Chinese reactions to US embargo

Chinese reactions to US embargo

Trade War Looming as China Rebukes U.S. Support for Solar 

China’s allegation that renewable- energy subsidies in five U.S. states violate free-trade rules ratchets up a potentially costly trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

Solar power faces eclipse from US tariffs
It's hard not to notice the huge tilting solar walls at the headquarters of Suntech Power Holdings, the world's largest producer of silicon solar modules, located in Wuxi city, East China's Jiangsu province. Through the use of solar power, the walls provide 80 percent of the electricity required by the building, with zero emissions of air pollutants.
Source: China Daily

LCA Harmonization

LCA Harmonization

The LCA Harmonization project systematically reviewed estimates of life cycle GHG emissions from electricity generation technologies published between 1970 and 2010. LCAs consider emissions from all stages in the life cycle of an electricity generation technology, from component manufacturing, to operation of the generation facility to its decommissioning, and including acquisition, processing and transport of any required fuels. For selected technologies, a meta-analytical procedure called "harmonization" was applied to adjust estimates so that they were methodologically more consistent and therefore more comparable. This was done to reduce variability and clarify central tendency in the estimate of life cycle GHG emissions to that more robust decisions can be made and other analyses relying on such estimates can be strengthened.

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Solar Energy Generation Costs to Compete with Fossil Fuels by 2017

Solar Energy Generation Costs to Compete with Fossil Fuels by 2017 | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

Despite recent clashes between the US and Chinese solar industries, it seems that the entire solar power sector is prospering. As stated in a new report from GlobalData, with the ever-increasing number of solar power installations, the cost of energy generation is falling. In fact, it is falling so quickly that the report predicts that by 2017 it’ll be cheaper than generating power from traditional fossil fuels.

The report, which is called “Grid Parity for Wind and Solar Power – Future Outlook and Impact Analysis”, shows that the global solar PV capacity increased by 100% between 2009 and 2011. This figure is expected to soar as both China and the US reach grid parity within the next few years.

Read more: Solar Energy Generation Costs to Compete with Fossil Fuels by 2017 | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building 

David Crane, head of energy utility NRG, predicts an end to the “hub and spoke” model of centralised generation

Solar PV will do for grids what mobiles did for telephony - reneweconomy.com.au : Renew Economy

By Giles Parkinson on 16 May 2012

The head of one of biggest energy utilities in the US, David Crane of NRG, predicts that solar PV will have as much of an impact on the energy industry as mobile phones did on the telecommunications industry.

Crane told a Deutsche Bank conference in New York this week that technologies are rapidly breaking down barriers in the energy industry, particularly in the retail market. “Over the next 20 years, distributed solar will do to grid power what cell phones have done to fixed line telephony over the past 20 years,” he told the conference.

Crane has become one of the most influential thinkers on the clean energy revolution, in the US and globally, and as we reported in this story, Shock of the new energy business models, he has said that solar PV is the biggest game changer in the energy industry in the past 25 years, and he has also predicted an end to the “hub and spoke” model of centralised generation.

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Energy Minister confirms solar tariff blow out - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Energy Minister confirms solar tariff blow out - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
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The Energy Minister Peter Collier says it is not yet clear how much it will cost over the entire 10-year life of the program.
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"We are continuing to address the scheme and we'll have more to say in the future in terms of what will happen with the feed-in tariff scheme."
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Does this mean they are thinking about how they could possibly break agreed contracts with those who currently receive the FiT?

Renewables to power WA mine Wind and Solar - Solar Choice

Renewables to power WA mine Wind and Solar: West Australia’s first 100% renewable-powered mine: Wind and Solar

West Australia’s first 100% renewable-powered mine: Wind and Solar

by James Martin II on April 27, 2011

Lithium producer Galaxy Resources is planning to be operating West Australia’s first mine powered by 100% renewable energy within 3 years. The mine is already partially powered by solar panels mounted on solar-trackers.

10 to 15% of the energy for the Mt Cattlin lithium mine, 540km south of Perth in Ravensthorpe, comes from on-site solar tracking panels developed by Swan Energy, which follow arc of the sun through the sky to produce up to 15% more power than traditional fixed-axis panels. The power to close the gap for energy currently produced by coal and diesel will come from three wind turbines–1.2MW each, to take advantage of the area’s strong, consistent winds–and a 1MW solar power system.
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On their website Galaxy Resources state that currently "Galaxy has 14 giant solar trackers and 2 wind turbines in operation at Mt Cattlin, which together generate 226 MWh per year of renewable energy."
http://www.galaxyresources.com.au/pro_raven_mt_cattlin.shtml
The Hybrid installation is complemented by a 5MW Diesel Generator.

Carnarvon Solar Power Station Delivered on Time and $500K Under Budget

Carnarvon Solar PV Station officially opened today

Carnarvon businesses and residents will benefit from a new solar power station which will officially open today.

Energy Made Clean Limited built the $3 million project, which will feed clean energy into the grid.
The Federal Government contributed $1.5 million to the facility which is made up of 48 photovoltaic frames.
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Land nod for solar energy project - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Land nod for solar energy project - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

March 28, 2012 13:27:36

The Shire of Morawa has earmarked land for a proposed solar energy plant.

Carbon Reduction Ventures wants to build a $21 million, 3 MW renewable energy plant to supply electricity to the mid-west Western Australian town.

This appears to be the first solar thermal plant in WA, positioned at the fringe of the SWIS, the South West interconnected power grid which has trouble delivering reliable power to the region.