1st Solar Symposium: Feed-in Tariff for California First

Focus on Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) at the state level for solar.

[San Francisco, California USA]

On the eve of Intersolar North America 2008, Monday, July 14, 2008, I managed to attend the 1^st Solar Symposium sponsored by the German American Chamber of Commerce (GACC), California Branch. Although the 1st GACC "Solar Symposium" Fully Booked - International Audience Expected, I was able to jump from the wait list to an attendee despite my over aggressive accreditation tactics.

Before lunch, SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association) President Rhone Resch presented “The US Prior to the 2008 Presidential Elections - Status and Perspectives of Solar Promotion on a Federal Level”. The ITC (Investment Tax Credit) myopia continues as HR 6049 is supposed to be coming up for another vote in the Senate soon. There was no mention of the first national Feed-in Tariff bill, HR 6401 Renewable Energy Jobs and Security Act, introduced by U.S. Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA). Please see PVSC 33 Opens and Feed-in Tariffs: Solar FiT for the USA for related posts.

In the afternoon, the Panel Discussion, "International Perspectives: What are the Most Promising Incentives to Develop the US Solar Market", tackled opposing views on the status quo of rebates and ITCs versus the market proven German Feed-in Tariff model. The panel was moderated by:

• V. John White, Executive Director / CEERT, CENTER FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGIES

and included:

• Adam Browning, Executive Director / The Vote Solar Initiative
• Professor Eicke Weber, Director / Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE)
• John L. Geesman, Former Commissioner / California Energy Commission
• Rhone Resch, President / SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association)
• Gerhard Stryi-Hipp, CEO / German Solar Industries Association
• Helmut Gehle, Sales Director, Solar Technologies / Schuco USA LP

Adam Browning kicked off the discussion with his presentation, "US Solar Market - Policy Drivers". In his opening, Mr. Browning said:

When it comes to Energy policy much of it is lead at the state level rather than at the Federal level. Most of the most critical electricity related rules and regulations are set at a state level.

This observation was echoed by many panelists who advocated activity at the state level over complex and protracted energy policy legislation at the Federal level.

However, a misleading comparison of Rebate programs with net metering versus the Feed-in Tariff model is shown in the slide above titled “Avoided Utility Purchases with Marginal Incentives vs. Feed-in Tariffs”.

Adam Browning said:

…From a policy maker’s perspective we are looking at what is the amount of public funds, the above market cost, that they are going to need to have to provide to a program in order to make that program work, give a financially interesting proposition to people who want to go solar.

Under this particular model, most of the value comes from avoided utility purchases and you give an incentive that is just the marginal difference to get to an economically interesting proposition.

Under a Feed-in Tariff, you must provide the full value of that electricity and from the policy maker’s perspective that often looks like a much larger amount which makes it harder to do.

This perpetuates Adam Browning’s flawed Feed-in Tariff versus Marginal Incentive article refuted by Michael Hoexter in Feed-in Tariffs: Getting off the Renewables Roller Coaster, both found at RenewableEnergyWorld.com.

V. John White said:

Despite all the noise from California, if I may be blunt, the truth of the matter is 95% of all renewable megawatts in this state were built in that period (1980’s). In the entire 15 years since then, most recently since the 2002 passage of the Renewable Portfolio Standard, the 20% standard by 2017 which has since now been advanced to 2010. We are not much closer to that goal than where we started. We have In fact lost ground from about 12% to 11%.

Professor Eicke Weber said:

I think our goal should be exactly like you (John White) said; the fastest possible introduction of the largest possible quantity of renewable energy.

And now let me again make my pledge why the Feed-in tariff works, the German model. The reason is it is not based on people who like PV and who are happy to get a tax credit to get a lower priced PV; this is nice, and nobody would be against it. But the key issue is to provide an interesting investment proposal, a business plan, so that anybody can sit down and say my roof has this size I can produce 5kW (kilowatt) of PV. It means at the end of the day when I have paid down the system I get each month a paycheck.

Net metering is wrong. Net metering is the wrong way. Net metering means the best you can achieve is bringing your utility bill to zero. And this is just against what we all try to do on the energy savings side.

Energy efficiency and conservation efforts do not scale with net metering as noted in my AB 1920: California bill goes beyond Net Metering post.

John Geesman said:

As a consequence, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch in terms of normal governmental authority to see the logic of Feed-in Tariffs. Now there are those that will differ. They will say that’s delegating to the states an awful lot of authority. I’m here to tell you in my adult lifetime, national energy policy as much as I have known about it, has almost consistently been headed in the wrong direction. And I put a lot more comfort in seeing those decisions made by the states.

Although I’m not sure when he arrived, John Garamendi, Lieutenant Governor of California, was intensely interested in the afternoon panel discussion and closed the symposium with a speech waxing fluent about Feed-in Tariffs. Lieutenant (Lt.) Governor Garamendi said:

I like what Germany has done with its Feed-in Tariffs; they apparently worked. We could try all kinds of models, but it seems to me we start with a model that works.

He encouraged the panelists to reach a consensus and work to get a FiT policy in place for California. The Lt. Governor Garamendi also observed California policies at the city, county, and state levels need to be integrated and aligned to achieve the goal of transitioning from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy.

Last year when I asked the Lt. Governor about Feed-in Tariffs for renewable energy at the 2007 CCTO Competition (please see California Clean Tech Open 2007 Kick-off Event Wrap up), they were not at forefront of his considerations. 1st “Solar Symposium” of the German American Chamber of Commerce an Immediate Success has additional quotes and the GACC’s perspective.

Although they claimed to have FiT policy efforts, CALSEIA (California Solar Energy Industries Association) did not respond to my requests for details about their proposed approach to a California Feed-in Tariff for solar.

California has an immaculate convergence of great solar resources, sustainability and environmental awareness, renewable business ventures, and progressive political support to Go Big Solar driven by a German style Feed-in Tariff. Is a foolish name change to Freedom Tariff or Energy Independence Tariff needed before we can adopt sound renewable energy policy as our own?

Intersolar North America 2008: Silicon Updates

[San Francisco, California USA]

Dow Corning and REC Silicon Videos and select Presentation slides.

As part of the North American Photovoltaics Advanced Manufacturing Technology Conference: Bulk Silicon at Intersolar, here is a video of the presentation:

Silicon and Silicone: Addressing Critical Needs Throughout the PV Value Chain
Dr. Gaetan Borgers, Global Industry Director, Dow Corning Solar Industry

Focusing on Dow Corning’s Upgraded Metallurgical (UMG) Silicon developments, Dr. Borgers said:

By end of last year, we have gone from 1000 to 3000 metric tons of capacity. And the important thing I want to highlight here is that we did that in less than a year. And I think that’s proving one of the benefits of metallurgical silicon which is that you can bring additional capacity quickly.

Dow Corning is considering large UMG capacity expansions after the next generation material is launched.

After some production delays, the PV-1201 market launch is now expected in the fourth quarter of 2008. Dow Corning claims PV-1201 will permit blend ratios of 25% (percent) or better with polysilicon. As shown in the roadmap, an even purer material with greater than 80% blend ratios is expected in 2009 or 2010.

Later at the Solar Materials, Equipment & Technology (SMET) Conference, I also videoed the Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (OSL:REC) REC Silicon division presentation:

Overview of Silicon Production and Capacity
Gøran Bye, Executive VP, REC Silicon

REC does not believe the strong growth of polysilicon availability will result in immediate oversupply because:

• Almost all REC polysilicon capacity is contracted under Prepaid or Take or Pay (TOP) terms, and it will be paid.
• Polysilicon inventories are nonexistent
• Huge underutilized downstream capacity exists

Continuing, Gøran Bye said:

In addition to that, if we do believe in the solar story, and we do believe that cut wafers will be an important part of that in the future, there is a significant additional capacity that is needed by (?) 2020.

If the cut wafer part of the industry continues to grow with about 33-35% per year, there will be a need for 800000 (metric) tons of polysilicon in 2020.

Thin Film Photovoltaics has emerged as a key driver for monosilane gas demand growth as overall demand has almost doubled from 1600 MT (metric tons) in 2006 to 3000 MT 2008. While production capacity is far larger than merchant market silane gas demand, most silane is used by REC and MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. for internal polysilicon production. There may be a supply pinch in 2008, but this will be an inventory and logistics issue only.

REC plans to support the growth of the merchant silane market and maintain their market leading production and sales position through long term contracts with their gas distribution customers.

Start of something big
REC Silicon’s ambition is to maintain their market position as the photovoltaic industry continues to experience tremendous growth per the above slide (a bit different from the one shown in REC Group Capital Markets Day 2008). Their next production facility is expected to be up to four times as large as the new Moses Lake facility to achieve the scale required for competitive low cost polysilicon production. REC Silicon is also evaluating silane production capacity expansion dedicated to supplying the merchant market.

And the next day, Friday, July 18, 2008, REC announced “Secures NOK 5 billion in silane sales contracts” and said:

REC Silicon, the world's largest producer and seller of monosilane gas, has signed a number of new long-term agreements with existing customers (major gas distributors) for the supply of monosilane gas (SiH4).

REC claims monosilane gas deliveries are already underway at average sales prices about 15% higher than prior market pricing. These contracts represent all the monosilane capacity REC plans to allocate to the merchant market through 2009 with additional volumes in 2010 through 2014 dependent on end user demand growth.

I presume longtime REC customer and partner, Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), is among the existing customers securing long term silane gas supplies for their photovoltaic, semiconductor, and flat panel display end customer base?

Intersolar North America: Exhibition Photos

Exhibition and Press Conference Update

The Intersolar North America 2008 Exhibition opened yesterday, Tuesday, July 16, 2008, at a prompt 10:00AM. In lieu of a delayed post about the German American Chamber of Commerce sponsored 1st Solar Symposium (updated with select presentations), I opted to share the experience of visiting the Intersolar Exhibition with two Picasa slideshows.

Intersolar North America expects about 13,000 registered attendees for the inaugural tradeshow. These attendees consist of Intersolar only and SEMICON West registrants expressing an interest in Intersolar. The Exhibition features 210 exhibitors and is a manageable size this first year. A few companies missing from the Exhibition included: Evergreen Solar, First Solar, Q-Cells, Schott Solar, and PHOTON International (Solar Verlag).

Strange but true…
The Panasonic stand is hawking the sale of their Plasma Display Laboratory in Highland, New York USA. I can only presume they feel the facility can be retrofit for thin film solar production with minimal effort. The 93000 square foot building has 34330 square feet of Class 100 Clean Room Space and resides on a 6.3 acre site.

I have thus far commuted on the train (Caltrain) to San Francisco each day for Intersolar. Things were going like clockwork until this morning when my express train turned into a local because of system delays. When I was reviewing my commute options, I stumbled on this news, BART goes solar, saving a projected $3.4 million over 20 years. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is a subway or light rail system serving the San Francisco Bay area. SunEdison, LLC was awarded the $3.8 million contract to install a solar panel canopy at one of BART’s Orinda Station parking lots.

Intersolar North America / SEMICON West 2008 Preview

July 14 - 17, 2008, in San Francisco, California USA

While Intersolar North America 2008 (http://www.intersolar.us) has its official kickoff on Tuesday, July 15, 2008, the Conference Program begins on Monday, July 14, 2008, per Intersolar North America Details Conference Sessions and Accompanying Programs. Here is the Conference Program Overview.

On Monday, Greentech Media is hosting an all day seminar, Concentrating Solar Technologies and Markets, and the German American Chamber of Commerce is initiating the 1st Solar Symposium (Program).

The Intersolar North America (NA) Exhibition runs from Tuesday through Thursday, July 15 – 17, 2008, located at Moscone Center - West Hall, Level 3. I have not found a detailed exhibitor map, but an online Exhibitor and Product Search tool is available to screen the 210 registered exhibitors. If you have not yet registered, the exhibition only registration fee has increased to $100 at this point.

In the Innovation Exchange Program, exhibitors deliver 30 minute presentations about their new developments, products, or services at Moscone West Hall, Level 3, Alcove 4, per the linked schedules below:

Tuesday, June 15
Wednesday, June 16
Thursday, June 17

During Intersolar NA, additional conference tracks include:

Photovoltaic (A1, A2, A3, A4)
Solar Thermal (B1, B2, B3, B4)
North American Photovoltaic Advanced Manufacturing Technology Conference (Thin Film / Equipment, Bulk Silicon)
Solar Gigawatts
Solar Finance
Solar Materials, Equipment & Technology Conference (SMET) (Thursday)
Building Integrated Technologies and Market Technology Outlook
Basic and Advanced Photovoltaic Workshops
Basic and Advanced Solar Thermal Workshops

Don’t forget about SEMICON West
In Photovoltaic at SEMICON West 2008, SEMICON West 2008 has a webpage to the shared North American Photovoltaic Advanced Manufacturing Technology Conference program. Also, there is a list of over 250 Photovoltaic Exhibitors at SEMICON West 2008.

The SEMI Theater Presents: series located at Moscone West Hall, Level 2, Booth 8241, offers FREE presentations to attendees of SEMICON West (or Intersolar NA I assume). I noticed the following presentations of photovoltaic interest:

Tuesday, July, 15
11:30am – 12:00pm
Refurbishing a Semiconductor Fab into a Solar Cell Production Facility
Dr. Gerhard Tegtmeyer, Dockweiler

1:00pm - 1:30pm
Solar Boom or Solar Hype?
Jim Hines, Gartner

Wednesday, July 16
12:30pm – 1:00pm
PV Group: An Overview of Photovoltaic Activities at SEMI
Bettina Weiss, SEMI

And I might find a way to Meet the Bloggers from Indium Corporation at SEMICON West, Moscone West Hall, Level 1, Booth 7834, from 2:00-3:00pm on Tuesday, July 15, 2008. There are so many conference programs, when does a person have time to visit the exhibition?

Photovoltaic Conference and Exhibition Preview 2008 – Part 2

Incremental updates to photovoltaic conferences and events in 2008

This update supplements the original post, Photovoltaic Conference and Exhibition Preview 2008.

Intersolar 2008
June 12-14, 2008 (PV Industry Forum 2008 June 10-11, 2008)
Munich (München), Germany

The detailed two day program for the PV Industry Forum is now available. In addition, Solar Promotion has added the 1st Solar Thermal Industry Forum (http://www.solarthermalindustry.de) on June 11, 2008, although the afternoon program is still being flushed out.

SEMICON West 2008 / Intersolar North America 2008
July 15-17, 2008 Exhibition
San Francisco, California USA

Intersolar North America Draws International Participation cites the success of the exhibition in attracting international exhibitors. In order to free up additional exhibition space, the comprehensive conference program has been moved to the InterContinental Hotel adjacent to the Moscone West Convention Center. Besides the “very special symposium session”, "Solar Gigawatts for Europe – Status Perspectives European Solar Markets and Industries", the conference program includes the following topic areas:

PV Technology
Solar Thermal Technology
Building Integrated Technologies

External partners will also cover additional topic areas. The conference program is being finalized by Solar Promotion and should be rolled out on the Intersolar North America 2008 website in early May.

21st NREL Industry Growth Forum
October 21-23, 2008
Denver, Colorado USA

Per the NREL Public Affairs team, the dates for the 21st NREL Industry Growth Forum have been set for October 21-23, 2008, at the Renaissance Hotel in Denver. Further information and details will be posted to the www.cleanenergyforum.com website in the near future.

9. Forum Solarpraxis
November 20-21, 2008
Berlin, Germany

The dates have also been set for the 9^th Forum Solarpraxis (Deutsch), and this year it is one week before the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the United States. Here is the announcement (Deutsch).

I plan to attend the 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC 33) from May 11-16, 2008, in San Diego, California USA, even though I will be hobbling or wheeling to get around.

Photovoltaic Conference and Exhibition Preview 2008

Significant photovoltaic conferences and events in 2008

In chronological order, here are the conferences I am interested in covering or following in 2008. The schedule is packed with three new conferences and events versus last year, and my focus remains technical conferences and business to business trade shows, not regional marketing or sales events. Location alignment results in two events each for San Francisco, San Diego, and Munich.

Concentrated Solar Power USA
January 28-29, 2008
San Francisco, California USA

As I mentioned in Photovoltaics: 2007 Post Review and 2008 Trends to Watch – Part 2, Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is the hottest solar power segment. Second in a series, the Event Overview is titled:

How to build - and run - a profitable Concentrated Solar Power plant
Everything you need to know to turn your CSP project into reality

This looks like the perfect event to smarten up on CSP and network with Who's Attending.

Clean Technology & Renewables Conference
February 20, 2008
New York City, New York USA

This Piper Jaffray & Co. (NYSE:PJC) invitation only event caught my attention last year with Solaria spills low concentration photovoltaic technology at Symposium. With Sr. Research Analyst Jesse Pichel and team doing great Photovoltaic (PV) Industry research, this is one of the best investor conferences to attend =if= you can wrangle an invite.

Concentrated Photovoltaic Summit ‘08
April 1-2, 2008
Madrid, Spain

This Concentrator PhotoVoltaics (CPV) summit, “CPV goes commercial – how to build, maintain and run a profitable CPV plant”, has an impressive speaker list and is realized by First Conferences Ltd. who are also the folks behind the above mentioned Concentrated Solar Power USA. However, the timing conflicts with…

Photovoltaic Technology Show 2008 Europe
April 2-4, 2008 (Conferences April 1-4, 2008)
Munich (München), Germany

While the Photovoltaic Technology Show is a photovoltaic production equipment exhibition, this show is a nexus for four distinct PHOTON EXPO conferences held during the first four (4) days of April:

6^th Solar Silicon Conference - April 1, 2008
3^rd PV Production Equipment Conference - April 2, 2008
3^rd PV Investors Conference - April 3, 2008
2^nd PV Glass Conference - April 4, 2008

The sister Photovoltaic Technology Show 2008 Asia event is being held this week on January 16-18, 2008, in Shenzhen, China, with the same four (4) day conference schedule from January 15-18, 2008, including the debut of the PV Glass Conference. PHOTON claims the 5^th Solar Silicon Conference in Shenzhen will cover “Chinese and Eastern European projects” while Munich’s 6^th Solar Silicon Conference will focus on established industry leaders.

33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC 33)
May 11-16, 2008
San Diego, California USA

This conference could create some US based competition for the 23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC).

Intersolar 2008
June 12-14, 2008 (PV Industry Forum 2008 June 10-11, 2008)
Munich (München), Germany

In order to expand, this year Intersolar moves from Freiburg im Breisgau to the New Munich Trade Fair Centre. Per Quantum Leap for Intersolar Trade Fair, this big trade fair goes huge with an over 80% increase in exhibition area. The Solar Promotion sponsored PV Industry Forum expands to cover the two days before Intersolar 2008 opens.

SEMICON West 2008 / Intersolar North America 2008
July 15-17, 2008 Exhibition
San Francisco, California USA

Please see Intersolar North America 2008 for my write up on this new event. The SEMICON West conference program and events run from July 14-18, 2008.

23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition
September 1-5, 2008
Valencia, Spain

The 23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition continues as my must cover conference selection for 2008. With the comprehensive conference program, EPIA’s 5th European PV Industry Forum, and the expanded trade exhibition, this is the best annual technical and business to business solar conference and exhibition.

Solar Power 2008
October 13-16, 2008
San Diego, California USA

The Solar Power Conference and Expo has established itself as the premiere US solar business to business event attracting well over 10,000 visitors in 2007. Intersolar North America 2008 will look to mount a challenge to this position.

21st NREL Industry Growth Forum
Fall 2008 (specific date not announced)
USA (location not announced)

A great two day conference about technologies the latest solar startups are developing for commercialization and pitching to venture capitalists and investors.There was dearth of NREL Forum press coverage in 2007 despite the rising interest in renewable energy technologies. Although I did not attend, I managed to post Wakonda Technologies wins at the 20th NREL Industry Growth Forum. NREL's 20th Industry Growth Forum Presentations are available here.

9. Forum Solarpraxis
November 2008
Berlin, Germany

I had a productive 8. Forum Solarpraxis leading to the post, Solarvalue AG Analyst Conference at the 8. Forum Solarpraxis, and the impromptu site visit In Search of Nanosolar GmbH.

Honorable mention:
PV TECH MILANO 2008
November 25-28, 2008
Milan, Italy

The 5th INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION ON THE PHOTOVOLTAIC INDUSTRY AND TECHNOLOGIES lands in the Fiera Milano. Although this exhibition may have a regional focus, it is hard to ignore a photovoltaic production equipment trade fair.

Of course, I plan to cover the 2008 California Clean Tech Open (CCTO), and I await details on the event schedule and the regional expansion plans for the competition.

I decided to skip the 2008 International CES (Consumer Electronics Show) from January 7-10, 2008, in Las Vegas, Nevada USA. Instead of the CES consolation prize, I will be attending the Macworld Conference & Expo tomorrow. I’m not sure there will be anything solar, but I will keep my eyes open.

Intersolar North America 2008

Intersolar joins SEMICON West next year in San Francisco

Intersolar North America 2008 (http://www.intersolar.us/) will be co-hosted by SEMICON West 2008 from July 15-17, 2008, at the Moscone Center West Hall, Level 3, in San Francisco, California USA.

Solar Promotion GmbH and the Freiburg Wirtschaft Touristik und Messe GmbH & Co (FWTM), the organizers of Intersolar, and SEMI, the organizer of SEMICON said:

The new exposition will be the largest trade event serving the full solar energy supply chain in the United States.

Intersolar North America is expecting about 10,000 visitors for over 200 photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal exhibitors covering 100,000 square feet (9290 square meters) of exhibition space or more.

Exhibit sales for Intersolar North America 2008 will open Thursday, November 15.

SEMICON West photovoltaic alumni exhibitors should note:

SEMICON West remains the venue for exhibitors focused on manufacturing equipment, materials and services.

Here are the respective press releases: Intersolar and SEMICON West to form largest solar technology exposition in North America and SEMI® Partners to Co-host Intersolar North America in Conjunction With SEMICON West.

Visitors registered for SEMICON West or Intersolar will be able to attend both exhibitions without paying extra fees or separate badging. Intersolar North America plans to hold a day and a half PV technology conference during the event at additional cost. I expect to see a North American version of the PV Industry Forum on the conference program.

It looks like Solar Power 2008 will have some competition starting next year. I first heard about efforts to organize an American version of Intersolar following the opening day press conference at the 22nd EU PVSEC in Milan. Intersolar 2008 Europe will be held a month earlier from June 12-14, 2008, in Munich, Germany, at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre after making the move from Freiburg im Breisgau.

Concentrix Solar Concentrator Proving Ground Slideshow

Here is a slideshow of the Concentrix Solar FLATCON® Concentrator Test Field located next to the Solar Info Center in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. This was a short ten minute walk from the Messe Freiburg where Intersolar 2007 was held.

All of the trackers are 2-axis for the FLATCON modules. I have not been able to establish a dialog with Concentrix so I do not know if the two alternative tracker configurations are new or old designs under evaluation.

I was able to squeeze this visit in after lunch between the strange Intersolar 2007 weather with daily morning and afternoon rain showers timed to arriving and leaving the Messe.

This slideshow is brought to you by Google’s Embed Slideshow feature for Picasa Web Albums.

Photovoltaik magazine launched at Intersolar 2007

[Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany]

Targeting busy industry professionals

Solarpraxis AG (FRA:SPA) and Alfons W. Gentner Verlag GmbH & Co. KG have formed a joint venture and launched the unusual issue 00 (double zero) of Photovoltaik-Magazin für Profis at Intersolar 2007 with a 50,000 copy first run. Neue Fachzeitschrift „Photovoltaik“ geht mit 50.000 Auflage an den Start announced the partnership and goals for this new German language publication back in March 2007. Starting with the September 2007 issue, Photovoltaik will be published every month.

I spoke at length with Karl-Heinz Remmers, Solarpraxis AG CEO, to obtain a better understanding of Photovoltaik’s positioning and innovative approach to serve solar electric professionals. Every new publication covering photovoltaics is faced with immediate questions. Are they a direct competitor to industry leader PHOTON? In this case, how are they positioned versus the German language version, PHOTON - das Solarstrom-Magazin? Since Photovoltaik targets active specialists and decision makers of the solar power industry, Photovoltaik is narrower in scope than PHOTON’s A to Z kitchen sink approach to the photovoltaic market for every demographic from consumers to University Professors.

Photovoltaik is centered around two to four page analysis articles covering the prominent issues. Each article will include a one or two sentence executive summary for the ultimate time stressed, multitasking industry professional.

While the 00 issue Editorial describes the style, format, and standard columns of the periodical, two innovative columns stand out. First, active trade electricians and photovoltaic professionals are polled each month to gauge the health and outlook for the market in Germany on a regional basis. Second, the Klagemauer (Western Wall) highlights the top challenges or complaints of professionals in the industry. In the first issue, the modules are too heavy was the number one complaint of installers. I think this will remain a top three gripe for a long time!

Photovoltaik will also leverage the Internet to supplement articles, update content, and even offer an online version of the publication. Online subscriptions hosted by servers powered by renewable energy offer a sustainable alternative to print media.

German photovoltaic industry professionals can sign up for a two month trial of Photovoltaik by going to http://www.photovoltaik.eu/de/abo/ and completing the online form.

I hear the Solarpraxis Team will be attending (and exhibiting at?) Solar Power 2007 in Long Beach, California USA, and may have something to show. Perhaps a localized version of Photovoltaik for the US market is in the works? Solarpraxis and Gentner have international ambitions to expand their joint venture publications with local partners worldwide.

Solarvalue pulls a Secondary

Neutral event for almost all shareholders

Gartmore Investment Limited, London, has acquired an over 10% stake in Solarvalue AG (XETRA:SV7) from Solarvalue Holding GmbH in a private placement at the going rate. The official press release is New Major Shareholder (Deutsch).

What does this mean for investors and the Solarvalue Balance Sheet? A secondary offering is stock sold by an existing shareholder (or shareholders) not by the company itself. Given that Solarvalue’s total capital stock is 840,000 shares, ten percent (10%) of those shares is 84,000, and if the going rate is about €40 per share, the approximate value of the transaction is at least €3,360,000. The proceeds of the transaction benefit the shareholder, who I presume is Dr. Karoly Horvath, and are a wash for Solarvalue.

Since Gartmore will look at this as a long term investment, shareholders are not impacted, although the investment will be viewed as a validation of Solarvalue’s prospects. Solarvalue continues to demonstrate the ability to monetize their equity story even before delivering their first sample of Solar Grade Silicon.

I missed the recent press release, Solarvalue Business Report 2006 now available, along with English translations from the Annual General Meeting:

Speech by CEO Claudia Boehringer at the Annual General Meeting on 27 April 2007 in Berlin and Summary of the Results of the Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting of Solarvalue AG on 27th April 2007 in Berlin.

I just got out of the Solar Promotion PV Industry Forum 2007 here in Freiburg im Breisgau. Anything and everything Solar is hopping in Freiburg on the eve of Intersolar 2007. I will try to write short posts more often over the next few days.

Clean Energy Venture Summit

Ideas. Investments. Austin.
May 14-16 Austin, Texas USA 2007

Later this month, the first annual Clean Energy Venture Summit (CEVS) will convene in The Live Music Capital of the World, Austin, Texas USA, to explore “The Utility of the Future”. The three day summit is hosted by Austin Energy and The Clean Energy Incubator with additional sponsorship by the Clean Energy Alliance and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). NREL has ranked Austin Energy as having the best green power program on a renewable energy sales basis in 2006.

Per Kurt Faulhaber, Clean Energy Venture Summit Organizer,

The Clean Energy Venture Summit is a world-class investment conference promoting “The Utility of the Future" by connecting national thought leaders, clean energy entrepreneurs, investors, industry experts and government officials through keynote addresses, discussion panels and presentations by the hottest clean-tech ventures and emerging technologies in green buildings, clean transportation and the smart grid. The Clean Energy Incubator and Austin Energy have created the first test-bed environment in the United States for alternative energy companies to prepare their technologies for commercialization, and we are extending an invitation to companies to come to Austin and participate in this unique partnership. Several of the companies in the conference will be extended invitations to take part in the test-bed partnership.

The CEVS has an ambitious Agenda including Pre-Conference workshops for start-up clean tech companies, numerous well known national keynote speakers and panelists including Dick Gephardt and James Woolsley.

Highlighting this summit, start-up companies will present their clean energy business plans to a panel of diverse judges in a format similar to the NREL Industry Growth Forums. These presentations will address the summit’s three key themes for the Utility of the Future:

Green Building: energy efficiency and generation
Clean Transportation: plugging into the grid
Smart Grid: energy management infrastructure

I first met Kurt Faulhaber at the 19th NREL Industry Growth Forum. When I wrote the Photovoltaic Conference and Exhibition Preview 2007, I viewed this event as a regional conference, but Mr. Faulhaber has expanded the CEVS to a national scope.

In other event news, the date for the 20th NREL Industry Growth Forum, Financing the Path to a Clean Energy Future, has now been set for November 6-8, 2007, in Denver, Colorado USA. See also the Results of the 19th NREL Industry Growth Forum for details about last year’s event.

And the website is now live for the 8. Forum Solarpraxis (Deutsch) this November 15-16, 2007, in Berlin, Germany.

Since I missed the Photovoltaic Technology Show 2007, I have changed my view on attending Intersolar 2007 from June 21-23, 2007, in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. I am waiting to receive accreditation for this and the Solar Promotion sponsored PV Industry Forum. I have fond memories of Intersolar 2006 as the genesis of this Blog.