Xcel Energy, a US electricity and natural gas company, has announced an end to its Solar Rewards scheme. Xcel Energy was seeking approximately 4.5MW of generation, from systems less than or equal to 500kW; it received approximately three times that amount in applications in about 30 minutes after the program opened at 8a.m. last week. Acceptance of applications ended after an hour.
Owning to July’s communiqué that Italy had reached its €6 billion limit, bringing into force the mooted Conto Energia V, Italian energy agency (GSE) has opened the first six-month register for PV systems over 12kW. The register will open at 9am August 20 and close at midnight on September 18 and capped at €140 million.
Non-governmental organization (NGO), the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), is accusing US thin-film manufacturers of using a loop hole in the Indian government’s renewable energy scheme to “ruin the Indian domestic PV industry”. Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) initiative mandates a domestic content requirement, however, only for crystalline PV and not for thin-film.
The latest installation figures from the German Federal Network Agency show that the country’s mid-year subsidy change for rooftop installations has caused a surge in solar demand for the first half of 2012, with more than 4.3GW installed in a period of just six months. This figure compares to just 1.71GW installed in the same period last year.
The Philippines’ solar industry is already exporting to countries like the US reaching figures of US$41.5 million, up 47.3% last year. Now, almost three years in the making, following petitioning by the Renewable Energy Board (NREB), the Philippines’ Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has finally approved an initial feed-in tariff rate for renewable energy. The FiT for all solar installations will be 9.68 PHP (US$0.23) per kWh, regardless of the size of the system or technology used.
Solar stocks in Chinese companies have been under increased pressure following reports that SolarWorld’s anti-dumping case against Chinese OEMs is progressing to the European Union. Jefferies has predicted that if the anti-dumping verdict is passed, it will be negative towards Chinese cell/module suppliers, positive to Taiwanese cell suppliers, SunPower and First Solar and neutral to poly and wafer suppliers (assuming the scope is largely limited to cells as in the US).
Subsequent to Italy’s energy agency Gestore dei Servizi Energetici's (GSE) 45 days notice to the domestic solar industry until the implementation of the revised Conto Energia, analysis from IMS Research has revealed that the country will have a severely reduced budget for incentive schemes. The new scheme was intended to be accompanied by an additional annual budget of €700m and is due to end when the total annual cost reached €6.7 billion. However, due to a large number of installations having been completed in the first half of this year in order to benefit from the previous Conto Energia’s generous rates, these have not yet been included in the official GSE statistics.
Concerns of Chinese retaliation against US countervailing and anti-dumping duties have manifested themselves in a complaint filed to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. MOFCOM has today released a statement regarding an application requesting an anti-dumping investigation into US and South Korean exports to China. On behalf of the Chinese solar industry, Jiangsu Silicon Technology Development, LDK Solar, Luoyan Sino-Silicon high-tech and New Energy, filed the complaint on July 2. Interested parties have 20 days to respond to the complaint.
Effective August 27, 2012, the revised Italian feed-in tariff programme Conto Energia V has made the registration of all PV systems compulsory. EuPD Research claims this will induce an artificial limitation to the market as well as incur a supplementary cost of €3/kWh.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey has come to blows with a group of 11 international infrastructure funds, including those managed by HSBC and Deutsche Bank. The prime minister has pledged to Parliament to tax utilities in an attempt to raise sorely needed cash from renewable energy to curb €25 billion of debt. The financial institutions are threatening cutting investment and taking legal action if reforms are tougher on renewables than traditional energy sources, throwing further companies into bankruptcy.
