastened by falls in the price of solar-panel technology, already down by half from three years ago, say industry executives.

"The decline in the cost of solar energy over the past few years has made our solutions much more competitive in the power portfolio," said Sami Khoreibi, the founder of Enviromena, a UAE solar company that installed some of the roof panels.

"If you look at any of the other sources of energy, they're only going up in price."

Solar power has taken longer to find support among investors in the region because it is regarded as more expensive than conventional fuel..

But the falling price of solar technology, driven by competition from Chinese companies, is set to speed up its adoption.

UAE officials have set ambitious solar targets - 7 per cent in Abu Dhabi by 2020 and 5 per cent in Dubai by 2030. Yesterday Masdar, the Abu Dhabi Government's clean energy company, announced a milestone in reaching that goal: 2.3 megawatts of solar roof panels. A total of 500 megawatts of roof panels is planned for the capital by the end of the decade.

It "is clearly the first step toward a larger solar incentive programme", said Mr Khoreibi.

Dubai could install as much as 90 megawatts of solar power to reach its 1 per cent renewables target in the next nine years.

"We're monitoring the technology on solar and renewables," said Nejib Zaafrani, the chief executive of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, the policymaking body. "As the technology evolves on improving the cost and improving the efficiency in terms of the value, then we will change."

Dubai is studying sites for potential solar installations would announce a "very big" solar project soon, said Saeed Al Tayer, the chief executive of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority.

But solar companies and investors say they need a guarantee that solar power will fetch good prices.

First Solar's Record Efficiency May Best China Solar Panels

First Solar Inc., which achieved record efficiency for a thin-film solar cell, will incorporate the advance into its manufacturing technology next quarter to outpace cost reductions by Chinese rivals and compete against fossil fuels without government aid.

First Solar developed a cell that converts 17.3 percent of sunlight into electricity and applying those techniques may yield conversion rates of 15.3 percent in mass production, said Chief Technology Officer David Eaglesham. That compares with 11.7 percent the company averaged in the second quarter.

"There were about a dozen changes that we'll be phasing into production," starting in the fourth quarter, Eaglesham said in an interview at the company's factory in Perrysburg, Ohio, on Sept. 2. He didn't say when the improvements will be fully implemented.

First Solar is the world's largest thin-film company and the reductions may make it the first in the solar industry to compete on price with fossil fuels without subsidies, said Mark Bachman, an analyst at Avian Securities LLC. That would be a victory for President Barack Obama, who is under fire for supporting Solyndra LLC, a competing company that received $535 million in U.S. loan guarantees before filing for bankruptcy on Sept. 6. First Solar has $5.35 billion in federal loan guarantees.

"First Solar is leading the pack," Bachman said in an interview from Boston. "Tax credits will help for the next five years, and they can stand on their own after that."

First Solar shares fell $1.79, or 2.1 percent, to $83.91 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, after a report from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. today predicted slow demand growth this year for solar panels. The company has fallen 36 percent this year, outperforming the 53 percent slump in the Bloomberg Industries Large Solar index. Solar companies tumbled as demand slowed and subsidies were pared in Germany and Italy, two of the biggest markets, and prices for panels dropped.

Already, First Solar has the lowest costs in the industry, producing so-called thin-film solar panels for 73 cents a watt. The higher efficiency levels will drive those costs down further, making the panels more attractive than traditional photovoltaics.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has mostly avoided funding polysilicon-based panels, betting on thin-film to drive down the installed cost of solar power to $1 a watt by 2020, a 75 percent reduction from the current industry average. That would make solar cheaper than buying power from utilities that mostly consume coal and natural gas.

Based in Tempe, Arizona, First Solar uses cadmium telluride as a semiconducting material, applying it in a film directly to glass in an automated process. Traditional PV products are made from polysilicon, which must be made in furnaces, sliced into wafers, formed into cells and assembled into panels.

Both technologies differ from Solyndra, which used a thin film made of copper, indium, gallium and selenium to conduct electricity through tubes of glass mounted to a metal frame. The process yielded panels that were attractive when polysilicon traded as high as $475 a kilogram in 2008. They were too costly to compete when the raw material sank to $50 last year.

China Sunergy Receives MCS Certificate to Produce Photovoltaic Solar Panels

China Sunergy Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: CSUN) ("China Sunergy" or "The Company"), a specialized solar cell and module manufacturer, today announced that the Company has been awarded a Certificate under the UK Microgeneration Certification Scheme issued by BABT (British Approvals Board for Telecommunications) for its modules. BABT is an accredited MCS certification body and one of the world's leading certification bodies, whose global brand is widely respected. The certificate, which is valid through April 24, 2014, authorizes CSUN photovoltaic solar panels to be sold with the MCS approved product mark.

With this MCS certificate, China Sunergy is in a better position to expand in the U.K. market, further diversify its customer base and build up brand recognition for its solar module products. The concept behind the MCS certificate is to reduce the UK's reliance on fossil fuels and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. MCS underpins government policies on low carbon and renewable onsite energy technologies and supports the UK's overall effort in meeting EU 2020 Renewable Obligations targets.

Mr. Stephen Cai, the Chief Executive Officer of CSUN, commented, "We are very pleased with this news. This is not only a recognition of our product quality, but also a great opportunity for CSUN to step into the UK, an emerging yet strategically important market for our solar products."

About China Sunergy Co., Ltd.

China Sunergy Co., Ltd. is a specialized manufacturer of solar cell and module products in China. China Sunergy manufactures solar cells from silicon wafers, which utilize crystalline silicon solar cell technology to convert sunlight directly into electricity through a process known as the photovoltaic effect, and assembles solar cells into solar modules. China Sunergy sells these solar products to Chinese and overseas module manufacturers, system integrators, and solar power systems for use in various markets.