Up to now the plan to fight climate change has involved a series of grimly difficult and ruinously expensive lifestyle choices and technological innovations. Vast arrays of windfarms carpeting every hill and cliff in Christendom and beyond. Unlikely Star Trek breakthroughs in nuclear fusion, tidal power, carbon capture and arrays of mirrors in space. Hydrogen fuel cells, eye-watering green taxes and the abandonment of long-haul flying and the worldwide adoption of hair shirts. What these strategies all have in common is that they are unpopular, they are expensive and they will not work.
But could a quiet, almost unnoticed technological revolution be about to tame climate change without anyone noticing it?
A fascinating report in New Scientist this week points to the price crash in electricity-generating solar panels. At the moment photovoltaic panels are frightfully dear and they do not really make much economic sense outside the tropics and subtropics. But that is changing.
Because of the economies of scale being driven by increasing demand, zero-carbon solar panel electricity in India is now cheaper than electricity from diesel generators. This is a huge deal. India has the world’s second-largest population and perhaps the world’s greatest potential for increased carbon emissions as it becomes wealthier. It now costs 8.8 rupees for one kilowatt-hour of solar electricity compared to 17 rupees for diesel – and this is without a subsidy or green tax in sight.
It is not that solar panels have got that much better, but they HAVE got a lot cheaper, costing (worldwide) about a quarter what they did in 2008. According to Jenny Chase, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, solar power is now cheaper than diesel 'anywhere as sunny as Spain'.
By 2015 solar electricity will be as cheap as grid electricity in half of the countries in the world. This is extraordinarily good news, a win-win on all counts. Solar energy is most effective in warm sunny places – exactly the places which are experiencing the highest population and economic growth. And as these places turn to the Sun more and more the panels they buy will continue to get cheaper and cheaper.
It may, astoundingly, be the case that Solar, a fairly mature and unglamorous technology, will come out of the left field and save us just when the doom-mongers say all is lost. Of course we still have the problem of transport emissions, and emissions in high-latitude nations where solar is not viable, but this little noticed economic revolution in a still pretty-obscure technology has the potential to take the sting, at least, out of the worst environmental crisis of the modern era.
2012年2月9日星期四
2012年2月8日星期三
Ministers defend rapid cut to solar power subsidy
Ministers have argued that they had to act quickly to slash subsidies to small-scale solar power because the cost of panels has dropped by nearly half in the past year – much faster than the previous government envisaged when it set up the scheme.
The government received fierce criticism from the solar industry and environmentalists after the cut and the decision was ruled unlawful in the courts. But ministers have argued that overly generous payments to investors who installed solar panels were in danger of draining the scheme of funds.
They are expected to announce on Thursday a change to the way so-called feed-in tariffs are administered and an injection of funding for the scheme.
Energy minister Greg Barker said the figures on the costs of solar, which he said were independently arrived at, showed the government was right to cut feed-in tariffs. "The costs have come down much faster than Ed Miliband thought in 2010, when the payment was fixed. That has led to much greater deployment," he said.
"We had to take quick action. I know that [the changes to feed-in tariffs] have damaged confidence in the industry. But the new figures speak for themselves."
He said the price falls were good news for consumers and the renewables industry: "There is the potential for solar power to become competitive with fossil fuels without subsidy within the lifetime of this parliament. Solar has gone from being one of the most expensive forms of renewable energy to one of the cheapest."
An average domestic solar power installation cost 15,000 in 2010, but now costs about 8,000. This year the cost could fall to 6,000, according to research from the consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff, commissioned by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. The report will be placed in the House of Commons library on Wednesday in response to a parliamentary question on the issue.
When the consultation on feed-in tariffs was launched in October, the costs of photovoltaic systems had fallen by about a third since 2009, when the original tariffs were set. The new data confirming sharper falls shows that customers on the original feed-in tariffs could be getting a much higher rate of return than was originally intended – or the solar power companies could be pocketing the difference and making substantial profits.
After the government announced its plans to slash feed-in tariffs last year, judges ruled the measures unlawful when they were challenged in court. On Thursday, Barker is expected to announce how the government will change the feed-in tariffs legally.
Barker is expected to announce that feed-in tariffs will be reformed so that they are gradually ratcheted down as the cost of panels declines, as happens in countries such as Germany. This aims to ensure that the rate of return to people installing the tariffs is kept steady at about 5%, which the government believes will give consumers enough incentive to invest in the panels, and installers enough margin to keep them in business.
But in a nod to the travails of the solar industry, which has suffered months of turmoil, uncertainty and job losses since the cut, the government is expected to announce additional spending on the feed-in tariffs.
Originally, the tariffs were allocated about 860m but this is likely to be increased to about 1bn. The tariffs are paid by additions to energy bills, not from the public purse, but the Treasury has limited the amount that can be spent on them because of fears that bills would rise too fast unless there is a brake.
The extra cash is coming from money that was underspent on larger-scale renewables, such as wind farms.
Solar panels have dropped dramatically in price in part because of massive investment in China, which has built hundreds of solar panel factories, mostly geared at the export market. The price falls have created their own problems, as manufacturers in the developed world have struggled to keep pace and some have gone bust or seen their profits wiped out.
The government received fierce criticism from the solar industry and environmentalists after the cut and the decision was ruled unlawful in the courts. But ministers have argued that overly generous payments to investors who installed solar panels were in danger of draining the scheme of funds.
They are expected to announce on Thursday a change to the way so-called feed-in tariffs are administered and an injection of funding for the scheme.
Energy minister Greg Barker said the figures on the costs of solar, which he said were independently arrived at, showed the government was right to cut feed-in tariffs. "The costs have come down much faster than Ed Miliband thought in 2010, when the payment was fixed. That has led to much greater deployment," he said.
"We had to take quick action. I know that [the changes to feed-in tariffs] have damaged confidence in the industry. But the new figures speak for themselves."
He said the price falls were good news for consumers and the renewables industry: "There is the potential for solar power to become competitive with fossil fuels without subsidy within the lifetime of this parliament. Solar has gone from being one of the most expensive forms of renewable energy to one of the cheapest."
An average domestic solar power installation cost 15,000 in 2010, but now costs about 8,000. This year the cost could fall to 6,000, according to research from the consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff, commissioned by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. The report will be placed in the House of Commons library on Wednesday in response to a parliamentary question on the issue.
When the consultation on feed-in tariffs was launched in October, the costs of photovoltaic systems had fallen by about a third since 2009, when the original tariffs were set. The new data confirming sharper falls shows that customers on the original feed-in tariffs could be getting a much higher rate of return than was originally intended – or the solar power companies could be pocketing the difference and making substantial profits.
After the government announced its plans to slash feed-in tariffs last year, judges ruled the measures unlawful when they were challenged in court. On Thursday, Barker is expected to announce how the government will change the feed-in tariffs legally.
Barker is expected to announce that feed-in tariffs will be reformed so that they are gradually ratcheted down as the cost of panels declines, as happens in countries such as Germany. This aims to ensure that the rate of return to people installing the tariffs is kept steady at about 5%, which the government believes will give consumers enough incentive to invest in the panels, and installers enough margin to keep them in business.
But in a nod to the travails of the solar industry, which has suffered months of turmoil, uncertainty and job losses since the cut, the government is expected to announce additional spending on the feed-in tariffs.
Originally, the tariffs were allocated about 860m but this is likely to be increased to about 1bn. The tariffs are paid by additions to energy bills, not from the public purse, but the Treasury has limited the amount that can be spent on them because of fears that bills would rise too fast unless there is a brake.
The extra cash is coming from money that was underspent on larger-scale renewables, such as wind farms.
Solar panels have dropped dramatically in price in part because of massive investment in China, which has built hundreds of solar panel factories, mostly geared at the export market. The price falls have created their own problems, as manufacturers in the developed world have struggled to keep pace and some have gone bust or seen their profits wiped out.
2012年2月7日星期二
Highest Solar Panel Efficiency Achieved
The highest efficiency for a solar panel has been achieved by Alta Devices, the California-based solar company proudly announced on Monday.
The efficiency rating of 23.5 percent, meaning that the panels are able to convert 23.5 percent of energy captured from the sun into electrical output, was verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
“This is the highest solar panel efficiency yet achieved and demonstrates Alta’s progress toward its objective of developing solar photovoltaic (PV) solutions that are competitive, without subsidies, with fossil fuels,” the company wrote in a press release.
Toward that end, Alta Device’s highest-efficiency panel was created based on an innovative, even counter-intuitive idea about how to maximize energy conversion: The panels themselves emit fluorescent light, as TPM reported in November 2011, when the research was in its earlier stages.
The idea makes sense when one considers that conventional polysilicon solar panels and cells lose energy as heat, reducing their efficiency. But when Alta’s panels lose any energy, it’s in the form of external fluorescence, which is less detrimental to the conversion process.
Back in November 2011, Alta’s panels had managed to hit an astounding 28.4-percent efficiency, approaching the maximum 33.5 percent Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit, though that was just for an individual solar cell. The full panel itself contains several cells, decreasing its efficiency slightly.
The panels themselves are made of gallium arsenide (GaAs), a byproduct of aluminum smelting combined with arsenic, a combination that is ideal for solar cell production due to the fact that it can withstand high temperatures and yet be cut extremely flexible and extremely thin, one micron thick in the case of Alta’s panels. That’s about 1/40th the thickness of a human hair, according to the company, allowing it to be used for a variety of applications, where conventional polysilicon panels can’t go.
Alta Devices itself is the result of solar technology research breakthroughs achieved at the University of California Berkeley. The company was founded in 2007 and has received venture capital funding. It plans to produce its panels for commercial use later this year.
The efficiency rating of 23.5 percent, meaning that the panels are able to convert 23.5 percent of energy captured from the sun into electrical output, was verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
“This is the highest solar panel efficiency yet achieved and demonstrates Alta’s progress toward its objective of developing solar photovoltaic (PV) solutions that are competitive, without subsidies, with fossil fuels,” the company wrote in a press release.
Toward that end, Alta Device’s highest-efficiency panel was created based on an innovative, even counter-intuitive idea about how to maximize energy conversion: The panels themselves emit fluorescent light, as TPM reported in November 2011, when the research was in its earlier stages.
The idea makes sense when one considers that conventional polysilicon solar panels and cells lose energy as heat, reducing their efficiency. But when Alta’s panels lose any energy, it’s in the form of external fluorescence, which is less detrimental to the conversion process.
Back in November 2011, Alta’s panels had managed to hit an astounding 28.4-percent efficiency, approaching the maximum 33.5 percent Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit, though that was just for an individual solar cell. The full panel itself contains several cells, decreasing its efficiency slightly.
The panels themselves are made of gallium arsenide (GaAs), a byproduct of aluminum smelting combined with arsenic, a combination that is ideal for solar cell production due to the fact that it can withstand high temperatures and yet be cut extremely flexible and extremely thin, one micron thick in the case of Alta’s panels. That’s about 1/40th the thickness of a human hair, according to the company, allowing it to be used for a variety of applications, where conventional polysilicon panels can’t go.
Alta Devices itself is the result of solar technology research breakthroughs achieved at the University of California Berkeley. The company was founded in 2007 and has received venture capital funding. It plans to produce its panels for commercial use later this year.
2012年2月6日星期一
Hackensack may restrict solar panels
Solar panels may be environmentally friendly, but officials in some towns are worried they might offend the neighbors.
Hackensack is the latest of several New Jersey municipalities to consider regulations on private solar installations that could prohibit the reflective panels in front yards, mandate shields for those in side yards or require special approval for panels on street-facing roofs.
For now, such rules are mainly speculative: With solar technology still too expensive for most homeowners, most North Jersey installations have been limited to public and commercial buildings, said Matt Weng, the staff attorney at the League of Municipalities, a statewide organization the advises and trains local officials.
But so many officials are betting that the technology will become more commonplace as the panels become cheaper and the economy improves that model solar ordinances are among the most popular requests public officials make with his office, Weng said.
"The biggest concern they would have is solar panels impacting the quality of life of the people around them," he said. "If a house is covered with solar panels, or has solar panels all over the yard, it could affect the aesthetics of the neighborhood."
Hackensack officials are still discussing what regulations they want to enact, but an ordinance could be ready for the first of two required votes as early as Tuesday, City Manager Steve Lo Iacono said.
"There's no intent here to inhibit the growth of solar power or to make it difficult for a homeowner to install solar panels," Lo Iacono said. "More than anything, it's for safety's sake and aesthetics."
Along with regulations geared toward shielding panels from view, the city is also considering laws that would require compliance with city electrical codes and other safety standards — including extra stability so they would not blow off during a storm, Lo Iacono said.
A League of Municipalities sample ordinance, from the township of Mantua, lists five pages of restrictions, including a requirement that rooftop installations follow the slope of the roof and are installed at the rear; a mandate that the panels are made of materials that blend into the surroundings; a restriction of ground installations to the rear of lots that are at least three acres large and a prohibition of tower- or pole-mounted panels. Installations that don't meet the requirements in the ordinance must be presented to the township zoning board for special approval.
Municipal officials are particularly sensitive to potential problems with solar installations after the public outrage in many communities over the solar panels PSE&G installed on utility poles across the state in 2011, Weng said.
Hackensack is the latest of several New Jersey municipalities to consider regulations on private solar installations that could prohibit the reflective panels in front yards, mandate shields for those in side yards or require special approval for panels on street-facing roofs.
For now, such rules are mainly speculative: With solar technology still too expensive for most homeowners, most North Jersey installations have been limited to public and commercial buildings, said Matt Weng, the staff attorney at the League of Municipalities, a statewide organization the advises and trains local officials.
But so many officials are betting that the technology will become more commonplace as the panels become cheaper and the economy improves that model solar ordinances are among the most popular requests public officials make with his office, Weng said.
"The biggest concern they would have is solar panels impacting the quality of life of the people around them," he said. "If a house is covered with solar panels, or has solar panels all over the yard, it could affect the aesthetics of the neighborhood."
Hackensack officials are still discussing what regulations they want to enact, but an ordinance could be ready for the first of two required votes as early as Tuesday, City Manager Steve Lo Iacono said.
"There's no intent here to inhibit the growth of solar power or to make it difficult for a homeowner to install solar panels," Lo Iacono said. "More than anything, it's for safety's sake and aesthetics."
Along with regulations geared toward shielding panels from view, the city is also considering laws that would require compliance with city electrical codes and other safety standards — including extra stability so they would not blow off during a storm, Lo Iacono said.
A League of Municipalities sample ordinance, from the township of Mantua, lists five pages of restrictions, including a requirement that rooftop installations follow the slope of the roof and are installed at the rear; a mandate that the panels are made of materials that blend into the surroundings; a restriction of ground installations to the rear of lots that are at least three acres large and a prohibition of tower- or pole-mounted panels. Installations that don't meet the requirements in the ordinance must be presented to the township zoning board for special approval.
Municipal officials are particularly sensitive to potential problems with solar installations after the public outrage in many communities over the solar panels PSE&G installed on utility poles across the state in 2011, Weng said.
2012年2月5日星期日
Solar company Natcore setting up shop in Rochester
The concept of solar power is nearly irresistible: an endless cascade of sunlight — the ultimate renewable resource — churning out cheap electricity.
The reality of solar power, though, is more problematic as it remains far from cheap. And the U.S. Energy Department projects that electricity from a hypothetical solar energy project going online in 2016 would be about twice as expensive as juice from a new coal plant and more than three times costlier than a natural gas-fed power plant.
But New Jersey-based Natcore Technologies Inc. sees the green of cash in the golden sunshine. The solar energy technology firm is in the midst of setting up a research and development facility at Eastman Business Park that CEO Chuck Provini said should be operational within a couple weeks.
Once it is set up, the company plans to hire 10 to 15 people to staff it as it works on three separate, parallel technology tracks: “black silicon” solar cells that use silicon wafers etched with tiny pores that reflect back less light; stacks of tandem solar cells, each working on different wavelengths of light; and flexible, thin-film solar cells.
Each technology has the possibility of making solar more commercially viable by either cutting the cost of manufacture or upping the efficiency, Provini said last week as he was in town to visit Natcore’s facilities in Eastman Kodak Co.’s Building 308.
Later this month, Natcore plans to bring in prospective customers/investors such as representatives from an Italian solar panel maker, a Chinese solar cell maker and an Indian energy company. Part of Natcore’s sales pitch, Provini said, will be trying to convince those firms to set up manufacturing operations in the United States in exchange for access to Natcore technology — though ultimately, he added, investors will be in the driver’s seat of that decision.
Natcore’s efforts come as the solar photovoltaic market is in the midst of serious challenges, from numerous European nations cutting solar energy subsidies and an oversupply of solar components globally sending prices nosediving to the political issues surrounding the bankruptcy and liquidation of California thin-film solar cell maker Solyndra.
But the oversupply issue is due largely to China subsidizing manufacturers there, and technology under development will make the glut of industry-standard solar cell components on the market now obsolete, Provini said. “You make dramatic changes, you own the industry,” he said.
Natcore also is counting on the cost of oil rising, particularly as a cash-strapped U.S. government cuts oil subsidies, to make solar more financially competitive, Provini said.
The company’s key assets are a group of patents it has licensed or owns outright. And it expects to start earning income from licensing that technology to others later this year. Other revenue streams, such as manufacturing solar cell coating equipment or the reselling of chemicals needed in the manufacturing process, would follow.
Natcore announced in December that it had signed a patent license agreement with the U.S. Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory giving it access to NREL patents to develop and commercialize black silicon solar cells. And it hopes to have prototype black silicon solar cells within a couple of months, with greater efficiency than what is on the market today.
Tandem solar cell prototypes could be ready within six to 12 months, Provini said. And a workable prototype of flexible, thin-film solar cells — made with Kodak’s thin-film manufacturing capabilities and costing far less to install than traditional solar cells — would take the same amount of time if the company can find investors in the technology, Provini said.
The company signed a lease in July with Kodak. The Building 308 lab will consolidate lab space the company currently has at Ohio State and Rice universities. Being near Kodak and its thin-film capabilities were one key reason why the company opted to put its R&D operations there.
Aside from that, said Thomas J. Scarpa, corporate development officer, “The intellectual pool we can draw on, this is an excellent place. University of Rochester. Rochester Institute of Technology. Ex-Kodakers.”
Natcore is emblematic of what Kodak has been trying to do with its sprawling Eastman Business Park manufacturing campus — make it over into an industrial park. More than two dozen firms, including spinoffs from and former suppliers of Kodak, operate there today.
Kodak is currently in the midst of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is in talks about potential sales of some or all of the campus. However, Provini said, “I don’t think (the bankruptcy) is going to affect us.”
And, Provini added with a smile, if Kodak wanted to take some of the hundreds of millions of dollars Citigroup has loaned it during bankruptcy and invest it in Natcore technology, “That’d be a great way to reinvent themselves.”
The reality of solar power, though, is more problematic as it remains far from cheap. And the U.S. Energy Department projects that electricity from a hypothetical solar energy project going online in 2016 would be about twice as expensive as juice from a new coal plant and more than three times costlier than a natural gas-fed power plant.
But New Jersey-based Natcore Technologies Inc. sees the green of cash in the golden sunshine. The solar energy technology firm is in the midst of setting up a research and development facility at Eastman Business Park that CEO Chuck Provini said should be operational within a couple weeks.
Once it is set up, the company plans to hire 10 to 15 people to staff it as it works on three separate, parallel technology tracks: “black silicon” solar cells that use silicon wafers etched with tiny pores that reflect back less light; stacks of tandem solar cells, each working on different wavelengths of light; and flexible, thin-film solar cells.
Each technology has the possibility of making solar more commercially viable by either cutting the cost of manufacture or upping the efficiency, Provini said last week as he was in town to visit Natcore’s facilities in Eastman Kodak Co.’s Building 308.
Later this month, Natcore plans to bring in prospective customers/investors such as representatives from an Italian solar panel maker, a Chinese solar cell maker and an Indian energy company. Part of Natcore’s sales pitch, Provini said, will be trying to convince those firms to set up manufacturing operations in the United States in exchange for access to Natcore technology — though ultimately, he added, investors will be in the driver’s seat of that decision.
Natcore’s efforts come as the solar photovoltaic market is in the midst of serious challenges, from numerous European nations cutting solar energy subsidies and an oversupply of solar components globally sending prices nosediving to the political issues surrounding the bankruptcy and liquidation of California thin-film solar cell maker Solyndra.
But the oversupply issue is due largely to China subsidizing manufacturers there, and technology under development will make the glut of industry-standard solar cell components on the market now obsolete, Provini said. “You make dramatic changes, you own the industry,” he said.
Natcore also is counting on the cost of oil rising, particularly as a cash-strapped U.S. government cuts oil subsidies, to make solar more financially competitive, Provini said.
The company’s key assets are a group of patents it has licensed or owns outright. And it expects to start earning income from licensing that technology to others later this year. Other revenue streams, such as manufacturing solar cell coating equipment or the reselling of chemicals needed in the manufacturing process, would follow.
Natcore announced in December that it had signed a patent license agreement with the U.S. Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory giving it access to NREL patents to develop and commercialize black silicon solar cells. And it hopes to have prototype black silicon solar cells within a couple of months, with greater efficiency than what is on the market today.
Tandem solar cell prototypes could be ready within six to 12 months, Provini said. And a workable prototype of flexible, thin-film solar cells — made with Kodak’s thin-film manufacturing capabilities and costing far less to install than traditional solar cells — would take the same amount of time if the company can find investors in the technology, Provini said.
The company signed a lease in July with Kodak. The Building 308 lab will consolidate lab space the company currently has at Ohio State and Rice universities. Being near Kodak and its thin-film capabilities were one key reason why the company opted to put its R&D operations there.
Aside from that, said Thomas J. Scarpa, corporate development officer, “The intellectual pool we can draw on, this is an excellent place. University of Rochester. Rochester Institute of Technology. Ex-Kodakers.”
Natcore is emblematic of what Kodak has been trying to do with its sprawling Eastman Business Park manufacturing campus — make it over into an industrial park. More than two dozen firms, including spinoffs from and former suppliers of Kodak, operate there today.
Kodak is currently in the midst of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is in talks about potential sales of some or all of the campus. However, Provini said, “I don’t think (the bankruptcy) is going to affect us.”
And, Provini added with a smile, if Kodak wanted to take some of the hundreds of millions of dollars Citigroup has loaned it during bankruptcy and invest it in Natcore technology, “That’d be a great way to reinvent themselves.”
2012年2月2日星期四
Solar panel returns could be cut by 80pc
The Government is proposing to make full payments from "feed-in tariffs" conditional on homes meeting energy efficiency standards. The change would come into effect on April 1.
Currently, householders receive 43.3p per kWh of electricity generated. The Government will cut this rate for new installations to 21p in April, after an attempt to impose the cut sooner was thrown out by the courts. Unless that ruling is overturned on appeal, anyone who completes their installation before 3 March will still receive the higher rate.
But the proposal to link the payments to the overall energy efficiency of the property could see some solar panel owners receive just 9p – which is 79pc less than 43.3p – if their homes fail to meet the standard. The Government is still consulting about the plans, which would not affect installations completed before April.
The Energy Saving Trust said: "Where a domestic property does not meet these energy efficiency requirements, the solar PV [photovoltaic] installation may receive the lower tariff of 9p/kWh."
It added: "The Government is consulting on two alternative proposals: that the owner or occupier should bring the property up to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of level C or above; or that the owner or occupier of a building should undertake all the measures that are identified on an EPC as potentially eligible for Green Deal finance, with no additional finance required.
"The Government wants to ensure that PV is considered as part of a whole house approach which prioritises energy efficiency."
A spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said: “It makes sense that, if someone is putting solar panels on their building, the property is energy efficient too. We consulted on the best ways of doing this by linking tariffs to specified minimum energy efficiency requirements and proposed introducing such a requirement from April 1. We’ll publish our final proposals by Feb 9.”
Despite losing its legal case in the Court of Appeal last week, the generation tariff rate for units installed after December remains at 21p per kWh as DECC is now escalating its appeal to the Supreme Court. If this case is unsuccessful home owners who installed units between December and March this year will revert to the higher tariff and will receive backdated payments so they are not out of pocket.
But those installing units now should not assume they will automatically get this higher rate.
Currently, householders receive 43.3p per kWh of electricity generated. The Government will cut this rate for new installations to 21p in April, after an attempt to impose the cut sooner was thrown out by the courts. Unless that ruling is overturned on appeal, anyone who completes their installation before 3 March will still receive the higher rate.
But the proposal to link the payments to the overall energy efficiency of the property could see some solar panel owners receive just 9p – which is 79pc less than 43.3p – if their homes fail to meet the standard. The Government is still consulting about the plans, which would not affect installations completed before April.
The Energy Saving Trust said: "Where a domestic property does not meet these energy efficiency requirements, the solar PV [photovoltaic] installation may receive the lower tariff of 9p/kWh."
It added: "The Government is consulting on two alternative proposals: that the owner or occupier should bring the property up to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of level C or above; or that the owner or occupier of a building should undertake all the measures that are identified on an EPC as potentially eligible for Green Deal finance, with no additional finance required.
"The Government wants to ensure that PV is considered as part of a whole house approach which prioritises energy efficiency."
A spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said: “It makes sense that, if someone is putting solar panels on their building, the property is energy efficient too. We consulted on the best ways of doing this by linking tariffs to specified minimum energy efficiency requirements and proposed introducing such a requirement from April 1. We’ll publish our final proposals by Feb 9.”
Despite losing its legal case in the Court of Appeal last week, the generation tariff rate for units installed after December remains at 21p per kWh as DECC is now escalating its appeal to the Supreme Court. If this case is unsuccessful home owners who installed units between December and March this year will revert to the higher tariff and will receive backdated payments so they are not out of pocket.
But those installing units now should not assume they will automatically get this higher rate.
2012年2月1日星期三
Biogas stations fastest growing renewable energy source in 2011
Biogas stations were developing at the fastest pace from all domestic renewable energy sources last year and their installed output for which the Energy Regulatory Office (ERU) issued licences rose by 63 megawatts in the year - to 168 megawatts, according to ERU data.
On the other hand, the output of solar power plants increased by only 6 megawatts to 1,959 megawatts.
Installed output of solar power plants in 2010 more than quadrupled to 1,953 megawatts. The state then toughened conditions for investors into photovoltaic plants, which slowed down their development last year.
Only 158 photovoltaic power plants were built last year, while in 2010, nearly 7,000 new photovoltaic sources were built.
High subsidies pulled the growth by biogas stations last year when their number rose by 84 to 264. The government began to fear that there could be the same problem like by the solar power plants whose development has caused higher energy prices.
The Agriculture Ministry and Industry and Trade Ministry therefore abolished programmes of subsidies for biogas stations last year. Under new minister Petr Bendl, the Agriculture Ministry renewed the subsidies in November.
Installed output of wind power plants also grew very slowly last year - by 3 megawatts to 218 megawatts. The situation was similar by small hydroelectric plants whose installed output increased by only 1.5 megawatts to 142 megawatts last year.
ERU expects the output of solar power plants to grow only moderately in the coming years. Power distributing companies recently allowed again connection of new solar panels on the roofs of buildings.
Grid operator CEPS said that solar power plants and wind farms with total output of 65 megawatts could be safely connected to the grid this year.
According to the National Action Plan for renewable sources, these "green energy producers" are to cover 13.5 percent of total energy consumption in 2020. The plan sets limits on the individual kinds of renewable energy sources.
However, by photovoltaic power plants the limit has already been reached and so the Industry and Trade Ministry prepares to redraw the action plan.
Data on the share of renewable energy sources in total energy consumption for last year are not yet available. Their share in 2010 stood at roughly 8.5 percent.
In particular photovoltaic power plants are being criticised for taking up the biggest part of support for renewable energy sources and thus contributing most to the increase in electricity prices.
Of the total annual costs of renewable energy sources worth Kc36bn, more than Kc22bn goes to photovoltaic plants. The state provides a subsidy worth less than Kc12bn to prevent even higher electricity prices.
Over 60 percent of the contribution to renewable energy sources is for solar power plants, according to ERU data. However, solar power plants have only a 11.5 percent share in electricity produced by renewable sources.
On the other hand, the output of solar power plants increased by only 6 megawatts to 1,959 megawatts.
Installed output of solar power plants in 2010 more than quadrupled to 1,953 megawatts. The state then toughened conditions for investors into photovoltaic plants, which slowed down their development last year.
Only 158 photovoltaic power plants were built last year, while in 2010, nearly 7,000 new photovoltaic sources were built.
High subsidies pulled the growth by biogas stations last year when their number rose by 84 to 264. The government began to fear that there could be the same problem like by the solar power plants whose development has caused higher energy prices.
The Agriculture Ministry and Industry and Trade Ministry therefore abolished programmes of subsidies for biogas stations last year. Under new minister Petr Bendl, the Agriculture Ministry renewed the subsidies in November.
Installed output of wind power plants also grew very slowly last year - by 3 megawatts to 218 megawatts. The situation was similar by small hydroelectric plants whose installed output increased by only 1.5 megawatts to 142 megawatts last year.
ERU expects the output of solar power plants to grow only moderately in the coming years. Power distributing companies recently allowed again connection of new solar panels on the roofs of buildings.
Grid operator CEPS said that solar power plants and wind farms with total output of 65 megawatts could be safely connected to the grid this year.
According to the National Action Plan for renewable sources, these "green energy producers" are to cover 13.5 percent of total energy consumption in 2020. The plan sets limits on the individual kinds of renewable energy sources.
However, by photovoltaic power plants the limit has already been reached and so the Industry and Trade Ministry prepares to redraw the action plan.
Data on the share of renewable energy sources in total energy consumption for last year are not yet available. Their share in 2010 stood at roughly 8.5 percent.
In particular photovoltaic power plants are being criticised for taking up the biggest part of support for renewable energy sources and thus contributing most to the increase in electricity prices.
Of the total annual costs of renewable energy sources worth Kc36bn, more than Kc22bn goes to photovoltaic plants. The state provides a subsidy worth less than Kc12bn to prevent even higher electricity prices.
Over 60 percent of the contribution to renewable energy sources is for solar power plants, according to ERU data. However, solar power plants have only a 11.5 percent share in electricity produced by renewable sources.
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