Solar energy is blazing its way through the global energy mix. 2013 will go down as the best year for the US solar industry, installing more solar capacity than even world leader Germany. With that comes new jobs, money saved, lower greenhouse gases emissions and energy security. Australia now has installed capacity hitting 3GW, much of it from household rooftop installations. This is expected to save home owners over A$1.1 billion on their electricity bills per year. The largest grid-connected solar power system in Australia has also recently come online, generating 100kW. Read more

US to Surpass Germany in Solar in 2013; 930 MW Installed in Q3

The second-best quarter for U.S. solar—and the best quarter for U.S. residential solar.

By Mike Munsell for Greentech Media (10 December 2013):

GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA®) today released U.S. Solar Market Insight Q3 2013, the definitive analysis of solar power markets in the U.S., with strategic state-specific data for 28 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

The U.S. installed 930 megawatts of photovoltaics (PV) in Q3, 2013, up 20 percent over Q2 2013 and 35 percent over Q3 2012. This represents the second-largest quarter in the history of the U.S. market and the largest quarter ever for residential PV installations. Even more importantly, 2013 is likely to be the first time in more than fifteen years that the U.S. installs more solar capacity than world leader Germany, according to GTM Research forecasts.

“Without a doubt, 2013 will go down as a record-shattering year for the U.S. solar industry,” said Rhone Resch, SEIA president and CEO. “We’ve now joined Germany, China and Japan as worldwide leaders when it comes to the installation of new solar capacity. This unprecedented growth is helping to create thousands of American jobs, save money for U.S. consumers, reduce pollution nationwide and lessen our dangerous dependence on often-unstable foreign energy supplies. When it comes to preparing for America’s future, clean, dependable and affordable solar energy has become ‘The Little Engine That Could,’ defying expectations and powering economic growth — and frankly, we’re just scratching the surface of our industry’s enormous potential.”

The residential market continues to see the most rapid growth of any segment in the U.S. PV market. Through Q3, residential PV installations were up 49 percent year-over-year, driven largely by progressive state renewable energy initiatives. The non-residential (commercial) market has seen the most difficulty this year with installations forecasted to stay flat over last year. The utility market continues its consistently strong installation numbers and is forecasted to exceed 1 gigawatt of installations next quarter, including Abengoa’s Solana, the world’s largest parabolic trough concentrating solar power (CSP) plant. This will be the first time any individual market segment has hit that mark.

“Solar is the second-largest source of new electricity capacity in the U.S. this year, trailing only natural gas,” said Shayle Kann, Vice President of Research at GTM. “As solar continues its march toward ubiquity, the market will require continued innovation, efficiency improvement and regulatory clarity. But already the groundwork has been laid for a mainstream solar future.”

At the state level, California continues to lead the solar PV charge, installing 455 megawatts in Q3. North Carolina moved into the No. 3 spot in total PV installations with 23 percent growth over last quarter. Other movers and shakers on the state rankings list include Nevada (moving from 17 to 5) and Vermont (from 21 to 12).

Looking at the U.S. solar market on the whole, U.S. Solar Market Insight: Q3 2013 forecasts nearly 5 gigawatts of PV and CSP will be installed during 2013. Installations have already surpassed the 10 gigawatts cumulative benchmark, and by the end of the year more than 400,000 solar projects will be operating across the country.

Key Report Findings

• PV installations reached 930 megawatts in Q3 2013, up 20 percent over Q2 2013. This represents the second-largest quarter for solar installations in U.S. history
• The utility solar sector represented more than half of new PV capacity installed, but the residential market also showed impressive growth with 12 percent expansion over Q2
• The non-residential market  remains flat; however, we anticipate a strong resumption of growth in 2014
• 2013 may be the first year in recent history in which the U.S. installs more solar capacity than Germany
• Blended average PV system prices fell 4.2 percent in Q3 2013, reaching a new low of $3.00 per watt
• We forecast that the U.S. will install 4.3 gigawatts of new PV in 2013, up 27 percent over 2012
• The 392 megawatts Ivanpah CSP project is scheduled to begin delivering electricity to the grid before the end of 2013

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About U.S. Solar Market Insight®:

U.S. Solar Market Insight® is a quarterly publication of the Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA)® and GTM Research. Each quarter, we survey nearly 200 installers, manufacturers, utilities, and state agencies to collect granular data on photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar. This data constitutes the backbone of the U.S. Solar Market Insight® report, in which we identify and analyze trends in U.S. solar demand, manufacturing, and pricing by state and market segment. We also use this analysis to look forward and forecast demand over the next five years. As the U.S. solar market expands, we hope that U.S. Solar Market Insight® will provide an invaluable decision making tool for installers, suppliers, investors, policymakers and advocates alike.

Source: www.greentechmedia.com

Australia Hits 3GW Of Solar Capacity

From Energy Matters (5 December 2013):

A sea of solar rooftops has formed across Australia, with uptake driven not by large companies developing major solar farms; but by households looking to slash their electricity bills.

Analysis performed by SunWiz shows 1.2 million homes now have solar panel systems – approximately 14% of dwellings in Australia.

Queensland has the largest number (360,000) and capacity (986MW), with South Australia being the state with the highest saturation (25%).

While there has been a substantial drop in the number of installations in the last 18 months, households are continuing to join the rooftop revolution as affordability is better than ever.

“The consumer is getting a bargain, and using the low prices to up-size their system to now average 4.3kW in capacity, and the most popular system size has leaped from 1.5kW to 3kW or 5kW depending on which state you live in,” says SunWiz.

It’s not just households increasingly cottoning on to the fact solar provides power cheaper than from the mains grid. Commercial solar is also taking off, with 5% of recently installed systems larger than 8kW capacity.

The Clean Energy Council says that according to figures from the Clean Energy Regulator, the 3 gigawatts of solar power installed will generate more than 4000 gigawatt-hours of electricity over the next year.

National solar provider Energy Matters says the systems will collectively save owners over $1.1 billion on their electricity bills a year based on current electricity prices – or more than $3 million a day.

In addition to helping to rein in the price of wholesale electricity, these solar power systems will also significantly reduce strain on mains grid infrastructure during the most energy intensive time of the year – the summer months when air-conditioning places massive demand on networks.

More than $11 billion has been spent on energy infrastructure in Australia that is only used four days out of every year – primarily due to the impact of air-conditioners.

Source: www.energymatters.com.au

EnviroGroup Installs Australia’s Largest Grid-Connected Enphase Microinverter Project in Conjunction with Yingli Solar

Glenlyn Aged Care Facility to power 50 percent of its energy needs with solar power

From Financial Mirror (11 December 2013):

PETALUMA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENPH), today announced that EnviroGroup, a specialist provider of renewable energy products and systems for commercial applications, government clients and residential home owners, has successfully installed Australia’s largest grid-connected solar power system with Enphase microinverters, in conjunction with Yingli Green Energy, known as “Yingli Solar”, at the Glenlyn Aged Care Facility in Glenroy, Victoria.

This 100kW installation is expected to generate over 392kWh of solar energy daily – which is approximately 50 percent of Glenlyn’s electricity requirements – to power the center’s operational and cooling facilities, particularly in periods of peak daytime demand.

EnviroGroup has installed 399 Yingli Solar high efficiency multicrystalline panels with Enphase microinverters attached to each individual panel. The microinverters communicate over existing power lines with the Envoy Communications Gateway, which reports production data to the Enphase Enlighten software platform. Enlighten closely monitors the performance of the entire solar system to ensure it is operating at maximum efficiency. This is an added measure designed to protect the facility’s investment in solar PV.

This installation was designed and configured by EnviroGroup in close consultation with Enphase to meet the highly regulated requirements imposed on aged care facilities. By pairing Enphase microinverters with Yingli Solar PV panels, EnviroGroup expects Glenlyn to achieve annual energy production of 124.5MWh and to reduce its annual carbon emissions by 163 tons a year.

Cameron Munro, CEO of EnviroGroup, said, “Glenlyn Aged Care Facility approached us with very specific requirements as they needed a solar system that could fit within the design of their rooftop, which has limited internal space to locate solar inverters. Having residents in care, we had to complete the installation of the project within a very tight timeframe and without any interruptions to their power supply.

“EnviroGroup was confident in recommending Yingli Solar and Enphase as these companies have a proven track record in providing quality products and maximizing yield efficiency. I am confident this solution will offer Glenlyn a significant return on investment right from the start,” Mr. Munro added.

Nicole Sandhaus, manager of the Glenlyn Aged Care, said, “With increasing electricity bills, solar power is a sensible alternative as it will help us to manage our operating costs and reduce Glenlyn’s impact on the environment. EnviroGroup took the time to understand our needs and delivered a solution that we believe will meet or exceed our expectations.”

Daman Cole, commercial director for Yingli Green Energy in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, said, “With Yingli Solar’s wealth of experience as the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer, our panels are renowned for quality and high energy yields, resulting in lower long-term costs. We are delighted to be working with EnviroGroup and Enphase to rollout our first aged care facility project in Australia.”

Bill Rossi, CMO of Enphase Energy, said, “As the largest array using Enphase technology in Australia, this installation demonstrates the value our system brings to commercial solar projects in diverse regions across the globe. Our intelligent monitoring and analysis software offers assurance to EnviroGroup and the Glenlyn facility that the system is performing optimally from any web-enabled device, anywhere in the world.”

The Glenlyn Aged Care Facility project was developed by EnviroGroup’s in-house engineering team who were responsible for completing the system design, electrical design, grid connection and phase balancing.

About Enphase Energy, Inc.

Enphase Energy delivers microinverter technology for the solar industry that increases energy production, simplifies design and installation, improves system uptime and reliability, reduces fire safety risk and provides a platform for intelligent energy management. Our semiconductor-based microinverter system converts energy at the individual solar module level and brings a systems-based, high technology approach to solar energy generation. Connect with Enphase on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. www.enphase.com

About EnviroGroup

EnviroGroup is a specialist provider of renewable energy products and systems for commercial applications, government clients and residential home owners. Founded in 2004, EnviroGroup is a leading authority in sustainable technology, with a team of expert engineers and installers delivering projects Australia wide. In addition, its retail division EnviroShop offers a large range of equipment, services and sustainability products to a growing client base. When you engage with EnviroGroup you are accessing a skill set that is unrivalled in the energy industry. Our ability to research, plan and implement large scale renewable energy solutions allows our clients to achieve a significant competitive advantage. Visit our website http://www.enviroshop.com.au/ or contact us directly on 1300 430 430.

About Yingli Green Energy

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (NYSE:YGE), known as “Yingli Solar,” is the world’s largest photovoltaic module manufacturer in terms of production capacity and shipments. With 2,450 MW of vertically-integrated annual production capacity, Yingli Green Energy’s manufacturing covers the photovoltaic value chain from ingot casting and wafering through solar cell production and module assembly. Headquartered in Baoding, China, Yingli Green Energy has more than 20 regional subsidiaries and branch offices and has distributed more than 7,000 MW PV modules to customers worldwide. For more information please visit http://www.yinglisolar.com/us/ and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Weibo.

Enphase Energy®, the Enphase logo and other trademarks or service names are the trademarks of Enphase Energy, Inc.

Source: www.financialmirror.com