Solar News

The decision that the solar industry has been waiting for was announced earlier today and it will not be an easy decision for the Chinese manufacturers to swallow. The Department of Commerce released a fact sheet summarizing the decision. In its dry language, "Commerce preliminarily determined that Chinese producers/exporters sold solar cells in the United States at dumping margins ranging from 31.14 percent to 249.96 percent." Some of the best know solar manufacturers such as Suntech and Trina Solar received preliminary dumping margins of 31%. It is one of the largest anti-dumping decisions in American history, according to The New York Times. Many predict that it will raise the cost of solar panels across the board.

If the excitement surrounding the Facebook initial public offering were not enough, you may want to start thinking about lining up for the IPO for SolarCity. The company recently announced plans to go public, although details are scare about timing and share pricing. The IPO announcement comes on the heels of the second failed attempt to go public by another company-with a very different business model and technology. The growth of SolarCity since its inception in 2006 is tied to its financing approach that allowed homeowners to put solar panels on their roofs without the large upfront cost.

The poster child for US manufacturing of thin film solar modules has lost a lot of its shine lately. We hope that the naysayers are wrong but the recent report that First Solar is closing its factory in Germany and is cutting back on 30% of its work force does not bolster confidence in thin film manufacturing or for manufacturing of solar panels in the United States for that matter. Just a year ago, First Solar, one of the stocks in the S&P 500, was sailing along at $145 and today it will close at around $18, a stomach churning 88% decline in its price. Some of First Solar's woes have less to do with its strategy than with the cost of raw materials of competing crystalline technologies.

Today we were supposed to see the new listing of solar thermal startup BrightSource on the Nasdaq exchange, after a previous aborted attempt. But last night, news hit the street that BrightSource had changed its mind and will not go public. An eleventh hour change of heart is not usual in the public security markets and caught analysts unaware. BrightSource was seeking to raise roughly about $150 million on the public market, but the Oakland-based company issued a press release saying it had decided not to pursue its IPO due to adverse market conditions.

So what if BP Solar moved out of Maryland? Maryland lawmakers are hanging up the "Open for business" sign for other solar businesses. The bill that just passed the Maryland State Senate accelerates the implementation of Maryland's 2% solar carve-out by two years. The solar industry in Maryland is just short of apoplectic with this hard-earned win.

From barely a blip in 2005, imports of solar panels from China to the U.S. have soared to $2.65 billion in 2011. U.S. manufacturers cried foul and last week the Commerce Department somewhat agreed. The tariffs imposed of 2.9 to 4.73 percent were less than expected. Both sides claimed victory. The Chinese manufacturers dodged a bullet with this first decision, but they are not out of the woods yet. The next question, which may still yet throw the solar industry into disarray, is whether the Chinese firms sell solar panels under market value to drive out competition. That decision is expected next month.

The upheaval and restructuring of the solar industry continues. The whirlwind that is the solar energy industry has claimed a host of new victims. It has been hard to keep track of factory closings, bankruptcies, restructurings. The sun may be shining brightly on some companies in the solar industry, but let's take a quick review of some of the most recent victims.

And so this is how it ends for BP Solar: a liquidation auction on March 6 and 7 in Frederick, Maryland. If you are looking for a Spire (SPI) SIM 4600 SLP Single Long Pulse Sun Simulator, we know where you can get a good deal. You can find all the gory details at Heritage Global Partners' website. It looks like this auction house is staying busy with solar liquidations these days. They are also auctioning off Solyndra's assets, which, according to the liquidators, is a "World Renown Solar Panel Manufacturer."

The solar panel market remains volatile this year after an unprecedented drop in prices last year and several major solar energy companies downsizing, moving their operations abroad, and some even filing for bankruptcy. The major issue that has overwhelmed the discussion this year is the beginning of a trade war between the United States and China. The head of the major target of the case against Chinese solar manufacturers was interviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Just when we thought that property assessed clean energy (PACE) programs were down for the count, there are signs of life these innovative programs for financing homeowner solar energy projects may yet again become available. PACE programs were sweeping the country, after having been innovated in Berkeley, California. There was just one minor problem: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac strenuously objected to having this tax assessment be superior to their loans on the home. A proposed rule by the Federal Housing Finance Agency allows PACE backers to advocate for reinstituting PACE programs.

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.