Solar News

In what is likely to be a major campaign issue, solar energy occupied a critical part of the State of the Union Address. In a not too subtle reference to Solyndra and that "some companies fail," President Obama boldly defended his record and indicated that he was not going to "walk away" from solar energy. As pointed out by CNN, "For the third year in a row energy played a central role in President Obama's State of the Union address, with the president leaning hard this year on the twin themes of increased domestic oil and gas production and the need to invest more in renewable sources."

Germany has been heralded as the world leader in deployment of solar energy. With its decision to move away from nuclear, renewable energy in Germany has become an even higher priority. The question in Germany as in every other country is what level of support the government should provide as the cost for solar panels continues to decline. The solar industry has been at the cross hairs of the debate this past week on the level of support through feed-in tariffs. Der Spiegel has launched a full-throated attack on the solar energy industry while parliamentarians debate the feed-in tariff. Their deliberations affect the industry far beyond the borders of Germany.

Technical innovation is changing the landscape of the solar industry. With the many challenges facing the solar industry, innovative companies like SolarFocus continue to push creative thought and innovation by designing and building solar electronic products like the new solar-powered Kindle for consumers! Yes, you can buy a solar powered Kindle to add to your collection of cool solar gadgets like a solar backpack and solar oven.

That big earthquake you just felt may be a bigger threat to solar energy than a cloudy day. Economics more than anything else drive the solar energy market and when oil and gas go up, the demand for renewable energy also go up. When the price for oil and gas go down, the demand for renewable energy also goes down. In an effort to produce low cost natural gas, the demand for renewable energy, including solar energy, the utilities are reducing the demand for solar panels on your homes.

If you are still getting ready for New Year's, you may want to think about putting up your solar panel system before the clock runs out on the 1603 cash grant program, which expires with the revelry on Times Square Saturday at midnight. The good news is that you need not complete your 125 kilowatt system before the stroke of midnight, you just need to get started, and If you really are waiting until Saturday morning to start your solar energy system, you'd better stop shopping and talk with your accountant or lawyer. But for most of us, the window of opportunity for this major driver in the growth of the solar energy industry will expire.

The solar community is beginning to say good-bye to another record year, and is thinking about how to ring in the New Year. What better ways to celebrate the holidays than with solar gifts. SolarTown offers its ten best solar gift ideas for 2011 and includes solar lights and solar oven and even a solar backpack. And there are others who are talking about solar and other eco-friendly gifts for their loved ones. The Miami Herald chimes in with its own list of new home-brightening green gifts, suggesting  gift ideas from a solar-powered rock and solar Christmas lights. The article suggests that you should check out these options as you decorate and shop for gifts this holiday season.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) voted unanimously on Friday that there is a reasonable indication that SolarWorld and other U.S. solar manufacturers have been or could have been harmed by imports of Chinese solar cells and panels. The Commission will follow with a full investigation on Chinese solar imports. SolarWorld and six other U.S. solar manufacturers filed a complaint with the ITC and the U.S. Department of Commerce on October 19, saying the Chinese government uses cash grants, raw-materials discounts, preferential loans, tax incentives and currency manipulation to boost exports of solar cells. These manufacturers are asking import duties of more than $1 billion on Chinese imports. There will now be a full investigation on possible economic harm to American solar manufacturers by the ITC.

Last Wednesday, Virginia's State Corporation Commission announced that Dominion Virginia Power would be able to charge a standby fee for large-scale solar residential owners who use net metering. In another solar news story, we discussed the implications of such a charge. Solar power advocates worry that this will deter solar energy installations, dealing a blow to the solar energy industry in Virginia. The decision allows Dominion to charge any residential customer with solar systems that produce between ten and twenty kilowatts up to $60 per month, or $4.19 per kilowatt for a solar customer's average peak usage of Dominion's electricity each month. The idea is to pay for infrastructure costs associated with developing net metering: the charge covers costs to keep the power flowing to solar customers at times when the sun does not shine. Today, this charge affects only one customer in Virginia, but will deter any other large-scale installations from being built.

The U.S. Department of Commerce launched an anti-dumping investigation on Chinese solar manufacturers last month. In anticipation, Chinese companies are moving production sites and have launched their own investigation on U.S.-manufactured polysilicon.The China Ministry of Commerce launched its own investigation into whether U.S. subsidies and other policies in the solar, wind and hydroelectric sectors had unfairly hurt the industrial development of China's renewable energy industries. The decision is scheduled for May 2012, which allows China time to retaliate if the U.S. Department of Commerce imposes punitive tariffs on Chinese solar cells as part of its anti-dumping investigation, for which the decision is due in March, or its antisubsidy investigation, for which the decision is due early May.

Germany is the world leader in producing solar energy, so what happens in Germany has ripple effects throughout the global solar industry. When Germany's solar industry hiccups, the world takes note. So last week, the world took note of the proposal to cut subsidies to installations in Germany above a certain aggregate amount. Germany's Economy Ministry proposed a plan on Thursday last week to reduce subsidies to German solar installations to 1GW. The Environment Ministry is opposed to the cuts, saying that the reductions already planned for January 2012 are enough and that these additional cuts would "starve" the German solar market.

On October 19, a coalition of nine U.S.-based solar manufacturers announced a trade action with the Department of Commerce, claiming that China was dumping solar panels on the U.S. market. The Department of Commerce opened the case for hearings on November 8. China has already announced that setting tariffs on Chinese solar PV cells would have consequences on American exports to China, and some American solar companies fear the effect of a tariff on the American solar market. Other solar companies say China's investment has benefited U.S. customers because of the 30% drop in solar panel prices. They have created a rival Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy. This solar trade fight could be a "circular firing-squad in which everyone gets hurt."

Two public electric utility companies, one in San Diego and one in Virginia, recently proposed usage charges for net-metered customers who have solar energy systems. These are designed to spread the infrastructure costs of solar powered systems more equitably, according to the utility companies. Dominion Virginia Power, the Virginia monopoly utility provider, and San Diego Gas & Electric, the San Diego utility provider, claim that they incur costs for infrastructure maintenance for solar customers, but solar industry representatives doubt the actual amount of cost incurred and bring up a law that prevents utility companies from targeting net-metered customers. Both cases are being reviewed by the respective state commissions, and are being closely watched by utilities and solar advocates across the nation.

Governments around the world are cutting incentives for solar energy. If you were counting on the price of solar panels for your home to drop and for the incentives to stay in place, then think again. Some of the latest states to reduce their incentives in the U.S. are Maryland and Arizona, and if you live in Great Britain or Germany, their incentives have also been reduced. And at the federal level in the US, the 1603 Cash Grant will expire at the end of 2011. If you want to take advantage of the incentives for solar energy, then the moral of the story is: get your solar panel systems on your homes today.

Last week, we discussed how seven U.S. solar manufacturers filed a petition with the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission for the U.S. government to raise duties on Chinese solar imports by more than 100%. In their petition, these solar manufacturers argued that they have been injured by Chinese manufacturers' dumping of crystalline solar cells on the U.S. market at prices below production costs. China Energy News reported today that this was a foolish, misguided attempt at trade protectionism driven by jealousy.

Two European solar manufacturers cut output this week as solar panel prices continue to drop and demand stays low. This week, Meyer Burger, Europe's biggest solar equipment maker, said it would temporarily stop production at its site in Thun, Switzerland, for a maximum of three weeks. Solar panel makers are dealing with weakened demand in Europe and at the same time under pressure from Chinese manufacturers, which have expanded production capacity just as demand slowed, causing cell and module prices to plummet. The drop in demand comes as no surprise given the economic downturn and cut in feed-in tariffs in Europe.

This war has been brewing for some time and yesterday several US solar manufacturers fired the first shot at their Chinese rivals. The gist of their grievances is that the Chinese government has subsidized solar manufacturers in China. These manufacturers have unfairly have lowered their prices on solar modules and are dumping them in the United States., driving US manufacturers out of business. One thing is for sure. Manufacturing of solar modules in the US has become increasingly scarce. OregonLive quotes the lead US manufacturer in the complaint against the Chinese as saying that in the last 18 months, seven U.S. solar plants have closed or downsized, eliminating thousands of manufacturing jobs in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania. China has assumed the lion's share of global manufacturing of solar panels, and just this year has shipped more than $1.6 billion of solar panels to the United States. Wholesale prices for solar panels have dropped by about 30 percent since the beginning of the year.

Dow Solar, a division of The Dow Chemical Company, released its POWERHOUSE Solar Shingle to the market last Thursday in Colorado. This release in Colorado is part of a partnership with D.R. Horton Inc, the largest homebuilder in the U.S., which announced its commitment to offer Dow's solar shingles as a standard feature on fifty new homes in the Spring Mesa Community in Colorado, and to offer each of the remaining homes in the community a three-kilowatt solar shingle roof. Dow is planning to expand to twelve other states over 2012 with homebuilders throughout the nation.

You knew it wasn't good news for solar energy company Solyndra when the FBI came knocking on Solyndra's doors. And you knew that it was particularly bad when CEO Brian Harrison and chief financial officer W.G. Stover took the Fifth when testifying before the House of Representatives. Harrison resigned last Friday, although the news of his resignation became known today.

Sometimes we see in the news of an innovative solar energy product that attracts particular attention. Even though solar energy is becoming more and more commercialized, there are breakthroughs every year on new solar energy technology. Recently, a team of scientists successfully created a solar cell, which mimics photosynthesis in order to produce storable fuel. This "solar leaf" is aimed toward producing storable and clean energy by producing hydrogen and oxygen.

With the falling prices of solar modules and government incentives, more and more schools, from grade schools to colleges, are turning to solar energy to reduce their energy bills. From Maryland to California, schools have and are installing solar power panels on their campuses. Solar leasing is becoming increasingly popular for school installations as more solar companies offer it as an alternative to funding solar panel installations. Under leasing agreements, the most common is a power-purchasing agreement, in which customers agree to buy the power produced from the solar arrays installed at a fixed rate over twenty years, typically below current utility rates.