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Showing posts with label Solar energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Solar energy. Show all posts

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Solar wars threaten climate fight

Amidst gloomy news in the deteriorating climate change situation is this bright spark – the cost of solar energy has been going down dramatically.


 THE source of clean and renewable energy is seen as one of the major saviours that could help power the world without emitting greenhouse gases.

The drawback is that solar energy has traditionally been more expensive to use than carbon-intensive coal or oil.

But in recent years solar power has become much cheaper. Energy experts predict that its cost could match that of conventional fuels in the next few years in some areas.

Solar cell prices have been falling, from US$76 (RM235.52) per watt in 1977 to about US$10 (RM30.99) in 1987 and only 74 cents (RM2.29) in 2013. Between 2006 and 2011, Chinese cell prices dropped 80% from US$4.50 (RM13.95) per watt to 90 cents (RM2.79) per watt.

Factors for this include a drop in price of the main raw material polysilicon (due to oversupply), increasing efficiency of solar cells, manufacturing technology improvements, economies of scale and intense competition.

The use of solar energy has shot up as the cost goes down. Global installed capacity jumped by 28.4 gigawatts (one gigawatt is 100,000 megawatts) in 2012 to reach 89.5GW. The 100GW milestone will be crossed some time this year.

All this is good news for the fight against climate change. Now comes the bad news.

The growing global demand has prompted the rise of solar panel manufacturers, and the competition is fierce, with a number of companies facing closure. China’s biggest solar energy company Suntech is in serious trouble.

But China has even bigger problems. The United States government, receiving complaints from US solar panel manufacturers, has slapped high anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese imports.

Now the European Commission also plans tariffs averaging 47% on Chinese solar products which it claims are selling below cost.

China is taking these threats seriously. Premier Li Keqiang in a visit to Europe last week took up the issue with European leaders.

Senior trade officials say China will retaliate. A full-scale trade war is thus imminent.

In a surprise turn of events, Germany and 16 other European countries have told the European Commission they are against its move.

But EC Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht will apparently still slap on the tariffs provisionally, which is within his power to do.

So the solar wars between China with Europe and the US will likely proceed. This is a real pity, as the commercial interests of the countries are coming in the way of rapid progress in solar energy and the fight against climate change.

The expansion of the solar panel industry in China has played a crucial role in getting prices down, making solar energy more and more competitive, and driving its explosive growth.

Yes, China subsidises and promotes its solar industry. But the US and Europe also provide massive subsidies and supports.

The US has provided its solar companies with loan guarantees, research grants and tax deductions including investment tax credits and accelerated value depreciation.

European countries have given subsidies to consumers using solar energy, and incentives to producers including through the feed-in tariff scheme, in which solar energy providers are paid prices higher than what is charged to electricity users with the price difference being met by governments.

Without the subsidies, the solar industry would not have grown. Trade protectionist measures taken by one against the other, or by all against others, would be a recipe for disaster – for trade, the solar industry and the environment.

Well known solar energy advocate and chairman of Solarcentury Jeremy Leggett uses the following analogy to illustrate the trade war: “A planet faces an asteroid strike. Its inhabitants manufacture rockets with which to head off the threat. But, as the rock nears, they descend into international bickering over who pockets what from rocket-making.”

No one wins in this trade war, because of global solar supply chain, explains Leggett. Solar ingots, the upstream feedstock, are mostly made in Europe and America. The midstream products, cells and modules, are mostly made in China.

If China is hit on the mid-stream products it exports, it could retaliate with tariffs on the upstream products it imports.

For example, in Europe, the tariffs against China would wipe out thousands of jobs because most are not in manufacturing but in the companies that install the modules, regardless of where they are made.

The solution, he adds, is for the leaders of the few countries where most solar panels are manufactured to make a deal that coordinates the subsidies required in the various parts of the solar chain, and which is required for the few years that some countries need to bring the price of solar energy to parity with that of conventional energy.

An apt conclusion is made by Leggett: “The world will have to embrace common security on a bigger scale. Engaging in international competition while clinging to the illusion that markets always work will never solve our common problems of energy insecurity, poor air quality and resource depletion, never mind development. We will keep on maiming industries that can save us.”

Global Trends
By MARTIN KHOR

Monday 12 December 2011

New Solar-Powered Classroom Brings Science to Schools in Developing Countries



ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2011) — An innovative project led by a chemistry academic at the University of Southampton is using solar generators to provide IT resources and 'hands-on' science for students in developing countries.
 The solar-powered classroom. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Southampton) >

A major difficulty in teaching science subjects in developing countries, especially in rural schools, is that students are rarely able to get 'hands-on' experience of experiments. This could be partly due to a lack of equipment, chemicals and facilities but mainly because of a lack of electricity and running water.

Now, Professor Tony Rest, a visiting Chemistry academic at the University of Southampton, and Keith Wilkinson, formerly a teacher at the International School at Lusaka in Zambia, have devised a solar-powered solution based on a digital projector and low-cost solar energy panels so that students can gain access to IT and other modern teaching methods.
Professor Rest says: "The lack of electricity is a particularly serious matter for rural schools and this situation is unlikely to get better in the near to medium future. With drawbacks to petrol generators, due to difficulties in getting supplies and safety hazards, solar energy generators have become available at cost-effective prices and provide a sustainable answer as rural schools have an abundance of the basic energy source required to power them -- sunshine.



Most data/video projectors require 200-300 watt and cannot be economically sustained by solar power in rural villages. However, the advent of mini-projectors, which require about 50 watts of power, has revolutionised the situation and made battery powered projection feasible.

The solar energy generators, which consist of solar panels, batteries and inverters, can be linked to the projector for students to get practical classes via multimedia resources to show laboratory experiments and stress practical techniques.

Professor Rest adds: "These experiences can be extended to other science subjects from physics, biology and maths, to subjects involving practical elements, such as engineering, and to craft subjects, including plumbing, carpentry, and catering, where students need see how to acquire skills. By extending the breadth of subjects benefiting from the use of IT, the overall cost of using a solar energy generator is reduced. Another spin-off is that students in rural schools gain access to valuable IT skills."

The project has been developed by the 'Chemistry Aid' project, the Chemistry Video Consortium based at the University of Southampton, with support from the Royal Society of Chemistry, which has provided multimedia teaching resources.

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