Essex County residents are starting to notice solar panels popping up on PSE&G utility poles. But soon the panels won’t be hard to miss.
When the utility company’s plan is completed in 2013, 200,000 solar panels will be installed on utility poles in more than 300 municipalities across the state. It’s all part of PSE&G’s “Solar 4 All” program.
In July 2009, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) granted approval to PSE&G for the power company to invest more than $500 million in 80,000 kilowatts of solar projects.
The first of two major projects involves installing individual solar panels on utility poles; the second will create centralized solar gardens/farms on building rooftops and large tracts of land.
At the time, Ralph LaRossa, president and COO of PSE&G said in a press release, “Our program will effectively double the size of New Jersey’s installed solar capacity. That is more solar capacity than currently exists in any state other than California.”
PSE&G will receive federal tax credits and solar renewable energy credits, which will also be used to offset the cost to customers. The utility estimates the program will cost its average residential customer about 10 cents a month in the first year.
Individual panels, measuring approximately 2-feet by 5-feet, started appearing on poles in 2010, oftentimes to mixed emotions. The current phase of the project is advancing to the Caldwells, West Orange, Verona, Montclair and Cedar Grove.
Caldwell resident William Krusznis had a panel installed recently on a pole outside his Westville Avenue home.
“While I am not against the idea,” Krusznis said, “I think the panels are quite ugly and encroaching. I would suggest they inform people about it before and perhaps attempt to make them more attractive, maybe consider putting them higher on the poles or somewhere else all together.”
Montclair Councilman Cary Africk, a member of the Montclair Environmental Commission, has been vocal about his opposition to the project.
“I certainly support the alternate energy sources, but this is very unattractive. PSE&G has very large rights of way with their high-tension power line towers. Why aren’t they putting them [solar panels] there?”
Many blogs and websites are saturated with comments both pro and con. Those in favor say after complaints of global warming from greenhouse gases and the burning of fossil fuels, how can anyone object to solar energy? Another argument in favor of the panels says with the acceptance of telephone poles with multiple digital cable boxes and electric wires snaking through our towns already — what’s wrong with adding a solar panel?
Residents are also asking why these panels can’t be installed along the Garden State Parkway, the New Jersey Turnpike, routes 80, 280, and 78, etc. — and that’s just the northern part of the state.
David Weisman is the owner of Green Alternatives based in West Caldwell. Weisman, who calls himself a “solar geek,” offered his expertise.
“PSE&G is a local energy distribution company, under the regulation of the BPU. The high-tension power line towers are part of the regional electrical grid, PJM, an interstate transmission company whose territory stretches from the mid-Atlantic states, westward to Indiana and Illinois. They are under the purview of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, (FERC),” Weisman explained.
He added, “From a policy perspective, too many required variances are probably complicating cooperation between the two. Plus, there is too big of a difference in the power generated by these small solar panels and the energy running through those high-power lines.”
Fran Sullivan, a spokesman for PSE&G, affirmed that high-power lines are not a viable option for solar panels.
“Those lines are carrying one-quarter million to one-half million volts of power and could never receive the low levels of electricity created by the solar panels,” Sullivan said. “These panels need to connect right into the secondary power lines near the homes and businesses. That power has already been stepped down by a transformer on the pole to the household, 240/120-volt level. So installing them along the major highways in our territory is not possible either.”
While most people would prefer not to stare at solar panels out their windows, or in their parks and villages, placement is not based on aesthetics, according to Sullivan.
“We don’t pre-survey the poles,” Sullivan concluded. “We send out crews with a supply of panels and if the poles meet the criteria, they install the panel.”
The panel needs to have unobstructed, southern exposure, access to a secondary line and can’t block access to other equipment.
2011年11月15日星期二
2011年11月6日星期日
Despite prices plummeting, solar power sees little growth
While prices are still too high for most consumers, one of the biggest problems the industry struggles with is the lack of quality control, with many companies selling substandard products, which in turn creates suspicion of the technology and limits the growth prospects of other companies that are more quality-conscious, says Umair Anwar Khan, head of the solar power division at Adaptive Technologies.
“There are companies that make substandard solar systems. People are attracted to these companies for their cheap price,” he said. “When the equipment fails to deliver they lose trust in solar-power industry as a whole. Customers, therefore, are hesitant to buy our products which are relatively expensive.”
Prices seem to be another major concern, despite the fact that the average price of photovoltaic cells have plummeted over the last year as subsidies by several European governments have spurred demand. A solar-power system for a home that would have cost $900 last year may cost as little as $500 this year. Yet even these prices may be too high for most.
“We receive many phone calls every day but after hearing the prices, many just don’t buy them,” said Umair, who says that his company has not seen dramatic increases in sales.
Others, however, report a difference scenario, particularly in specialised products.
“We have seen an increase in our sales, especially in the air-conditioner units,” said Zafar Iqbal, a manager at the Crest International Trading Company, which deals in solar equipment.
The solar powered AC unit, Iqbal said, costs $612 (Rs53,250). He added their sales are increasing in both industrial and residential areas, though he was unwilling to provide precise figures.
Regardless of whether their sales are increasing or decreasing, however, most industry players believe that the long term prospects for solar power in Pakistan are good – and they put that down to the continuing power crisis.
“We might see some changes in a year or so. People are sick of Wapda and they want to get rid of dependence on it,” said Shehzad Naveed, a business development manager at Akhtar Solar Ltd, an Islamabad based solar-power company. “Certainly, there is a huge scope for solar power business and people will turn to it.”
Solar power currently costs an average of approximately Rs21.75 per kilowatt-hour, which is more expensive than even the oil-fuelled power plants in the country, which produce power for about Rs18 per unit. Yet it is far cheaper than the diesel generators that many industrial units use as backups for their electricity generation during power outages. Those cost most factories an average of about Rs32 per unit.
Despite the high price differential, however, solar power companies feel their product still has potential: the grid may provide cheaper electricity, but it also fails to provide it for several hours a day, averaging more than eight hours of outages in most parts of the country.
Some industrial units use much cheaper gas-fired generators, which cost about Rs5.5 per unit, but in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, cannot run for about four days a week due to gas rationing. That may eventually prompt many to just give up on the grid altogether and go for a solution they can control themselves.
“If we want dramatic changes in our lifestyle, we need to change ourselves,” said Naveed.
“There are companies that make substandard solar systems. People are attracted to these companies for their cheap price,” he said. “When the equipment fails to deliver they lose trust in solar-power industry as a whole. Customers, therefore, are hesitant to buy our products which are relatively expensive.”
Prices seem to be another major concern, despite the fact that the average price of photovoltaic cells have plummeted over the last year as subsidies by several European governments have spurred demand. A solar-power system for a home that would have cost $900 last year may cost as little as $500 this year. Yet even these prices may be too high for most.
“We receive many phone calls every day but after hearing the prices, many just don’t buy them,” said Umair, who says that his company has not seen dramatic increases in sales.
Others, however, report a difference scenario, particularly in specialised products.
“We have seen an increase in our sales, especially in the air-conditioner units,” said Zafar Iqbal, a manager at the Crest International Trading Company, which deals in solar equipment.
The solar powered AC unit, Iqbal said, costs $612 (Rs53,250). He added their sales are increasing in both industrial and residential areas, though he was unwilling to provide precise figures.
Regardless of whether their sales are increasing or decreasing, however, most industry players believe that the long term prospects for solar power in Pakistan are good – and they put that down to the continuing power crisis.
“We might see some changes in a year or so. People are sick of Wapda and they want to get rid of dependence on it,” said Shehzad Naveed, a business development manager at Akhtar Solar Ltd, an Islamabad based solar-power company. “Certainly, there is a huge scope for solar power business and people will turn to it.”
Solar power currently costs an average of approximately Rs21.75 per kilowatt-hour, which is more expensive than even the oil-fuelled power plants in the country, which produce power for about Rs18 per unit. Yet it is far cheaper than the diesel generators that many industrial units use as backups for their electricity generation during power outages. Those cost most factories an average of about Rs32 per unit.
Despite the high price differential, however, solar power companies feel their product still has potential: the grid may provide cheaper electricity, but it also fails to provide it for several hours a day, averaging more than eight hours of outages in most parts of the country.
Some industrial units use much cheaper gas-fired generators, which cost about Rs5.5 per unit, but in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, cannot run for about four days a week due to gas rationing. That may eventually prompt many to just give up on the grid altogether and go for a solution they can control themselves.
“If we want dramatic changes in our lifestyle, we need to change ourselves,” said Naveed.
2011年10月16日星期日
Cowboy traders blighting solar power industry
MORE than 900 complaints about solar panel installations, worth $7 million, have been lodged with NSW Fair Trading this year, as homeowners increasingly find themselves victims of faulty installations, unfinished work and unlicensed workmen.
The department has also suspended licences or imposed hefty fines on at least 35 solar panel installers, prompting the Fair Trading Minister, Anthony Roberts, to warn that the industry had become a ''total magnet for cowboys''.
''What we have seen is a lot of these cowboys have moved on from pink batts to solar panels and they are doing a dodgy job, especially in regional and rural areas, and leaving people with all sorts of problems,'' he said.
Mr Roberts said complaints ranged from panels not being supplied to shoddy work and incorrect installations.
''We have heard of cases where the contract has said someone would be given German-built panels or equivalent and the equivalent turns up and are cheap panels made in China.''
He said each complaint that had been lodged with his department was worth about $10,600.
''This is going to keep costing the taxpayer because we have all the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal generated issues and the Fair Trading audit costs so, at the end of the day, we are involved in a mopping up exercise,'' he said.
A spokeswoman for the department said the number of complaints had been increasing each month since May, when the government released its first audit of panels in Port Macquarie which found problems with 16 of 55 installations.
A further audit in June revealed 122 homes in Baulkham Hills, Blacktown and Kellyville had major defects in their solar panel systems that could cause fires and another 418 homes had minor defects.
A Coogee resident, Bill Hayes, lodged a complaint with Fair Trading this month after the panels he had installed on his property in March last year were switched off by an Ausgrid inspector who deemed them a potential fire risk.
The department has also suspended licences or imposed hefty fines on at least 35 solar panel installers, prompting the Fair Trading Minister, Anthony Roberts, to warn that the industry had become a ''total magnet for cowboys''.
''What we have seen is a lot of these cowboys have moved on from pink batts to solar panels and they are doing a dodgy job, especially in regional and rural areas, and leaving people with all sorts of problems,'' he said.
Mr Roberts said complaints ranged from panels not being supplied to shoddy work and incorrect installations.
''We have heard of cases where the contract has said someone would be given German-built panels or equivalent and the equivalent turns up and are cheap panels made in China.''
He said each complaint that had been lodged with his department was worth about $10,600.
''This is going to keep costing the taxpayer because we have all the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal generated issues and the Fair Trading audit costs so, at the end of the day, we are involved in a mopping up exercise,'' he said.
A spokeswoman for the department said the number of complaints had been increasing each month since May, when the government released its first audit of panels in Port Macquarie which found problems with 16 of 55 installations.
A further audit in June revealed 122 homes in Baulkham Hills, Blacktown and Kellyville had major defects in their solar panel systems that could cause fires and another 418 homes had minor defects.
A Coogee resident, Bill Hayes, lodged a complaint with Fair Trading this month after the panels he had installed on his property in March last year were switched off by an Ausgrid inspector who deemed them a potential fire risk.
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.
订阅：
博文 (Atom)