Solar Light Flashes: July 22, 2007

Select Photovoltaic News Tidbits

Intersolar 2007 and 2006 California Clean Tech Open (CCTO) companies have dominated Blog coverage over the past month. It’s time to get back to covering staple companies and topics although there are follow up Intersolar 2007 and PV Industry Forum 2007 posts plus SEMICON West coverage in the works.

Applied Materials:
Applied Materials Names Chris Eberspacher to Lead Advanced Solar Research and Development lends support to the notion that things may not be so rosy at Nanosolar. Dr. Eberspacher left Nanosolar just over one month ago.

Blue Square Energy (BSE):
Alan Swanson Joins Blue Square Energy as Vice President of Manufacturing Operations bringing thirty years of experience from Tyco Electronics and the former AMP, Inc. To complete the management team in preparation for a potential IPO, BSE needs to name a VP of Engineering or CTO or both.

CMC Magnetics Corp:
Following the Moser Baer model, CMC Magnetics, the largest Taiwanese maker of optical media, is setting up a subsidiary, Sun Well Technology, to produce thin film solar modules in Taiwan. Information from industry sources (rumors) allege the 100MWp facility will be equipped by Oerlikon Solar.

Cool Earth Solar:
I stumbled on this video animation titled Inflatable Solar Collectors on YouTube. I don’t know the origin of the animation, but this appears genuine.

HyCore:
Norsk Hydro ASA (NYSE:NHY) and the Umicore Group (EBR:UMI) have formed the HyCore joint venture to produce solar grade silicon from metallurgical silicon using a process first researched by Umicore. €26 million will be invested to construct a 20 metric ton pilot plant at Herøya, in Porsgrunn, Norway, by 2008. If proven successful, a larger facility will be constructed at the same site to produce industrial scale volumes by 2010.

Umicore has about 90% market share in Germanium (Ge) substrate wafers required for compound semiconductors like III-V Triple Junction solar cells used in High Concentration Photovoltaic systems.

NJCEP:
Updated CORE Queues every two weeks now? CORE Queue > 10kw July 13, 2007 (greater than 10kW), CORE Queue <= 10kw July 13, 2007 (less than or equal to 10kW), Public Non K-12 Schools CORE Queue July 13, 2007, and Public K-12 Schools CORE Queue July 13, 2007 are available. An Updated 2007 CORE Budget July 13, 2007 shows the under funded status details of the main CORE Queues, and the Comment Summary: New Jersey Renewable Energy Solar Market Transition Straw Proposal has a number of company and policy centric comments and counter proposals.

A fresh new look for the NJCEP website is due by August 1, 2007.

Oerlikon Solar:
I heard Oerlikon Solar was briefing press (though not this blogger!) about a significant announcement. I have no idea what it is, but speculations include ersol or Schott in official production, more new orders like CMC Magnetics, or could Micromorph tools be shipping?

Solar Newsletter No. 2, July 17, 2007, was distributed at SEMICON West but is not yet on the Oerlikon Solar website at post time.

PV Cycle:
Per the EPIA (European Photovoltaic Industry Association) Newsletter, SOLARIS, the PV CYCLE association created on 5th July 2007 by founding members: Avancis, BSW, Conergy, EPIA, Isofotón, Schott Solar, SolarWorld, and Sulfurcell. An executive board was appointed to prepare for the first General Assembly meeting of the PV Cycle association scheduled for September 18, 2007, in Brussels, Belgium. Interested companies are welcome to apply for membership in the PV CYCLE association and membership information should be forthcoming to EPIA members.

Sol3g, S.L.:
In Sol3g makes a 1 kWp pilot installation financed by Solúcar, an Abengoa subsidiary, the company announced an agreement with Solúcar Energia, S.A., for a 1kWp (kilowatt-peak) HCPV (High Concentration PhotoVoltaic) system pilot installation. Another 20kWp of HCPV modules (M40?) will be supplied for mounting on Solúcar’s own two-axis tracker. Both of these systems will be located in the Solar Platform of Sanlúcar la Mayor, Sevilla, Spain.

SunPower:
And SunPower CEO Tom Werner Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 Award Recipient in Northern California would not be my first choice since I believe the PowerLight acquisition is an expensive distraction from increasing SunPower’s production of the highest efficiency, back contact, monocrystalline solar cells and modules. Why was Ernst & Young LLP not disclosed as being the independent auditor of PowerLight Corporation’s financials from 2005 and 2006? Although the award claims to use a panel of independent judges, how were the initial nominations made?

The SPR-315 datasheet is now online at the SunPower website.

Given the accelerated velocity of photovoltaic and solar activity, I don’t envy publications trying to cover every aspect of the PV Industry. I’ll stick with this Blog’s established format of looking for areas less covered or where I can add insight and commentary.

Solar Light Flashes: June 11, 2007

Quick Photovoltaic News Tidbits

I decided to revive the Light Flashes from last September and prefix Solar to satisfy the search engines. Solar Light Flashes will provide an ad hoc channel for the various factoids and observation pairs I stumble upon during my research for posts. Most of these factoids do not justify a complete post; combined I expect them to be informative.

This post is arranged in alphabetical order, and the company name or topic links back to my last significant related post.

Blue Square Energy (BSE):
BSE has been busy rounding out the team by hiring a CFO, Janis Studer Joins Blue Square Energy as Chief Financial Officer. And president and CEO Jeffrey Barnett was the presenter for Blue Square Energy to Present at the Jefferies 3rd Annual Global Clean Technology Conference although his presentation was not webcast. These moves would seem to indicate preparation for raising private equity capital or for an IPO.

GreenVolts:
GreenVolts launched a new home landing page in conjunction with the Business 2.0 Magazine article, Big Solar's day in the sun by Todd Woody. This article generated a maelstrom of search hits on the Blog looking for background on GreenVolts.

Moser Baer Photo Voltaic Limited (MBPV):
MBPV announces commercial shipment of solar photovoltaic cells and claims firm customer orders and MoUs exceeding US$100 million. In addition, MBPV expects their photovoltaic solar cells to have conversion efficiencies up to 15.5%. I guess that means at least one cell has achieved this conversion efficiency?

Nanosolar:
In Nanosolar loses chief scientist, Michael Kanellos blogs that Chris Eberspacher has left the firm. Does this mean there are problems with Nanosolar’s technology, disagreements with Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen, or a transition from research and development to mass production and operations? Per Mr. Roscheisen:

Chris decided to leave, basically realizing that we now have a ton of really talented and passionate engineers on our team who know their respective areas so well that there's really not much for Chris to contribute. We remain on friendly terms with Chris and appreciate his pioneering a lot of the early science in CIGS.

NJCEP:
The NEW Market Managers have cranked out updated CORE Queue > 10kw June 7, 2007 (greater than 10kW) and CORE Queue <= 10kw June 8, 2007 (less than or equal to 10kW) almost every month. Debuting for the first time is the Public Non K-12 Schools CORE Queue May 31, 2007.

Solarvalue:
After five trilingual posts in NEWS FROM RUSE - THE BLOG (Deutsch, Slovensko), John Mott hasn’t updated the Blog since April 30, 2007. I guess John is too busy preparing TDR Ruse for Solar Grade Silicon production, but I am still jealous of his trilingual writing skills.

My accreditations have been approved and my travel arrangements are set for the Solar Promotion PV Industry Forum 2007 and Intersolar 2007. Thin films, Concentrating PhotoVoltaics (CPV), and Rural Electrification are the focus of the 3rd PV Industry Forum program this year in Freiburg im Breisgau.

NJCEP Spring 2007 CORE Program and Queues

Includes SREC-only Pilot Status and latest transition Consulting Report

Numerous updates are available on New Jersey's Clean Energy Program™ (NJCEP, http://www.njcep.com) website. It has been 90 days since my last post about the New Jersey Clean Energy Program, NJCEP November 2006 Greater Than 10kW CORE QUEUE Analysis.

The CORE Queue > 10kw March 21, 2007 (greater than 10kW) and the CORE Queue <= 10kw March 21, 2007 (less than or equal to 10kW) were released without the pseudo cumulative approach of previous queues. Without detailed analysis, I presume approved, denied, and cancelled applications have been removed. In addition, I have been unable to locate official details about recently-settled litigation alluded to in the title page of each CORE Queue:

The table shows projects' order for rebate processing as of March 21, 2007, and supersedes the table dated November 22, 2006. It also lists projects before the effect of recently-settled litigation. Class participants were sent letters advising the outcome of this settlement and its possible effect on them. They have until April 16, 2007, to decide into which group they prefer to have their projects categorized. The Office of Clean Energy (OCE) will update this web page with an updated queue list reflecting the results of class members' choices soon thereafter.

Per a confidential source, rebate letters from last year (2006) are just being sent now, delayed by legal actions from solar installers. Installers are being offered the choice of waiting in the CORE Program rebate queue or moving to the SREC program. Most installers are unhappy about making this choice, and a few have been driven out of business by this situation.

While an SREC-only Pilot Registration program opened on April 3, 2007, the SREC Pilot Status Report has five (5) registrations from a single registrant, PPL Energy Services. This program provides an option for New Jersey residents and businesses to participate in the SREC market if they forego CORE rebates. Click SREC Trading Statistics through March 2007 for the latest SREC price and volume information.

As of April 10, 2007, the Updated 2007 CORE Budget indicates about $8,431,995 in funds are available for public sector projects. However, the CORE Queue <= 10kw (less than or equal to 10kW) is under funded by $21,179,849 while the CORE Queue > 10kw (greater than 10kW) suffers from a $76,792,301 shortfall in fiscal 2007 year to date.

Another revised consulting report, ACP/SACP Analysis Report, has been issued by Summit Blue on transitioning the New Jersey Solar Market from rebates to performance based incentives. The Proposed Solar Stakeholder Schedule delays the transition decision process until August 2007, almost one year after it began.

Perhaps it would have been easier and cheaper to adopt a feed-in tariff approach modeled after the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) instead of paying all those consultants for endless analysis reports?

NJCEP November 2006 Greater Than 10kW CORE QUEUE Analysis

SunEdison’s business model dominates rebate backlog at PowerLight’s expense

Although it has been over two months since I reported about the NJCEP November 2006 CORE Queue Updates, I have now completed an analysis of New Jersey's Clean Energy Program™ CORE Queue for installations greater than 10kW (kiloWatt) in size.

The CORE Queue > 10kw Nov 22, 2006, has 285 rebate applications up from 199 in the September 15, 2006, release. While 88 new applications were added to the Queue, five (5) mystery applications were inserted: GT10PVT-0215, GT10PVT-0250, GT10PVT-0313, GT10PVT-0326A, and GT10PVT-0329A, while six (6) applications were deleted without explanation: GT10PVT-0074, GT10PVT-0081, GT10PVT-0098, GT10PVT-0161, GT10PVT-0236, GT10PVT-0236A, and GT10PVT-0246.

Applications GT10PVT-0368 and GT10PVT-0369 appear to have whopper class errors in the System Size column; they must be 18.928kW and 26.000kW instead of 18928kW (18.928MW) and 26000kW (26.000MW) respectively!

Five (5) rebate applications, GT10PVT-0251, GT10PVT-0252, GT10PVT-0273, GT10PVT-0274, and GT10PVT-0275, from MAK Technologies have been claimed by The Solar Center since their merger.

The 285 rebate applications break down as follows: 2 Complete, 6 Check Requests, 65 Approved, 174 under CEP Review, 28 Denied, and 9 Cancelled.

NJ Solar Power and Sun Farm Ventures completed small installations of 10.14kW and 12.852kW. Sun Farm Ventures received Check Requests for six (6) installations of 98.6 kWs of system capacity and $467,256 in rebates.

Per confirmation from SunEdison LLC’s PR agency, Media First Public Relations, I have combined rebate applications from New Vision Technologies and NVT Licenses, LLC, both SunEdison subsidiaries, and listed them as SunEdison.

On the approved list, the top five (5) companies were as follows:

Dome-Tech Solar, LLC 2102kW $6,885,000

PowerLight Corporation 1410kW $4,677,768

SunEdison 1241kW $4,668,048

NJ Solar Power 1155kW $4,088,474

WorldWater Corp. 1161kW $4,033,633

Dome-Tech takes the lead in approved projects. On January 10, 2007, Ted Turner partnered with Dome-Tech to create DT Solar as announced in Ted Turner Launches New Clean Energy Business Venture.

In my last major analysis, NJCEP Greater than 10 kWp Solar Rebate Application Queue for Private Sector Installations - Market Analysis, PowerLight led this category.

On the CEP Review list, SunEdison establishes itself as the breakaway New Jersey market leader in large photovoltaic installations project backlog. Here are the top five (5) companies with applications under CEP Review:

SunEdison 15718kW $45,029,694

PPL Energy Services 2800kW $8,872,500

PowerLight Corporation 2571.7kW $7,731,332

American Energy Technology 2078kW $6,559,136

NJ Solar Power, LLC 1594.3kW $5,344,349

PowerLight’s rebate backlog has halved since May 2006 while SunEdison has racked over five times the rebate backlog. The SunEdison approach is to deliver solar electricity as a service, not a product by maximizing business Investment Tax Credits, accelerated depreciation, tax write offs, and financial instruments. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) is a lead investor and advisor to SunEdison. I suspect PowerLight’s market position in New Jersey has been deteriorating since before their acquisition by SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR). See Strange deal under the Sun for a reasonable analysis of the SunPower acquisition of PowerLight that goes beyond the mindless cheerleaders that applaud any development in the renewable energy space.

In an interesting twist to the rebate queue, the companies successful at landing business have the most denied rebate applications. Here are the top four (4) companies with Denied rebate applications:

New Vision Technologies (SunEdison) 2337.9kW $7,675,112

PowerLight Corporation 2097.9kW $6,930,912

altPower 699kW $2,291,416

WorldWater Corp. 501kW $1,657,765

Last but not least, Northern Power Systems leads the dubious Cancelled rebate application category with 250kW and $856,382 in rebates.

And Sunburn Solar’s website has been down since I first mentioned them here. I know if my blog were offline, it would drive me nuts until it was corrected.