A recent report from the USA has found return on investment from solar power is higher than any other renewable energy source.
The report entitled "Global Solar Inverter Markets", released by SBI Energy, states the payback period for a typical solar PV-based project has reduced from 7-10 years to 3-5 years currently.
This has also been the case for home solar power in some Australian states, where payback time on rooftop solar arrays can be under 4 years. With electricity prices rapidly increasing, investment in a home solar power system can in some scenarios provide a better return than putting the equivalent money in the bank.
SBI predicts the cost of solar power production will decrease by half every ten years, reaching $1 a watt by 2020 and as low as $0.50 per watt by 2030. Further reductions after that time are also possible due to large scale adoption of PV technology and the ongoing development of low cost production sites in China, Taiwan and other Asian countries.
SBI says cumulative PV installations have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 35% since 2000, reaching 40 GW globally in 2010; and are estimated to reach 400 GW by 2020.
SBI expects to see a short-term lull in the European Union PV market, mainly due to solar feed in tariff rate cuts and some regulatory issues, but this will be offset by installations in North America and Asia. The research firm believes China is likely to reach the 1 GW cumulative installation mark during this year.
Global Solar Inverters Markets covers the PV component sector; with a detailed analysis of PV cells, solar panels, wafers, polysilicon and solar inverters. In regard to the latter, SBI Energy estimates that the global solar inverter market, currently valued between $5.5- 5.8 billion, will hit $7.5 billion in 2015. A solar inverter is a device that convert DC electricity generated by a solar panel into AC power; suitable for use by standard home appliances.
2011年4月28日星期四
Nanosolar Snares a Gigawatt in Orders for its Thin-Film Solar Panels
Is thin really back in?
Thin-film solar, that is. Nanosolar announced Thursday that it had signed contracts to supply up to one gigawatt of its thin-film photovoltaic panels to European solar power plant builders over the next three to six years.
Nanosolar is one of several Silicon Valley startups that have attracted billions of dollars in venture capital to develop a thin-film technology called copper indium gallium selenide, or CIGS. Such solar cells use little expensive silicon, the main ingredient of conventional photovoltaic cells.
Thin-film cells can be printed on glass or flexible materials and though they’re less efficient at converting sunlight into electricity, the big pitch was that they can be manufactured at a lower cost. But then came a 50 percent fall in the price of conventional crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules as Chinese manufacturers rapidly ramped up production and many CIGS companies backed off their earlier optimistic projections.
And so those impressive 10-figure orders from customers need to be taken with a grain of salt as they don’t always materialize. For instance, in September 2009, Nanosolar announced a whopping $4.1 billion in orders and a manufacturing capacity of 640 megawatts at its German plant.
A year later when I met with a Nanosolar executive at the Solar Power International confab in Los Angeles, he acknowledged that not all those orders would be fulfilled, given the state of the economy and falling solar cell prices. The company had also ratcheted back its estimated manufacturing capacity. (On Thursday, Nanosolar said it would have an annual capacity of 115 megawatts by this fall.)
The latest orders are with two German companies, Belectric and Plain Energy, and with EDF Energies Nouvelles, a unit of the French energy giant. The developers will deploy the Nanosolar Utility Panel in photovoltaic power plants.
“Through this partnership with Nanosolar, we look forward to achieving a very competitive levelized cost of energy for our solar installations,” David Corchia, EDF Energies Nouvelles, said in a statement.
Thin-film solar, that is. Nanosolar announced Thursday that it had signed contracts to supply up to one gigawatt of its thin-film photovoltaic panels to European solar power plant builders over the next three to six years.
Nanosolar is one of several Silicon Valley startups that have attracted billions of dollars in venture capital to develop a thin-film technology called copper indium gallium selenide, or CIGS. Such solar cells use little expensive silicon, the main ingredient of conventional photovoltaic cells.
Thin-film cells can be printed on glass or flexible materials and though they’re less efficient at converting sunlight into electricity, the big pitch was that they can be manufactured at a lower cost. But then came a 50 percent fall in the price of conventional crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules as Chinese manufacturers rapidly ramped up production and many CIGS companies backed off their earlier optimistic projections.
And so those impressive 10-figure orders from customers need to be taken with a grain of salt as they don’t always materialize. For instance, in September 2009, Nanosolar announced a whopping $4.1 billion in orders and a manufacturing capacity of 640 megawatts at its German plant.
A year later when I met with a Nanosolar executive at the Solar Power International confab in Los Angeles, he acknowledged that not all those orders would be fulfilled, given the state of the economy and falling solar cell prices. The company had also ratcheted back its estimated manufacturing capacity. (On Thursday, Nanosolar said it would have an annual capacity of 115 megawatts by this fall.)
The latest orders are with two German companies, Belectric and Plain Energy, and with EDF Energies Nouvelles, a unit of the French energy giant. The developers will deploy the Nanosolar Utility Panel in photovoltaic power plants.
“Through this partnership with Nanosolar, we look forward to achieving a very competitive levelized cost of energy for our solar installations,” David Corchia, EDF Energies Nouvelles, said in a statement.
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