23rd EU PVSEC Preview

Global PV Industry taking planes, trains, automobiles, and perhaps boats to Valencia for “the most important international Event in the field of Photovoltaics”.

The 23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) opens Monday, September 1, 2008 (Labor Day!), and runs through the Closing Ceremony at Noon on Friday, September 5, 2008, located at the Feria Valencia Convention and Exhibition Centre in Valencia, Spain.

While the Conference Dinner is booked, it appears Conference Registration is still possible. Per custom, the Welcome Letter has been emailed to Registered Conference Delegates and will also be included in the Conference Bag. Please consult the Overview on the venue and Practical Information for the layout of the Feria and information about Valencia.

Here’s the entire Conference Program Outline including:

• Oral and Plenary Presentations: Sorted By Days or By Topic
• Visual Presentations: By Days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)
• All posters can be presented from Monday through Thursday this year.
• Conference Side Events including:
• Seminar „meeting the challenges of the GigaWatt fab“
• Grid Parity and Beyond - Workshop organized by IEA PVPS
• 5th European PV Industry Forum (Draft Program)
• Access to the 5th European PV Industry Forum organized by EPIA with WIP-Renewable Energies is free and registration is not required.

In addition, EPIA (European Photovoltaic Industry Association) has organized the following Activities:

• EPIA Industry Area
• Located at the EPIA stand in Hall 1/D7 with the Speed Networking zone and the Presentation and Workshop zone featuring the Alliance for Rural Electrification Workshop (Program), and PV CYCLE (“European Association for Voluntary Take-Back and Recovering of Photovoltaic Modules”) presentations.
• B2B Workshops
• Grid Parity – two words, many different meanings
• Development of Leading European Markets - Policy up-date
• New requirements for grid connection
• EPIA Beach Party
• Billed as an exclusive “invitation only” event on Thursday, September 4, 2008, after the close of the exhibition.
• EPIA Open Bar
• The EPIA Open Bar, a new tradition from Milan, returns Tuesday and Wednesday from 17:30 to19:00 (5:30 to 7:00 PM) to facilitate informal meetings, networking and relaxation.

About 600 exhibitors covering 48000 square meters of space have booked the Feria Valencia for the 23rd EU PVSEC. The Exhibition will is open Monday, September 1, 2008, through Thursday, September 4, 2008, from 09:00 to 18:00 (9:00 AM to 6:00PM). Best of all, visiting the 23rd EU PVSEC Exhibition is free with registration available onsite.

Here are the List of Exhibitors, Exhibition hall layouts, and mappings:

• List of Exhibitors: A-D, E-H, I-M, N-R, S-T, U-Z
• Hall Layouts: Hall 1, Hall 2, Hall 3, Hall 4
• Alphabetical Exhibitor Listing with Stand
• Numerical Stand Listing with Exhibitor

This year, the Becquerel Prize 2008 will be awarded at the Closing Session instead of the Opening Session (please see “22nd EU PVSEC Opens”). Maybe this will encourage more attendance on the last day of the Conference?

This YouTube video titled “Valencia” appears to be a bootleg from the official TURISMO VALENCIA Convention Bureau Download section with Videos, Digital Guides, and PDFs.

Feed-in Tariffs: Solar FiT for the USA

End the ITC (Investment Tax Credit) Myopia and expand the United States Solar Policy agenda.

With the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC 2008, Agenda) coming up this week, it seemed appropriate to jump into the US solar policy and incentive debate.

Repeated lobbying efforts by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the US national trade association for the solar industry, have failed to pass an extension to the solar Investment Tax Credit in last year’s Energy Independence and Security Act and the recent Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. Future SEIA efforts continue to focus on the myopic pursuit of the elusive ITC extensions. Please see Solar Sharpens Weapons for Incentive Battle and Solar Industry's Five-Step Plan for background information.

Per Renewable tax credits likely to run out, leaving investment at home hanging by Chris Morrison at VentureBeat, the inside scoop is the ITC extension will not happen until the next US Presidential administration in 2009.

Given all this focus, is the ITC the best method to promote and incentivize the adoption of solar energy and photovoltaics in the United States? In fact, the answer to this question is a resounding No.

The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA), the European equivalent of the SEIA, has documented Winning Policies for Solar Electricity gleaned from Germany’s photovoltaic and renewable energy success story driven by their groundbreaking Renewable Energies Sources Act 2000 and EEG 2004 (Erneuerbare Energie Gesetz 2000, EEG 2004).

The EEG guarantees the rate paid for photovoltaic solar electricity generated and fed into the grid for a period of twenty years from the time of installation and interconnection. Rate payers (business and residential electricity customers) fund this program through increased electricity costs per kiloWatt-hour (kW-h). This is not tax money collected and dispersed by the national or state governments but handled under a legal framework by the utilities and grid operators as shown in how the feed-in tariff works in practice. As first exposed in Feed-in Tariffs: Getting off the Renewables Roller Coaster by Michael Hoexter with Californians for a Feed-in Tariff Working Group, Adam Browning of Vote Solar has made erroneous claims about the cost of the EEG in Feed-in Tariff versus Marginal Incentive, both found at RenewableEnergyWorld.com. Per the Solar Generation IV – 2007 report developed by EPIA and Greenpeace:

In Germany, the monthly extra costs per consumer due to the premium tariff for solar electricity are currently €0.20. The result is also that every electricity consumer contributes to the restructuring of the national electricity supply network, away from a fossil-based one, and towards a sustainable and independent structure.

This EPIA press release, Feed-in tariffs make solar photovoltaic electricity more and more competitive, highlights the key provisions of successful Feed-in Tariffs:

• Guarantees the price of PV solar electricity without depending on the State budget. It is indirectly paid by all electricity customers and enables every consumer to promote the development of renewable energies through its monthly electricity bill.
• Secures financing for PV system; a feed-in tariff established by law will serve as a guarantee for individuals willing to purchase a PV system.
• Encourages cost reduction; the constant reduction of the feed-in tariff for new systems connected to the grid will put pressure on the PV-industry to bring down costs.
• Forces the industry to significantly improve performance; the return on investment depends on the performance of the system and customers will opt for systems with highest return.

Germany’s success with the Feed-in Tariff model for photovoltaics and renewable energy has encouraged Spain, Italy, Greece, and France to adopt similar Feed-in Tariff laws to promote the adoption of solar generated electricity. After taking steps to improve and streamline grid access (Access to the grid: A precondition for the solar photovoltaic market to take-off), Spain emerged as the fastest growing market for photovoltaics in 2007.

A quick survey of the SEIA and the Vote Solar Initiative, Solar Nation, and the Solar Alliance activist websites finds nary a mention of Feed-in Tariffs. Perhaps they never read this San Francisco Chronicle OPEN FORUM article, The future is just overhead, by Professor Eicke R. Weber, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE)?

Blunden’s Blunder at EPIA’s 4th European PV Industry Forum

Has SunPower lost touch with California Residential Solar Installers?

Last year, it took almost a week for me to gather my thoughts and write an article worthy of publishing on RenewableEnergyAccess.com about the 3rd PV Industry Forum. It doesn’t take more than a few moments to realize when incorrect marketing spin is promoted in a public forum.

That was the case early today, September 5, 2007, at the 4th European PV Industry Forum held during the 22nd EU PVSEC in Milan, Italy. Julie Blunden, Vice President, Public Policy and Corporate Communications, SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR), professed that the California solar market has developed well over the past two years. I only wish this were so for local solar installers in the residential market. Please view this partial video clip and make up your own mind. I overheard panel members make incredulous comments about her views.

This contradicts reliable sources such as the recent OPEN FORUM - The future is just overhead, this Blog (California Solar Initiative: No solar home installations “completed” yet in 2007), CSI: Examining California's Ambitious Solar Program, and Solar for Energy Hogs: The California Example.

My take away is SunPower is either motivated by politics to take this position or the large scale solar power plant business of their PowerLight subsidiary is robust in this environment. Regardless, this is bad news for SunPower’s installer channel partners.

And to think SunPower started the week with an informative and, for once, under hyped technical presentation, 2BP.1.2, titled “Low Cost, High Volume Production of >22% Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells” presented by (I think) Mr. De Ceuster.

Too bad. I would like to post something favorable about a company with the highest efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cells in the world.

Thanks to the BITAGE| HOTSPOT for maintaining a FreeWiFi Hotspot at my Milano hangout, Bar Magenta. Ciao!

22nd EU PVSEC Preview

Photovoltaics converge on Milano for THE PV Conference, Exhibition, and EPIA’s 4th PV Industry Forum

The 22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) opens this Monday, September 3, 2007, on the US Labor Day holiday =again= this year and runs for five days through Friday, September 7, 2007, at the FIERA MILANO RHO Fairground and Conference centre.

Sorry, it is too late to register. The conference has been booked to the limit since August 22, 2007. Registered Conference Delegates are invited to read the Welcome Letter for background information.

If you want to determine which Plenary, Oral, and Visual presentations to attend, the Conference Program Outline is online and also segmented by Day and Topic area.

By Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

By Topic:
Topic 1 (T1) Advanced Photovoltaics
Topic 2 (T2) Wafer-Based Silicon Solar Cells and Materials Technology
Topic 3 (T3) Thin Films
Topic 4 (T4) Components for PV Systems
Topic 5 (T5) PV Systems
Topic 6 (T6) PV Deployment

Visual Presentations: Monday – Tuesday, Wednesday - Thursday

In addition to the extensive Conference Program, the Exhibition covers an area twice as large as Dresden last year with 30,000 square meters (~7.4 acres) and 520 Exhibitors.

While the Conference is booked:

The visit of the Exhibition is free of charge. No pre-registration is required.

Don’t forget the Exhibition closes for the week on Thursday evening at 6PM (18:00). With so many stands to visit, preplanning is essential. Here are the List of Exhibitors and Stand Layout by Hall (Halls 16 and 20 are adjacent):

View the List of Hall 16
View the Layout-Plan of Hall 16

View the List of Hall 20
View the Layout-Plan of Hall 20

View the List of Hall 16 and 20
View the complete Layout-Plan

If the Conference and Exhibition were not enough, there is an ambitious agenda of EPIA Activities at the 22nd EU PVSEC.

Besides the 4th European PV Industry Forum (Agenda) on Wednesday, September 5, 2007, the Schedule of EPIA Events includes two Workshops:

Industry meets Industry I: Optimising interaction between components, material and equipment manufacturers
Industry meets Industry II: Optimising interaction between modules, BOS and systems integrators

The theme of the 4th European PV Industry Forum is “Towards maturity of the PV Industry”. The session topics are: PV Market Development, Industrial Investments, Research and Development, and Sustainability Challenges. Of particular interest is a presentation on PV Cycle:

PV Cycle: PV Industry’s answer to Environmental Challenges
Karsten Wambach, Deutsche Solar

I’ll see you for a free drink at the EPIA OPEN BAR running Tuesday through Thursday from 18:00 (6PM) to 20:00 (8PM) by LEM 3 and 4 in the EPIA Village next to the exhibition area. Ciao!

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC INVESTMENTS

EPIA organized event in Brussels, Belgium, on February 13-14, 2007

I wasn’t even aware of this event when I crafted my Photovoltaic Conference and Exhibition Preview 2007, so I thought I would profile it and give my quick take.

Organized by EPIA (European Photovoltaic Industry Association) with support from the European Photovoltaic Technology Platform and the EREC (European Renewable Energy Council) directed RESTMAC project, the agenda for this two day workshop will cover Photovoltaic market trends, Country market assessments, and Removing financial barriers. The workshop is geared towards bringing ubiquitous Investors and Banks together with the photovoltaic industry representatives and developers crowd.

My first impression from the registered companies list was this event is geared to larger, established companies in the photovoltaic space. Maybe this event would be a chance for investors to get a northern hemisphere winter mid-quarter update on the aggregate state of European and international photovoltaic markets and public investments. Later, a company name at the top of the list attracted my attention: ARENDI SRL. This raises my expectations additional new and start up photovoltaic firms will attend the event to meet potential investors.

As I have noted before, readers want to know more about ARENDI, the CdTe/CdS start up building a 15 MW per year production line in Milan, Italy. I had not found a website for ARENDI until my search today uncovered this Italian article, Moduli a Film sottile by Sandro Kensan, with a golden link to the Solar System and Equipments website, ARENDI by another name. I suggest reading or translating both the English and Italiano to extract the most information.

This naming idea no doubt originated from ARENDI’s University of Verona colleagues?