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Solar

MENA Region Has More Than 5.7 Gigawatts Solar In Pipeline

written by saurabh

Middle East and North Africa remains hotbed of solar power development with more than 5,700 megawatts of capacity under development.

The Middle East Solar Industry Association (MESIA) recently reported that eight countries in the region have more than 4,050 megawatts of solar photovoltaic power capacity under development. Adding concentration solar power capacity increases the pipeline to 5,700 megawatts.

MESIA notes that 885 megawatts capacity is currently operational across the region. 3,618 megawatts capacity is under construction. Projects being executed in Morocco, Egypt and United Arab Emirates (UAE) likely contribute the most in this segment.

Morocco has several solar power projects operational at its Noor-Ouarzazate complex. In the UAE, 100 megawatts Shams-1 CSP project is operational and remains the largest project in the country. Construction on 200 megawatts solar PV capacity at Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is at full swing while construction on another 800 megawatts at the same park is expected to begin soon. A 350 megawatts solar PV project was awarded in Abu Dhabi; the project will be expanded to 1,200 megawatts in the near future.

Construction of 1,800 megawatts solar PV capacity is underway at Aswan, Egypt. Agreements by several foreign companies have been signed already.

Jordan is seeing increased activity in the solar power market with several projects under construction. The government there is planning to launch more tenders soon.

Smaller countries like Oman and Kuwait are also planning large-scale solar power projects.

The new entrant in the region’s solar power market will be Saudi Arabia. The country has announced plans to issue tender for 300 megawatts of solar power capacity soon.

February 21, 2017 0 comment

Canadian Solar & EDF Energies Nouvelles Begin 191.5 MW Solar Farm In Brazil

written by Joshua Hill

Canadian Solar and EDF Energies Nouvelles have begun construction of the 191.5 MWp Pirapora I solar energy project in Brazil.

Canadian Solar, which is one of the world’s leading solar power companies, and EDF Energies Nouvelles, a global renewable energy leader, announced on Tuesday the sale of 80% interest in the project from Canadian Solar to EDF Energies Nouvelles’ local subsidiary, EDF EN do Brasil.

Located in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, Pirapora I will be supplied with solar modules from Canadian Solar, and is expected to reach construction completion in the third quarter of 2017. The project was awarded a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement in the second Reserve Energy Auction in 2015, and upon completion is expected to generate 391,263 MWh per year.

“The investment by EDF Energies Nouvelles in Canadian Solar’s Pirapora I project is a demonstration of the strong potential of the solar energy market in Brazil,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar. “Pirapora I is one of Canadian Solar’s three current projects in the country totaling 394 MWp with awarded long-term PPAs. We plan to grow our project portfolio and support the domestic solar market with our 360 MWp module manufacturing plant. We are glad to partner with a strategic investor such as EDF EN in the implementation of our first project in Brazil.”

“With this Pirapora major new solar project in partnership with a specialised company such as Canadian Solar, two wind projects currently under construction by EDF Energies Nouvelles, and having in mind the hydraulic project — Sinop — the EDF group is involved in, all this confirms a strong ambition to strengthen and diversify the Edf Group renewables assets portfolio in Brazil,” added Antoine Cahuzac, Senior Executive Vice President in Renewable Energies of EDF and Chief Executive Officer of EDF Energies Nouvelles.

October 12, 2016 0 comment

2 GW Chinese Solar Project To Be World’s Largest

written by Joshua Hill

China’s largest private investor group, China Minsheng New Energy Investment Co., is developing a 2 GW solar farm in the Ningxia region which will be made up of some 6 million solar panels.

A report from Bloomberg last week highlighted the massive solar project, which is being developed in phases by China’s biggest private investor group. The Ningxia solar project will eventually cover 4,607 hectares, and be made up of approximately 6 million solar panels. According to Bloomberg, it will be the largest solar farm the world has ever seen, requiring an investment of up to $2.34 billion.

Not only will the Ningxia solar project be the largest in the world, it will be larger or comparable to some countries’ total installed solar capacity.

bloomberg-1

As Bloomberg notes, the new project “is emblematic of China’s clean-energy ambitions.” As we saw earlier this year, China installed 22 GW of grid-connected solar in the first six months of 2016 alone, including a phenomenal 11.3 GW connected in June alone. This is on top of the 18.6 GW that was said to be installed in 2015. Bloomberg notes that China’s solar installations more than doubled to 50 GW in the two years through 2015, and everyone is predicting that China’s installed solar capacity is only set to soar over the next few years, thanks to a burgeoning economy, increasing population, and decreased solar costs — not to mention clean energy targets and worldwide pressure for countries like China (and India) to make cleaner energy capacity additions.

September 27, 2016 0 comment

Indian Company Plans Farming At Solar Power Projects

written by saurabh

As project developers continue to push the limits on tariff bids for solar power projects in India, innovation in the sector is also gathering pace.

A government-owned is looking to grow agricultural crop alongside solar power modules. Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited (GIPCL) has partnered with various agricultural universities to grow crop at solar power plants.

Researchers at Anand Agriculture University stated that the company shall implement a pilot project to grow paddy, castor, bajra, guar and vegetables over a 2.5 hectare area at a solar power plant. The pilot project will implemented at a 1 MW solar power plant owned by GIPCL with assistance from the Anand Agriculture University.

Importantly, the pilot project shall include cultivation of crops prevalent in all major seasons in India. Results of the pilot project shall be helpful to several thousands of farmers across the country.

Several state governments have been looking to integrate solar power into the farming sector to help farmer with a secondary income especially during a period of drought.

Farming alongside solar power panels may gain significance in India soon as the government has set a massive target of 100 GW operational solar power capacity by March 2022. As the installed capacity increases rapidly the conflict between farming and power plants would also likely increase.

Growing crops, or any other plants, at the solar field would also help protect the top soil which is, in many case, created through artificial means which levelling the solar field.

July 31, 2016 0 comment

Super-Efficient Cogeneration Solution Reduces Electricity Costs by up to 70%

written by sponsoredcontent

A Canadian cleantech company, Thermal Energy International Inc., is targeting the attractive cogeneration market with a super-efficient combined heat and power (CHP or cogeneration) solution for industrial and institutional markets. By combining its proprietary FLU-ACE heat recovery technology with existing power generation technologies, the company is able to offer the market a solution that represents a dramatic energy efficiency improvement over typical cogeneration systems widely available.

Industrial sectors have long been the guiltiest of wasting energy. Most fossil fuel-burning plants that produce electricity, as well as many industrial users of such electricity, release large amounts of waste heat into the environment as an unwanted by-product. With cogeneration however, those same plants and manufacturing operations can capture this heat energy and get more use out of it.

Cogeneration is an inherently high-efficiency family of technologies to use fossil or renewable fuels to supply energy locally. Basically, cogeneration is the production of two types of energy at a single plant. Cogeneration systems decrease total fuel consumption and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by generating both electricity and useful heat from the same fuel input. While not really an energy source itself, cogeneration (also known as combined heat and power, or CHP for short), squeezes more usable energy out of each unit of fuel most everywhere it is applied.

Thermal Energy’s FLU-ACE system is a direct contact condensing heat recovery system that recovers the waste heat from the exhausts on boilers, dryers and other industrial heat sources. The recovered energy can be used for example, to pre-heat makeup water, heat Domestic Hot Water (DHW), or be used for heating systems etc. In addition, this also reduces greenhouse gases and helps work towards energy reduction targets.

Typical cogeneration systems can produce combustion efficiencies of as high as 75% (compared to 35% to 45% for a combined-cycle gas turbine plant). By combining a typical cogeneration unit with Thermal Energy’s FLU-ACE technology efficiencies can now be pushed as high as 95%.

“We are in a unique position to capitalize on the increasing popularity of combined heat and power systems by providing enhanced levels of efficiency not provided by typical cogeneration project developers,” – William Crossland, CEO of Thermal Energy.

Key Benefits of a FLU-ACE Augmented Cogeneration Project:

Up to 70% reduction in electricity costs;
Up to 95% energy utilization efficiency;
15% to 20% natural gas energy savings;
Additional 15% to 20% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to typical CHP systems;
In the event of a blackout, the cogeneration unit works as a backup source securing the supply of energy so there is no danger of electricity supply being interrupted;
Verifiable emission reduction credits (ERCs)
Typical net project payback of two to five years.

Thermal Energy’s solutions are not limited to the traditional cogeneration system where only the electricity and heat is used. The company can also provide a tri-generation solution that produces electricity, usable heat and chilled water. In the hotter periods of the year where the availability of heat sinks are diminished, energy from the CHP can be used to generate chilled water, thus offering additional energy savings. Thermal Energy can also provide a hybrid energy solution where cogeneration or tri-generation is combined, for example with solar power generation. These systems are well-suited for locations where power demand peaks during peak solar production periods (such as power demand from chillers for air conditioning).

Applications

Manufacturing operations and other industrial process plants, hospitals, universities and other institutions with a year-round need for both electrical power and steam are candidates for cogeneration. In areas where the relative cost of purchased electricity versus a readily available fossil fuel like natural gas is favorable, cogeneration can satisfy much of a facility’s electricity and heating needs at a substantially lower cost than traditional means. In addition, with absorption chilling, cooling loads can also be met with waste heat from on-site power generation (this is known as trigeneration).

Important Considerations

For many industrial and institutional operations, cogeneration is an energy solution that can save money, improve energy reliability and security, while reducing the facility’s carbon footprint. However, there are a few important considerations before going forward with a cogeneration project. Each project has its own unique drivers such as redundancy, maximum kilowatt capability, pollution issues, reliability of steam or kilowatt supply. An assessment by Thermal Energy’s qualified engineering team can help you determine whether cogeneration should play a part in the energy solution for your facility.

For More Information

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This post has been sponsored by Thermal Energy International, Inc.

July 6, 2016 0 comment

Insights from the Solar Industry in Rural Peru

written by Kat Friedrich

In the mountains of rural Peru, solar power organizations are finding footholds. Their experiences may illuminate the challenges of electrifying remote areas. The Clean Energy Solutions Center hosted a webinar on Nov. 18 in which solar organizations in rural Peru described their practices.

Peru has just announced a national contract to leverage solar power for universal access to electricity. The experiences of these solar organizations may provide valuable insights for businesses in Peru and in other countries.

“In the jungle and the very high Andes, in areas that are very far away from different cities… there is a great amount of people without energy.” said Rafael Escobar, energy program manager at the nonprofit Practical Action.

50 million people in Latin America lack electricity, Escobar said. The population of rural Peru is around 7 million. In the area where Practical Action operates, 93.4 percent of the population lacks electricity.

“The government of Peru just in the last week has announced plans to award a large contract to Ergon Power SAC to bring renewable power to those who do not have access,” said Richenda van Leeuwen, executive director of the United Nations Foundation’s Energy Access Initiative.

“We are working in more than 100 little villages in an area with a lot of difficulties in transportation and communication,” said Carmen Becerril Martinez, president of ACCIONA Microenergia Peru.

Peru has a very dispersed population, van Leeuwen said. Solar companies there cannot take a regular commercial approach because there are very low profit margins. Affordability can also present a challenge.

Several of the presenters said the new contract should be implemented in a way that is community-oriented and appropriate for local homeowners.

In Peru, unlike some other nations, decisions about solar power appear to be made on a community basis. ACCIONA Microenergia held community discussions about distributed solar.

“Some people were a little bit skeptical,” Martinez said.

The communities that were interested in solar power created three-person photovoltaic electrification committees.

“One of the members of the committee has to be a woman,” Martinez said. “This is a way to enhance the role of women in these areas.”

Communities in rural Peru face substantial difficulties when they consider introducing renewable energy, so partnerships with businesses and other organizations are necessary.

“There is a lack of capacity for local governments to promote energy development,” Escobar said. “These governments are not able to foster these energy projects. There is a lack of support for technical issues and maintenance.”

“Operation and maintenance are key elements of this project,” Martinez said. She said ACCIONA Microenergia has committed to operate in Peru for at least 20 years to make sure the solar systems remain in good shape.

ACCIONA Microenergia’s program, Luz en Casa, broke even at the end of 2013. Default rates for this program have been lower than 1 percent, Martinez said.

“The Luz en Casa Program has proved that rural electrification with solar home systems can be economically sustainable and affordable to the very poor people,” Martinez said.

Luz en Casa focuses exclusively on home lighting and does not provide any other electrical amenities.
“The standard system we are installing includes three lamps and one socket,” Martinez said.

ACCIONA Microenergia is structured as a social microcompany, not as a foundation. The solar lighting is partly funded by a social tariff. Profit margins have been tight. “We need around 2,500 clients to ensure that the economics works,” Martinez said.

“This has to be economically feasible to ensure the project can become bigger and can cover all the needs we can identify,” Martinez said.

Martinez said the company works with AMP, a public provider of electricity, to supply basic electricity service to almost 4,000 households in poverty and extreme poverty via solar home systems with a fee-for-service model.

The households pay around $3.50 USD monthly, Martinez said. Previously, they spent 50 percent more to buy candles, kerosene, and mobile charging.

“The important thing is that these people are now having an income after managing their own energy systems,” Escobar said.

Practical Action has a training center that is working with technicians and politicians to plan renewable energy projects.

The organization is developing financing plans for a long list of renewable energy projects including wind, solar and hydropower. It is in the process of securing financing and collaborating with local communities.

This article was originally published by Clean Energy Finance Forum, a news website sponsored by Yale University. To subscribe to our newsletter, please visit our website.

January 6, 2015 1 comment

Political Capital Needed for Clean Energy Finance to Flourish

written by Kat Friedrich

Private-sector investment in clean energy continues to grow as costs come down and free-market dynamics begin to replace government subsidies. But this influx of financial capital is still not enough, according to speakers at “Creative Power: New Models for Growing Clean Energy Investment,” a discussion held at Bloomberg L.P. in Manhattan on Sept. 20 as part of New York Climate Week.

“We need leaders to invest political capital in the [climate policy]process,” explained Greg Barker, the UK envoy on climate change. The UK has thus far decreased its own emissions 20 percent below 1990 levels, he said. To continue this trend, he explained, “innovation will fundamentally come from the private sector – but the market failure [around carbon emissions]is so strong that there is a role for government action.”

This market failure is the fact that the international economy has not attached a cost to carbon and other climate-changing gases.

“Climate change is the largest market failure known to man,” said Rasmus Helveg Petersen, Denmark’s minister of climate and energy. “We need innovative finance to make the transition.”

Balancing the roles of the public sector, the private sector, and innovative public-private partnerships can be tricky. Alfred Griffin, president of the New York Green Bank (NYGB), pointed out that the NYGB wants to focus on deals that would not happen otherwise without its involvement.

“Our first question when responding to a proposal is, ‘Are we needed?’” Griffin said. To this end, the NYGB does not consider itself to be providing subsidized capital. Instead, it hopes to support the private sector in understanding and mitigating risks to enable investment.

As clean energy market risks are perceived to be decreasing, less government support will be needed for these markets. Panelists stated that they feel the perception of technological risk associated with renewable technologies is dissipating. In fact, in light of the power outages during Hurricane Sandy and other severe weather events, the resiliency of renewable, distributed generation is an emerging part of its value proposition.

At the same time, the risk of traditional fossil fuel assets, such as coal, is seen as increasing. As the specter of climate change and its associated dangers loom, “certainly coal is being thought of as a risky asset,” said A.J. Sabatelle, associate managing director of corporate finance for Moody’s Investors Service. This summer’s downgrade of coal stock Peabody Energy by Deutsche Bank supports his assessment. At Moody’s, Sabatelle said, “the sale of older coal-fired assets is viewed as credit-positive.”

This article was originally published by Clean Energy Finance Forum, a news website sponsored by Yale University. To subscribe to our newsletter, please visit our website.

The author, Carol Rosenfeld, is the Program Director for the Coalition for Green Capital, where she advocates for financing for clean energy. Carol graduated from the Yale School of Management with an MBA in 2014 and holds a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Princeton University. She is a LEED-Accredited Professional and a Senior Fellow in the Environmental Leadership Program.

November 10, 2014 0 comment

DOE Paper: Keep Calm and Net Meter On

written by The Vote Solar Initiative

The problem is not too much solar. That might seem self-evident, but that is basically what utilities around the country are arguing — and trying to ‘fix.’ As energy users are increasingly turning to solar to generate their own emission-free power, utilities are responding by trying to get rid of net metering, and change rate structures to impose large fixed charges. The outcome? Less solar. We have long argued that the problem is

not too much solar, nor is it net metering, the policy that is helping customers in 43 states choose sunshine as their energy source. Rather, it’s a utility business model (and perhaps a regulatory paradigm) that needs updating. In this vein, The Department of Energy’s Sunshot Program released a useful new document: Rethinking Standby and Fixed Charges: Regulatory and Rate Design Pathways to Deeper Solar PV Cost Reductions The paper makes a lot of arguments that we’ve been making, with the benefit of having a DOE logo to remove the smell of patchouli oil. The CliffsNotes are as follows:

Utility arguments on cost shifts often contain a lot of horsemalarkey. Not only do utilities fail to appropriately credit the benefits of solar, but they cherry-pick arguments about cost-shifting to inappropriately discriminate against net-metered solar users. Common rate design practice is to look at a utility’s cost of serving its customers over one year and divide those costs into two categories: ‘fixed’ long-term investments in infrastructure and the like, and ‘variable’ costs that change according to how much electricity is produced and delivered. This short-term snapshot makes fixed costs appear unavoidable, and – the utilities argue – by reducing their utility bill payments, solar customers are by definition not covering as much of those fixed costs as their non-solar counterparts. But of course individual investment in local generation can reduce the need for both fixed and variable costs over a proper time frame. As the Arizona Residential Utility Customer’s Office noted: “Fixed costs are not fixed forever; every cost is variable given the proper time horizon.” It’s time to start treating distributed generation like it’s going to be around for awhile.
Fixed charges have a ‘disproportionately negative and unduly burdensome impact’ on customers who go solar. Instead, a three-pronged approach of 1) decoupling, 2) bare minimum bill that is only assessed if customers buy little to no utility energy, and 3) time-of-use (TOU) rates, phased in gradually to all customers — should keep everything copacetic (that is, both solve for utilities’ revenue requirements and allow solar customers to get appropriate value for their generation) for a long time to come, at least until customer-sided solar reaches ‘significant plurality’ (20-30%) of utility peak load.

It’s really worth a read.

October 30, 2014 0 comment

Germany’s Energiewende Proves Electricity can be Clean and Reliable

written by CleanTechies.com Contributor

Since 2004, the year of the first major revision of Germany’s Renewable Energy Act (EEG), the country has added at least 35 gigawatts (GW) of solar and 35 GW of wind to its electric grid – enough to offset upwards of 35 coal plants. What’s more impressive is during the first half of 2014, close to 29 percent of Germany’s electricity came from renewable sources. For perspective, America’s renewables percentage, at about 14 percent, was half of Germany’s during this timeframe.

Meanwhile, the country has improved its status as a grid reliability leader, causing the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Energy Transition blog to conclude, “Clearly, installing the equivalent of 100 percent of peak demand as wind and solar capacity does not bring down the grid.” Renewables International further asserts, “Renewables have not yet reached a penetration level that has detrimentally impacted grid reliability.”

This success runs contrary to the predictions of Energiewende’s critics, who have sounded the alarms about investing in “too much” renewable energy. Some of these concerns are more valid than others, but the truth is, most of these claims are blown out of proportion, fixable with solutions that are not overly complex, and/or based on no empirical data.

How did Germany do it?

The System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) measures the average interruption time per electricity customer, and it is the foremost metric used internationally for assessing electric grid reliability. This past August, Germany’s Network Agency announced that the country’s SAIDI value dropped from 15.91 minutes in 2012 to 15.32 minutes in 2013.

This improvement is especially impressive considering Germany’s 2012 SAIDI score was the third best in Europe and less than a tenth of the value of 244, the most recent statistic from the United States (see graphics below).

The indicator that most strongly correlates with grid reliability, and could explain why Germany outperforms the United States, is the level of undergrounding of low-voltage (LV) and medium-voltage (MV) cables. As the name suggests, underground electricity wires are buried and sheltered from inclement weather and thus more reliable than aboveground electricity transmission. Over 70 percent of both LV and MV cables are underground in Germany (see figure below).

By contrast, 2012 survey results from the Edison Electric Institute indicate that underground cables only serve about 39 percent of homes in the United States (see below).

Critics are not always right

Despite this success, the Institute for Energy Research asserted just last month that “the outcome [of the Energiewende]for Germans will be a higher potential for blackouts” due to an increased number of grid intervention events. From 2010 to 2012, grid intervention events increased fourfold in Germany. Similarly, Nature Publishing Group claims,

“The rapid rise in wind and solar power has created a nightmare scenario for grid operators, who face surges when the wind blows and the sun shines, and shortages when they don’t. In 2011, more than 200,000 blackouts exceeding three minutes were reported – and experts warn of a growing risk of major power failures.”

But this criticism is shortsighted. SAIDI specifically measures blackouts exceeding three minutes, and since 2006 Germany’s solar and wind capacity have increased by 70 GW while its SAIDI has improved from 21.53 to 15.32. Furthermore, as argued by Craig Morris for the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Energy Transition blog, all ‘grid intervention’ events mean is that “instead of merely sitting there looking at screens, the engineers now have to press buttons”; as a result, there is a “slightly” higher likelihood of human error.

The most valid concern

Of all the criticisms against Energiewende’s reliability success, the issue of cost is the most valid. As it turns out, upgrading the electric grid to a state-of-the-art, 21^st century machine is pretty expensive, and that cost is mostly borne by utilities.

Too rapid an increase in generation from renewables is financially weakening German utilities, which make only a fraction of the revenue dispatching renewable power as from conventional sources. The value of Europe’s top 20 utilities has fallen from €1 trillion (USD $1.3 trillion) in 2008 to €500 billion (USD $630 billion) in 2013. According to The Economist, European grid upgrades by 2020 are expected to cost up to €1 trillion, and “companies worth €500 billion cannot finance anything like that amount… In their current state, utilities cannot finance Europe’s hoped-for clean energy system.”

Thus, crippling these utilities is potentially problematic for reliability because it lowers the potential for investment in the modernized grid. This concern, however, has yet to erode Germany’s electric grid reliability in practice.

Solutions exist

According to the Heinrich Böll Foundation, “even the strongest proponents of Energiewende agree that Germany needs to reform its energy system to accommodate the next influx of renewable energies.”

However, solutions exist to this problem that are not revolutionary. For example, a shift away from the “energy-only” market, in which utilities are only paid to produce and deliver energy, to one that is more profitable for utilities as renewables take over the generation mix. Potential structures include “capacity” and “capabilities” markets.

In a capacity market, utilities are not compensated for the energy they produce, but instead for what they have on reserve for immediate use when faced with reliability challenges. But this model does not give preference to any particular energy source. A capabilities market, however, attempts to prioritize power generation that guarantees low CO2 emissions. Natural gas-fired plants, energy storage, demand response, and renewable energy resources are just a few examples of the reliability measures that might be prioritized over a coal-fired “peaker” plant when trying to meet the demands of a strained electric grid.

The highest quality data supports the conclusion Germany’s grid reliability during Energiewende has been an unequivocal success so far. Opponents levy negative commentaries on this subject, and there is certainly still room for improvement regarding energy markets, but there is no doubt the German experience, as an international model, proves a clean grid can also be a reliable one.

Article by Peter Sopher, Clean Energy Policy Analyst, appearing courtesy Environmental Defense Fund Energy Exchange Blog.

October 21, 2014 1 comment

Pay-as-You-Go Solar Lights up India and Africa

written by Kat Friedrich

In regions of the developing world where electrical grids are weak or nonexistent, people often rely on kerosene. In a webinar on Sept. 16, staff from four pay-as-you-go solar companies described how they are building rural sales networks in Africa and India to replace kerosene lighting.

The webinar, “Pay as You Go: A Sunny Future?,” was offered by Clean Energy Solutions Center. It featured Simpa Networks, BBOXX, Mobisol GmBH, and Off-Grid Electric. All of these companies are members of the United Nations Energy Access Practitioner Network.

“We want to make an aspirational modern lifestyle accessible to everyone,” said Graham Smith, vice president of business development at Off-Grid Electric. “We have ambitious goals of lighting Africa within the decade.”

Rural solar benefits customers in off-grid regions of Africa immensely, the Mobisol GmBH website says. Having solar lighting at night improves safety, especially for women and children. Children are able to study for longer hours after dark. Buyers of solar power can also start a wide variety of home-based small businesses.

Kerosene, the typical fuel of choice for off-grid communities in developing nations, has many disadvantages when compared to solar power. Its light quality is poor. And kerosene lanterns pose multiple health risks due to fires and toxic smoke.

Although the initial purchase price of a kerosene lantern is low, kerosene use helps to trap families in a cycle of poverty. Over time, using kerosene is much more expensive than relying on solar power.

Access to solar energy can help families educate their children, start businesses, and break the cycle of poverty that goes with kerosene dependence.

“Indian culture is highly aspirational,” said Paul Needham, president and co-founder of Simpa Networks. “The ancient divisions of caste are being challenged. Education is highly valued. Our customers often highlight the value of having lighting and cooling for their children’s studies.”

Until relatively recently, remote regions of India and Africa did not have sales networks set up to offer solar power to local residents.

Leveraging Mobile Phones

The companies participating in this webinar are creating pioneering distribution networks relying on a now-ubiquitous technology – cell phones.

Even in off-grid regions or areas with intermittent power, cell phone service is often available and reliable.

All of these four companies are relying on cell phones to enable their customers to pay for solar power on an as-needed basis. In at least two cases, the customers own the solar systems at the end of a certain number of payments.

“There’s a small initial down payment for the device,” Needham said. “Once the customer has completed the contract, the whole system unlocks permanently, leaving them with energy free and clear.”

Simpa Networks has been able to do business in areas of India that have unreliable cell phone service by designing a technology workaround.

“We were selling in mountainous areas where we couldn’t rely on there being a good cell connection in the home,” Needham said. “As long as a customer has access to a mobile phone, they can receive our codes.”

Simpa Networks uses these downloadable codes to add credit to the solar systems.

Needham said Simpa Networks tries to keep the number of customers who have run out of money below 10 percent at any time.

“Customers pay for the services via their mobile phones and receive codes through SMS,” Smith said. “This eliminates a lot of the costs involved with retail markups. Households are charged a simple daily fee.”

“Our customers pay us via M-Pesa and our employees are paid through M-Pesa, which cuts down corruption,” said Klara Lindner, product and service developer at Mobisol GmBH.

Corruption hasn’t been much of an issue on the customer end of the business, either. Mansoor Hamayun, co-founder and CEO of BBOXX, said few customers tamper with his company’s devices or try to adjust their payment systems.

Customer buy-in helps to reduce tampering, Hamayun said. “We’re trying to demonstrate value for money. At the moment that perception drops across customers, this problem becomes very real.”

Knowing that the solar systems will belong to them eventually may increase customers’ support for BBOXX.

“In our model, the ownership is transferred to the customers,” Hamayun said. “Different players have different approaches to that.”

Facing Rural Challenges

“The key challenge for us to be able to reach a mass market is the physical access – our ability to reach end customers in rural areas,” Hamayun said. “Partnering with local distributors can be tricky at times. We have taken the approach of being able to create our own retail network.”

The other presenters said they agreed. Developing a distribution network is key to success in rural areas in Africa and India.

“We reach beyond the last mile,” Smith said.

“Our customers live in off-grid villages and bad-grid villages,” Needham said. “We focus on bad-grid villages that get less than 12 hours of power per day.”

Training local staff is also an important consideration. Mobisol GmBH has developed a training system to equip rural technicians in Africa with the skill set they need to be able to provide solar to local communities, Lindner said. “We came up with a plug-and-play version where one technician goes through the training and is able to hook up the system within one hour.”

Lindner calls the training system the ‘Mobisol Akademie.’ “We train people for different staff positions and provide them with a job guarantee once they’ve passed their courses.”

According to the Mobisol GmBH website, the company also prioritizes gender equity in employment in all of its sites in Africa and Europe.

To reach isolated locations, Mobisol GmBH has set up a distribution network, Lindner said. “Small decentralized sales spots are everywhere our customers are.”

The company targets customers based on loan preferences and makes use of credit checks, Lindner said.

It has been surprisingly challenging for Mobisol GmBH to partner with microfinance institutions in Africa because these organizations are generally not located in rural areas, Lindner said. Their staff are “going around on motorcycles.”

Unlocking Private Capital

“I’m a firm believer that the only way to end energy poverty is to unlock private capital at scale,” Needham said. “I’m convinced that ‘solar as a service’ or ‘pay-as-you-go’ is the best way to unlock that capital.”

According to Needham’s estimate, it will cost $400 million to fund solar systems to light the homes of 10 million people. “We need to reach a billion people,” he said.

“Real scale needs to be financed by real money, and that’s only going to come from mainstream commercial investors,” Needham said.

Needham described the hierarchy of investors that can contribute to the growth of the industry.

“Impact investors typically come in early when a company’s in its proof-of-concept phase,” Needham said. “Development finance institutions like Africa Finance Corporation and Asian Development Bank can come in next. This is really a precondition for a next phase.”

“To reach universal energy access, our sector needs to unlock private capital,” Needham said. “Private capital doesn’t care about social impact, it cares about financial returns. Capital can be recycled over and over again. It’s a business model that creates new skills and new jobs.”

Needham said he predicts demand will boom in this sector. “When we finally reach a billion people with clean, reliable electricity, I think this sector will only be getting started. Most people will want more power. Energy is opportunity and opportunity cannot be denied.”

This article was originally published by Clean Energy Finance Forum, a news website sponsored by Yale University. To subscribe to our newsletter, please fill out our contact form.

October 15, 2014 1 comment

Top Ten Twitter Tips for an Optimized Solar Power International 2014

written by Lisa Ann Pinkerton

In a few weeks, the solar industry will converge on Las Vegas for three jam-packed days of sun worship. Not at the pool, but in the halls and among the exhibits at Solar Power International (SPI) 2014.

Brands big and small routinely lose out on a vast array of opportunities and lucrative connections at large conferences, because they have not yet implemented a strategy that puts them in multiple places at once. You can’t possibly see it all or meet everyone at North America’s largest solar trade show, but with a little help from a scout called Twitter, and a few simple tweeting skills, you can maximize your exposure.

While B2B activities on Twitter might seems like its just 100’s of people talking at each other, it’s conferences where Twitter really becomes invaluable. It’s your best source for latest news, must see sessions and which parties are worth showing up for. Twitter can bring the industry into your hands, put your voice on par with the biggest brands in the business, and dramatically improve your team’s ROI.

As you gear up for SPI 2014, here’s a list of our top 10 Twitter skills you can try out to make the show your most significant trip of your year. I’ve offered up some top examples for each, either from current SPI activity (#SPI2014) or from South By Southwest Eco (#SXSWEco), which I recently attended in Austin.

1. Start with a pre-party

The weeks leading up to SPI are often a whirlwind of preparation and deadlines. Regardless, get yourself into the habit of watching two SPI hashtags, #SPICon and #SPI2014 starting around October 16. Around this time, you’ll notice companies starting to announce their news for the show. A quick scan every other day will give you a good sense of what the show’s themes may be.

When you see news from a colleague or prospect, it’s a perfect excuse to reach out to them. Inquire if they’ll be attending the show, and see if you can set up a meeting. Even if you don’t know them!

@[handle]: Hi Rich I am at #SPI2014 Booth XXXX. We’ve talked on Twitter but never met – will be under the same roof tomorrow.

Additionally, use this time to retweet (RT) people you want to notice you and start brushing up on your posting power.

@GlennaWiseman: RT @RainaRusso: 4 football fields worth of walking at #SPICon that’s 10,000 steps a day easy! Win a Fitbit via @ibts_solar booth 5309 #SolarChat

2. Live tweet everyday

Once SPI starts, make a commitment to tweet from the show in real time. In social media marketing, we call this “Live Tweeting.” This activity can take many forms, but should start with your announcement on your feed that you’re traveling to SPI and why you’re excited. This heads-up post, gives your followers and others following the hashtag a chance to know that you’ll be there and connect with you.

@RainaRusso: See you there! RT @ibts_solar: We’re headed to Vegas, baby! Stop by booth 5309 at @SPIConvention Oct. 21-23 #SPIcon pic.twitter.com/hrQakNmklX

@lisapinkerton: There’s something magical about being at a conference the day before it starts. #SXSWEco

In Sessions:

The conventional live tweet from a session usually includes sounds bites from speakers and questions posed by the audience. I often use my session posts as a way of taking notes on the panel. Be careful not to just post the sound bites from speakers, as it’s so common that you’ll notice everyone doing it. You want to be unique and stand out, so that other people with retweet and follow you. So instead, try to build on the commentd given, either by posing a question, a challenge or furthering the idea with your own insights.

@lisapinkerton: PicaSolar could save solar OEMs $140M in reduced silver use alone, + 15% increase in cell efficiency. #sxsweco http://ow.ly/i/78K3W

@AutoblogGreen: Brett Hauser from @greenlots: There have been some “colossal failures” because EV charging companies used proprietary systems. #sxsweco

On the exhibit floor:

As you wander the booths, take photos of things you think are cool, friends you run into or fun happenings. Post them on Twitter with your comment and where it happened, such as the booth number. If you see something you don’t like, there’s also an opportunity to tell the company via a post.

@austinECOdetail: Met Gabriel and his team #earth911 at #sxsweco last week. They had this super cool stool made of cork on display. pic.twitter.com/pi8coPEIbY

Corporate social media feeds are often managed by the marketing and public relations teams. So, done diplomatically, your comment will reach the people in the company who will care most about the company’s brand and reputation.

Regardless of how your posts shape up, always credit the speakers and companies either by adding their name in or their handle. And always remember to add the hashtag #SPI2014.

3. Party with your Tweeps

Networking on social media is a great way to build your brand and reach new people. But in person networking is where the real magic is. At the quarterly networking workshops I teach in San Francisco, I outline how one can seamlessly go from online networking to in person networking, and back to online as a way of extending networking time and opportunities.

Tweetups are sponsored happy hours where people who are active on Twitter meet each other face-to-face. Instead of meeting a group of strangers, Tweetups provide us with the opportunity to get to know better, people we already feel connected to. At SPI this year, there are two important Tweetups to hit:

SPI Tweetup – October 22, 12-2pm
#SolarChat’s Unplugged Solar Teams Rock – Oct 22, 8pm-10pm

4. Get your scan on

You can’t be everywhere are once. But Twitter can! Every morning, instead of looking at your usual news feeds, or playing that game you use to wake up in bed, scan the twitter hashtag. Within five minutes it would take you to review the replays of how your base got raided on Clash of Clans overnight, you’ll quickly get up to speed on the coming day at SPI. Also, at this time take a moment to post something about what you’re looking forward to, as another way of giving the SPI community a chance to meet you and connect with you.

5. Smart follow

Using Twitter at conferences, when the majority of your industry is paying attention, whether or not they are at the show, is a great way to build your audience. As a rule, you should follow everyone that follows you, as long and as much as you want to. When you do get a new follower, thank them for following you.

If people are using the hashtag, there’s a high likelihood they have some influence in solar and following them could add to your overall clout. So, at shows it’s advisable to follow people using the hashtag. They in turn may choose to follow you, and before you know it, you’ll have grown your following by at least 10-20 percent by the end of the conference.

6. Interact

Following those that follow you is just one part of interaction. The next step is to add to the conversation, either by retweeting what they have posted (indicated by RT in the post) or by modifying a person’s tweet and adding MT. You can also reply to a post and add your own insights, questions or comments.

This is where the interaction can take on a life of its own and lead to incredible networking opportunities you might not have had otherwise, both at the event and long after it’s over. You can even invite other people you know would have interest in a topic into the conversation by adding their handles in your posts. Twitter will notify them, depending on their account settings. Do this in compelling way and voilà, you have yourself a bonafide social media networking moment that can be taken off line for more in-depth interaction.

7. Review sessions and parties in the moment

Let’s face it, no matter how hard organizers try, some sessions are just boring, and some parties are just a flop. Wouldn’t you like to know that before you get to the location, or warn other before they meet your fate? Well, Twitter is an excellent vehicle for that.

When you’re in a session that’s dragging on without much substance, use Twitter to see what sessions other people are posting about. You can save yourself valuable session time by leaving ones that aren’t working for ones that are. The same thing goes for parties and happy hours.

You can also use Twitter to bring more people to something good. Don’t be afraid to post that a session is impressive, making sure to share the room number. Additionally, if you find yourself at a bouncing party, spread the love on Twitter. Make sure you credit the sponsors of the event, so that if others can’t get there before it’s over the organizers get your kudos, which is a goodwill gesture that helps to elevate their brand.

AndreaLearned: Fun @triplepundit party last night @CliveBarATX – thanks @nickaster and gang. #sxsweco

8. Make it visual

Thoughtful insights are critical to building your Twitter brand. However, well-selected photos and videos will often spread the message of your brand further than words can. People love images and videos. We love to look at them and share them.

When people retweet your multi-media, your handle (@yournamehere) gets added to the post and you get the credit. You may find a comment retweeted once or twice, while an image or video gets many more shares. A note of caution, before you share a photo or video, be sure to ask others in the moment if it’s okay. If they say yes, be sure to add their handles as well.

9. Give credit where credit is due

In the other steps, we touched on how selecting the retweet symbol in your Twitter app will automatically add the handle of the person you are retweeting into your post. Twitter also offers an “edit retweet” function in case you want to modify the tweet. Often we do this to add additional insights or if the original tweet was too long.

However, some people will use the “edit retweet” function to remove the handle of the person who originated the tweet as a way of claiming it as their own. This is not how you build a supportive community and people will notice if you try this too much. They might even call you out on it, publicly; I have. Keep your ego at bay and give credit where credit is due. Sometimes, when a post becomes too long, because of the RT handle(s) at the beginning, it’s advisable to add them to the end with the word “via” indicating where you got the information. This step can save you precious characters.

This also goes to crediting speakers and companies. You can use the search function in Twitter to learn if companies or people have twitter handles already and add them to your post. While you’re at it, you should follow them too. They will get your notification that you mentioned them and it helps you build a positive relationship with them over time.

10. Stay in the moment

One trick about live tweeting is that we pay too much attention to creating our posts, watching the hashtag feed or responding to alerts we get on our phone, because it’s right in front of us. Speakers certainly like to see their names and opinions trending on social media, but they also like an attentive audience. You can miss critical information when you are too busy multi-tasking. Therefore, try to keep your live posts to an average of one per ten minutes. This will help you keep your attention on the session and retaining the most amount of information possible. Additionally, it will keep your feed from dominating the hashtag as people are following it.

October 15, 2014 0 comment

Debate Over Value of Renewables Brings in Heavy Hitters

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A recent article in The Economist describes a blog post by Charles Frank of the Brookings Institute in which he questions the methods that have been used to compare renewable energy sources with more traditional sources like coal, gas and nuclear.

Drawing on the work of Paul Joskow of MIT, Frank claims that the generally accepted levelized cost models, which essentially divide the total lifetime system cost by the total amount of electricity produced, do not adequately discount the value of renewables sources like solar and wind based on their intermittent nature. Joskow’s reasoning is that since these intermittent sources vary their output at different times of the day and the year, that should be reflected in their value, since the demand for, and the price of electricity also varies throughout the day, at least in the commercial market.

So, given that wind, for example, produces electricity mostly at night, when the power is less valuable, that should be reflected in the value of a wind investment. Solar, on the other hand produces mostly at mid-day, when the power is most valuable, so it may be getting short-changed by the levelized cost approach.

Frank started with Joskow’s premise, then went on to perform a detailed analysis of various energy sources, based on avoided emissions and avoided costs, which revealed, he says, that contrary to popular belief, solar and wind are the least cost-effective way of producing low carbon electricity, followed by hydro, nuclear, and finally at the top of the list is combined cycle gas turbine power. Written from the perspective of building new electric generation capacity, Frank concludes, “Assuming that reductions in carbon dioxide emissions are valued at $50 per metric ton and the price of natural gas is not much greater than $16 per million Btu, the net benefits of new nuclear, hydro, and natural gas combined cycle plants far outweigh the net benefits of new wind or solar plants.”

The problem with an analysis like this is, given the rapidity with which renewable energy costs are dropping, trying to compare them with traditional sources is akin to trying to catch a falling knife. Frank’s data was obsolete by the time the ink dried on the page.

In addition, the analysis is highly sensitive to the eventual market price for carbon, which could swing the results dramatically. Also not considered is the impact of energy storage which could easily neutralize the liabilities that form the basis for Frank’s thesis.

But Amory Lovins, of the Rocky Mountain Institute, has already demonstrated that the perceived need for storage has been overstated. Smart grid and smart grid operators will be able to dynamically reconcile supply with demand far more effectively than originally thought, through what Lovins calls choreography. Yes, wind and sun are intermittent, but they are also fairly predictable. The tools available for and acceptance of demand management (can you wait a few seconds for a spike to pass before your air conditioner kicks in?) are also gaining in importance.

Given the broad coverage this story received, Lovins felt the need to weigh in here with a written rebuttal to correct what he felt were significant errors that led to erroneous conclusions.

Lovins points out that correcting nine of Frank’s incorrect assumptions reverses the conclusion to fall in line with the order that the marketplace has consistently chosen as the best investment for the money: hydro, wind, solar, gas, and nuclear. Says Lovins, Frank assumed the both wind and solar were twice as costly and half as productive as they actually are today. He also assumed gas productivity to be twice what it is and ignored the impacts of both methane leakage (a very serious greenhouse gas contributor) and price volatility. Indeed the climate impact of methane leakage (not to mention the environmental impacts of fracking) is severe enough to have caused some experts to question the value of switching away from coal.

Rounding out the list, are out of date assumptions regarding the construction cost (low by half) and operating cost (low by 80%) of nuclear plants. Frank’s assertion leaned heavily on the premise that a good deal of new generating capacity is needed (which it isn’t), and he did so without taking energy efficiency opportunities into account. While Frank has brought a fresh analytical slant to this important problem, when applied with the most recent data it produces the same conclusion as the prevailing approach. In other words, although the variation of the value of electricity produced at different times had not been taken into account by prior analyses, the impact of doing so was not sufficient to change the overall conclusion.

Article by RP Siegel of Justmeans, appearing courtesy 3BL Media.

September 5, 2014 0 comment

Rush to Build African Infrastructure Brings Challenges and Opportunities

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According to the IMF, ten of the twenty fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa. These include the top three: São Tomé and Principe, South Sudan, and Guinea. Considering the fact that many of these are starting with very little in the way of development, these countries represent a tremendous opportunity, not only in terms of revenue potential, but also, given something resembling a clean sheet, a chance to truly get it right, from a sustainable development perspective.

Recognizing the opportunity, the Chinese have moved aggressively, establishing economic ties and quickly becoming Africa’s largest trading partner. In 2012, China’s trade with Africa reached $198.5 billion, twice that of the US.

Now the US wants to pick up its Africa game. Just this week, the US government announced commitments from American businesses to invest $14 billion in Africa. Coca-Cola alone has pledged $5 billion. Other companies coming to the table include Chevron, IBM, Mastercard, GE and Marriott.

The primitive level of African infrastructure will surely pose an obstacle to these development efforts. For example, two out of three people living in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity. The number is even higher in rural areas. That’s over 600 million people. That is where the US has targeted its assistance through a program called Power Africa, which was announced in June 2013. The program is a collaboration of “African governments, the private sector, and other partners such as the World Bank and African Development Bank in six focus countries — Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania.” The goal is to install more than 10,000 megawatts (MW) of clean, renewable electric generation capacity.

As a recent Wall Street Journal article has pointed out, there will be challenges. Early investors took advantage of landowners, who were mostly poor farmers, creating distrust. Now farmers are refusing to move their farms to make way for wind farms.

Ethiopia’s first private power project—a geothermal plant—required an embedded adviser inside the government before it got done. Small solar projects in Tanzania required regulatory overhauls. Nigeria is seeing large-scale privatization of power plants, which is revealing the sorry state of its grid.

To some extent these kinds of barriers are fairly typical in a infrastructure overhaul of this magnitude. Barriers arise which must be addressed one at a time. But then, again, some of this might be a question of imposing a legacy vision on a future prospect where it might not be a perfect fit.

Is a large-scale grid infrastructure, created in the image of American and European cities really the right answer for Africa? Would a model based more on distributed generation possibly make more sense in a land with as many geographical and political challenges as Africa has. Why string hundreds of miles of power lines when the sun or the wind is often available right where it is needed?

Look at the telecommunications explosion in China and India, which combined now have over two billion cell phones. Most of those people have never heard of a land line and couldn’t imagine why anyone would go to the trouble to erect such things.

This is an opportunity to do things right. Sure there is lots of money to be made and developers are itching to get in there first. But perhaps we should take a minute to look before we leap.

Article by RP Siegel of Justmeans, appearing courtesy 3BL Media.

August 12, 2014 4 comments

Infographic: Interactive Guide To UK Renewable Heat Incentive

written by sponsoredcontent

The UK’s Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is now available and will be administered by the energy regulator Ofgem. The RHI will support and reward households who move away from fossil fuels for heating their homes. Use this helpful guide on how to apply and what the benefits will be.

http://www.solartech.org.uk/embed.phpThis content is brought to you by our sponsor: Solar Tech Ltd

July 23, 2014 1 comment

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