Sharp looks abroad for thin-film solar cell output

February 27, 2008 (Reuters) – Japan’s Sharp Corp, which aims to become the world’s biggest maker of solar cells, is looking abroad to raise annual output of thin-film solar cells by sixfold to 6,000 megawatts after 2012 and beat silicon shortages.

Sharp aims to raise its annual thin-film solar cell production capacity “as soon as possible” after a planned new plant in Osaka, western Japan goes online by March 2010 with eventual output of 1,000 MW per year, Toshishige Hamano, corporate senior executive director, said on Wednesday.

The electronics group, which also supplies liquid crystal display panels, now has thin-film cell capacity of 15 MW per year at its Katsuragi Plant in Nara, western Japan, and plans to raise this to 160 MW in October.

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Victoria to get solar power plant

February 25, 2008 (The Age) – A project to build a solar power plant in Victoria with $79.5 million promised by the former Howard government has been launched by new Climate Change Minister Penny Wong.  Despite the former Howard government committing the money to the project she was launching, Ms Wong attacked her predecessors, saying they had done “virtually nothing” toward reducing greenhouse emissions.

The $420 million solar plant will be built at a yet to be determined site in the Swan Hill and Mildura region in Victoria’s north, and should generate enough power for 45,000 homes every year, without creating any greenhouse emissions.

Q-Cells 2007 sales rise, to start Asia production

February 19, 2008 (Reuters) – German solar cell maker Q-Cells reported strong full-year results and said it plans to invest more than 1 billion ringgit ($263.2 million) in its first production site in Asia.Q-Cells, which said on Tuesday it had become world’s largest solar cell producer by volume, said it plans to build a factory in Malaysia to take advantage of new growth markets and protect against currency fluctuations.

Solar companies around the world are expanding production capacity rapidly to meet growing demand for green energy to counter global warming.

Q-Cells said 2007 sales rose 59 percent to 858.9 million euros ($1.26 billion), which is more than its own target of least 800 million euros.

SolarWorld plans to construct factory for solar modules in South Korea

February 9, 2008 (BusinessWeek) – SolarWorld AG is planning to invest EUR 60 million in the construction of a factory for solar modules in South Korea. The site will initially have a capacity of 120MW, twice as high as the figure planned in October. The factory’s capacity will then be doubled at a later date. Solarworld is planning this project together with Solarpark Engineering, its South Korean joint venture partner. This is the companies’ first site for the production of solar modules in Asia. The new factory is to become operational at the beginning of 2009.

New South Wales deflects calls for solar subsidies

February 19, 2008 (Sydney Morning Herald)- The Sun King has had a vision, but the NSW Government has its own ideas. Zhengrong Shi, the Australian-trained solar energy scientist who has in seven years gone from an academic position at the University of NSW to become the richest person in mainland China, yesterday called on the Government to intervene in the state’s energy market and subsidise solar panels on houses.

Dr Shi urged the Premier, Morris Iemma, to adopt a system of “feed-in tariffs”, in which people who generate solar energy at home can sell it back to the state grid at more than the market rate. Variations of the system work successfully in most European nations, Canada, Japan and China, leading to large increases in the number of people using solar power.

“It’s high time to promote renewable energy” in Indonesia

February 16, 2008 (Jakarta Post) – The idea of introducing nuclear power to Indonesia is nothing more than a vehicle for a few needy individuals to gain public attention. Any moderately educated engineer will agree that Indonesia’s need for electricity is widely decentralized so nuclear power or large coal power plants are the ideas of people lacking technical understanding.

It should be common knowledge that “the transmission of electricity over long distance comes with huge loss.” There are very few countries in the world with better chances than Indonesia to realize enormous decentralized energy generation at low cost or even free for the country.

Indonesia has a potential 27,000 MW of geothermal sources requiring low investment of which currently only 837 MW are in use. Why? Because Pertamina, PLN and the government have not, over the past 30 years, managed to give the many waiting investors investment security.

Sharp, KEPCO planning on Japan’s largest solar power plant

February 15, 2008 (Power Engineering) – Sharp and Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) are planning to jointly build Japan’s biggest solar power generation plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. The new plant will have a total electricity generation capacity of 10 MW, informed sources said. For the plant, Sharp and Kansai Electric are planning to lease a 20-hectare site within the prefecture’s 280-hectare industrial waste disposal site in Sakai. The two companies aim to complete construction around autumn 2009.

Sharp will install its solar power generation panels. Kansai Electric will purchase electricity generated at the plant. A 5 MW facility in Sharp’s Kameyama Plant in Mie Prefecture, western Japan, is currently Japan’s largest solar power generation plant.

West Bengal (India) to have grid-connected solar power plant

February 14, 208 (IANS)- State-owned Power Finance Corp Ltd (PFC) Thursday inked a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with West Bengal Green Energy Development Corp Ltd (WBGEDCL) to set up India’s first grid-connected solar power plant. The 2-MW photovoltaic plant would come up at Dishergarh Power Station Complex near Asansol in Burdwan district of southern West Bengal.

“The unit will come up over 8.3 acres of land with an investment of more than Rs.410 million. The state government will take about Rs.400 million from the PFC to execute the project,” West Bengal Power Minister Mrinal Banerjee told reporters here.

Greens delighted electricity feed-in scheme becomes law (Australia)

February 14, 2008 (SA Parliament Release) – The SA Government’s solar panel ‘feed-in’ Bill has passed both Houses of Parliament tonight, with crucial Greens’ amendments. The Electricity (Feed-in Scheme – Residential Solar Systems) Amendment bill encourages the uptake of solar electricity by allowing residents to sell their solar electricity at a higher rate than they are charged.

Asia’s tigers eye nuclear future

February 15, 2008 (Asia Times) – The 2005-07 spike in petroleum prices topping out at US$100 a barrel has prodded economic planners across the globe to reconsider their energy options in an age of growing concern over global warming and carbon emissions. The Southeast Asian economies, beneficiaries of an oil and gas export bonanza through the 1970s-1990s, now find themselves in an energy crunch as once-ample reserves run down and the search is on for new and cleaner energy supplies. Notably, regional leaders at the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore in November 2007 issued a statement promoting civilian nuclear power, alongside renewable and alternative energy sources.