Solar

Price declines, oversupply to hit solar in third quarter

The solar industry is in for a dire quarter as falling government subsidies and low volumes further drive down equipment prices at a time when oversupply has already led many sector players to lower their full-year profit outlook.

A pickup in demand for solar panels, widely expected by industry players for the second half, failed to materialize, pushing several U.S. companies, most notably panel maker Solyndra, to file for bankruptcy in recent months.

European players have been cutting their outlooks on falling demand in Germany, among them SMA Solar, the world's No.1 maker of solar inverters and … Read more

Solar execs wary of trade war with China

A trade complaint filed by a group of solar companies against China drew skeptical reviews from inside the industry, with many fearing a trade war could disrupt growth.

Yesterday, seven U.S. solar manufacturers asked the Obama administration to slap duties of more than 100 percent on China imports, which they said were unfairly undercutting U.S. prices and destroying American jobs.

But many U.S. and European companies supply China's industry with products used to make solar cells, while others end up buying those finished cells to put in their own solar modules.

"It's a really … Read more

Dow starts mass-marketing solar shingles

Colorado now has a slightly more aesthetic option for harnessing all that lovely Rocky Mountain sun.

Dow Solar, a division of Dow Chemical, began selling solar roofing shingles this month that may attract even the most exigent homeowner.

While there have been several pilot projects throughout the country where the Dow Powerhouse Solar Shingles have been installed since their release in 2009, Colorado is the first state where the shingles will be available for widespread sale and installation.

Dow Solar then plans to mass-market its shingles in a dozen more states, starting in California and moving across the country to … Read more

Solar firm SunPower goes micro

A leading solar manufacturer has decided to offer panels with microinverters for automatically converting electricity from direct current to alternating current.

SunPower, which is partly owned by gas and oil giant Total, announced this week it's adding the E18 and E19 AC Solar Panel series to its line of solar panels. The new solar-panel models will come integrated with SolarBridge Pantheon AC microinverters made by SolarBridge Technologies.

Normally, a solar panel generates electricity in DC (direct current), and needs to be routed to an inverter that converts it to AC (alternating current), the standard used in homes, before it … Read more

U.S. solar manufacturers seek duties against China

U.S. solar manufacturers today asked the Obama administration to slap duties of more than 100 percent on imports from China that they said were unfairly undercutting U.S. prices and destroying American jobs.

"Let us be clear, China has a plan for our market--to gut it and own it," said Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld Industries Americas at a news conference.

Trade relations with China have become a hot issue ahead of the 2012 U.S. presidential and congressional elections. The Senate last week passed a bill aimed at Beijing's currency practices, although the bill faces … Read more

Bill Joy bets big on energy's 'grand challenges'

When it comes to tackling the world's challenges around energy and natural resources, incremental improvements don't interest famed technologist Bill Joy.

Joy, who co-founded Sun Microsystems and is now a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has led investments in about 10 startups pursuing risky, yet potentially game-changing, technologies.

In terms of the economic gains from green tech, "the default outcome" is that Asia and Europe will become leaders because of more supportive government policies, he said during the EmTech conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today. The conference is being streamed live … Read more

Care for solar panels with your home security alarm?

Home security company Vivint is entering the solar panel installation business with financing model that avoids the upfront cost.

The company, which used to be called APX Alarms, said today it is offering financing for solar through a plan in which the panels are installed for free and consumers purchase the electricity they produce at a 20 percent discount from the retail electricity rate.

Vivint Solar has secured $75 million in financing from US Bancorp that it will use for about 2,400 installations, as a complement to its home security and home automation services. Vivint has started in New … Read more

BrightSource plans third giant solar-power plant

BrightSource Energy today disclosed plans to build a 750-megawatt solar power plant in California, which would be its third and largest utility-scale project.

The company said that the Rio Mesa Solar Electric Generating Facility will use its solar tower technology, where a field of mirrors reflects light onto a tower to create steam that drives a turbine to generate electricity. The project would generate enough electricity to power more than 300,000 homes, BrightSource said.

The plan calls for installing three towers able to generate 250 megawatts each (before accounting for the energy consumed by their operation).

BrightSource earlier this … Read more

GE to build thin-film solar factory in Colorado

General Electric announced yesterday it will spend $600 million to build a solar factory in Colorado, giving it the means to re-enter the solar business in force.

The company said the factory in Aurora will have the capacity to produce at an annual rate of 400 megawatts, or enough to power 80,000 U.S. homes. It will create 355 jobs in Colorado after completion and another 100 solar-related jobs at GE's research facility in upstate New York.

Production will start early next year of solar panels with cadmium telluride thin-film solar cells, the same thin-film material used by … Read more