Jim Brumm: Long-Term Thinking for a Short-Sighted World

CARBONDALE, CO USA — Solar Energy International is going Hollywood.

Due to high demand for solar PV around the world, silicon prices are again on the rise. After a period of decline, a new survey from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) shows that prices are reaching levels not seen since December of 2009.

The largest solar PV array in New Mexico was unveiled this week. The 1.1 MW project was installed on a parking structure at the Bell Group headquarters in Albuquerque.

On 30th August begins the new TREE (Transfer Renewable Energy & Efficiency) series of seminars for employees of ministries and multipliers from 57 countries at the Renewables Academy, Berlin. The goal is to train relevant stakeholders on technical, economic and legal aspects of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, so as to provide an effective framework for market growth in the countries of origin. As part of the scholarship program there will be 11 seminars in different technology priorities, online courses and brochures provided with legal questions. Participants will learn which technology is suitable for which sites, how best the political environment can be shaped more efficiently, what funding mechanisms can be used, as well as aspects of project management. Seven more seminars will be held in South Africa, Mexico, Malaysia, the UAE and India on Solar Thermal Power Plants and Project Finance for Renewable Energies.

What does it say that one of the largest producers of oil, The United Arab Emirates, is aggressively developing renewable energy? Clearly the country is thinking about a world beyond fossil energies.

Since 2007, more money has been spent each year on renewable energy electricity capacity than on conventional power. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have established Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and six more states have renewable portfolio goals targeting the addition of a significant amount of renewable energy capacity in the coming years.

Now that the earnings season is almost over, I think a review of surprises in the storage sector seems appropriate. As some readers may know, I'm not terribly bullish on the prospects for many storage companies.

Kikkoman Foods, Inc., America's number one soy sauce producer, will install a 106.6kW DC solar electric (photovoltaic) system at its facility in Folsom, Calif. The new system will significantly reduce the need for fossil fuel–based electricity to power production and allow the company to sell solar electricity back to the grid when the facility is not in operation.

When WindPole Ventures was founded, the original plan was to develop projects on or near the 1,200 microwave towers across the U.S. When project development became more difficult, the company turned to data acquisition.

There were once high hopes for Jatropha as a feedstock for biofuels. But as concerns over the environmental impact of the crop grew, those hopes faded into the background.

Almost all of today's renewable energy projects rely on regulatory financial incentives in order to make investment returns sufficiently attractive. Some incentives, such as rebates and tax credits, have known monetary value and are therefore rather easily incorporated in financial pro formas. Other incentives, namely renewable energy certificates (commonly known as "RECs") used for compliance with renewable portfolio standards (RPS), are inherently variable and therefore require exogenous methods to determine their value. Because RECs can be unbundled from the underlying renewable power and sold to utilities with renewable energy obligations, they are commodities subject to a variety of market forces that impact their value.

The demand for wind power is at an all-time high. Just about every year, the wind sets a new record, recently putting close to 10 GW a year online. Yet it isn't enough. States continue to set higher and higher renewable portfolio standards (RPS). The problem is that there is already a shortage of qualified wind technicians, managers and general staff. So where are the resources going to come from to fulfill an ever-expanding demand–a shortfall of literally millions of jobs–within a decade or so?

The Chinese solar producer LDK announced this week that its 5,000 MT polysilicon plant has begun commercial production in China. It has another 15,000 MT add-on that will likely be completed in the next six months, said the company.

Researchers from the Germany Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) have broken a new efficiency record for thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide solar cells.

Shelton, CT and Toronto, ON, August 24, 2010 – OPEL International Inc. (TSX-V: OPL) ("OPEL" or "the Company"), a leading global supplier of high concentration photovoltaic ("HCPV") solar panels and other solar products, including ground-based and rooftop tracker systems, today announced the filing on SEDAR of its Financial Statements and the Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the quarter ended June 30, 2010 (collectively the "Financials").