Sharp has managed to fight its way back to profitability this year — posting an 18% boost in sales over last year, up to JPY 2.93 trillion (US$28.6 billion), and a net profit of JPY 11.56 billion ($113 million). The return to profitability is notable because of the large loss posted by the company the previous year.
The recent gains were partly thanks to the recent boom in Japan’s residential solar market, as well as the fact that 2013 was a good year for the company’s other sectors.
Solar cell sales rose by a very substantial 68.9% to JPY 439 billion ($4.3 billion) — this was partly down to the residential market, but also partly down the utilization of its panels in large-scale solar projects.
According to reps from the company, this current fiscal year will see a pick-up in the Japanese economy, and, subsequently, a pick-up in sales.
“The overseas business environment is expected to show mild recovery. However, we anticipate the situation will remain unpredictable, with some risk factors, including the pullback of US quantitative easing and a slowdown in the growth in China and emerging countries, and a geopolitical risk in Ukraine.”
Something to note with regard to increased domestic demand — the company has largely refocused on the domestic market at the expense of the international as a result of weak sales in the European market. With an increased focus on the Japanese market, sales should remain quite healthy there.
In related news, the “largest solar PV power plant in Japan” recently went online in Oita City, located on the southern portion of the island.
The 82 MW Oita Solar Project represents a significant boost to the country’s, and to the region’s, renewable energy capacity. Power from the new plant is currently being sold to Kyushu Electric Power Company under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Sharp Solar Profit Is Positive Again (Solar Cell Sales Increase 69%) was originally published on Solar Love!.
The top 15 solar PV module manufacturers of 2013 have been revealed thanks to a new report from the market research firm IHS.
As many would no doubt guess, the list is dominated — yet again — by firms based in China. But, interestingly, the Japanese firms Sharp and Kyocera saw a bit of a resurgence — up a fair bit from previous years. Japan’s strong feed-in tariffs for solar and Japanese preference for Japan-made products was clearly part of this upswing.
Some other things to note — Yingli Green Energy (aka Yingli Solar) once again took the top spot; 7 out of the top 10 companies were based in China; and the total Chinese share of the market fell 1% to 58% — down from a 59% market share in 2012.
“The year 2013 marked the turnaround of global PV markets and the recovery of leading players in the photovoltaic industry,” stated Jessica Jin, an analyst for solar supply chains at IHS. “Chinese and Japanese PV module suppliers benefited from the surge in demand in their domestic markets, with China in particular accounting for more than a quarter of global installations in 2013 and becoming the leading region in the process.”
IHS provides more:
The Chinese as a group continued to be the star players of the global PV market, but there were also signs pointing to slower growth. While they continue to lead by far, 2013 also marks the second time their overall market share has not risen significantly. Chinese suppliers held a 57% share in 2011, 59% in 2012 and 58% last year.
European companies also maintained stable share in 2013 at 13% — nearly unchanged from 2011 and 2012. In contrast, the Japanese module industry enjoyed an increase to 15%, up from 12% in 2011. Meanwhile, US suppliers fell behind as their portion dropped to 9%, down from 13% in 2011.
While Sharp and Kyocera saw the most substantial rises, a third Japanese firm managed to rank in the top 15 as well, CIS thin-film producer Solar Frontier. Solar Frontier saw shipment growth of more than 60% in 2013.
The IHS report also noted that total global solar PV shipments hit 38.7 GW in 2013 — roughly a 24% increase over the previous year. Interestingly, much of the growth appeared to be from the top players — showing clearly the consolidation of the industry. The top 15 manufacturers held a 59% market share in 2013, up from 51% in 2012.
With regard to the continued consolidation of the solar PV manufacturing industry, that’s something that’s likely going to continue for some time — with the dropping of state-support, in many cases, being one of the main drivers.
That’s exactly what’s happening right now in China, with a recent order by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology doing a lot to “clean up” the industry — likely finishing off over 75% of the country’s solar panel and related component manufacturers.
Expect to see more of that in the near-future. And just note, this isn’t bad — it’s a natural part of a maturing industry.
Top Solar Module Manufacturers of 2013 was originally published on Solar Love!.
First Solar is continuing to do quite well, based on the most recent numbers released by the Arizona-based thin-film module manufacturer. An 89% boost (to $112 million dollars) in net profit as compared to the previous year, and a 26% year-on-year increase in net sales (up to $950.2 million dollars) ain’t too shabby.
The company has also reported 404 MW worth of new bookings during just the first three months of 2014. One of these bookings is the 53 MW Shams Ma’an project in Jordan.
Total revenue also rose significantly, up $182 million from the fourth quarter of 2013. The company has attributed much of the increase in revenue to the Campo Verde project.
The 139 MW Campo Verde Solar Project in California was sold last year to Southern Company subsidiary Southern Power and Turner Renewable Energy. Roughly 65% of the company’s revenue stems from the construction and sale of utility-scale solar farms.
Bloomberg provides more:
The company has identified 12.2 GW of potential new contracts over the next few years, with 59% coming from projects outside the US and “widespread utility scale interest in the US,” Hughes said yesterday during a conference call.
Net income in the first quarter rose to $112 million, or $1.10 a share, from $59.1 million, or 66 cents a share, a year earlier, the company said in a statement yesterday. That was more than double the 50-cent average of nine estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
First Solar CEO Jim Hughes stated: “We delivered strong earnings in the first quarter and are increasing our financial guidance for the year based on these results. We have also made significant progress in new bookings and continue to execute on our technology roadmap.”
In related news, First Solar just recently reported that it had set a new world record for cadmium-telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic (PV) module conversion efficiency, something which should further help the well-regarded solar company continue to be a market leader. The new record stands at 17% conversion efficiency — a pretty big boost from the previous record of 16.1%.
First Solar Reports 89% Surge In First-Quarter Net Profit was originally published on Solar Love!.
If you’re currently considering whether or not to go solar, and you live in an area serviced by OneRoof Energy, well, now may be the time!
The solar services provider is now (during the months of April and May) offering qualified homeowners who switch to solar with OneRoof Energy’s zero-down SolarSelect® lease program 12 months of free solar payments. Those that sign up before April 30th get an even better deal — 18 months free.
If you’re in the position to, and are still considering whether or not to go solar, this might be a good time. I’d say it’s worth checking out. 
“Solar lease and Power purchase agreement (PPA) programs remain the preferred method of adoption in the United States,” stated Nick Hofer, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at OneRoof Energy. “Last year more than 70% of California solar installations and 50% of installations nationwide were the result of a solar lease or PPA programs. We believe that this promotion will make it undeniable to even the most questioning of observers that affordable solar is a reality today.”
For a bit of background, OneRoof Energy is a “complete solar services provider” that offers homeowners everything that they need to go solar — handling everything from the financing, to the design, to the installation, to the project management, to the maintenance. The company allows homeowners to go solar with nothing down, and offers protection against utility rate hikes for up to 25 years. OneRoof currently serves homeowners throughout Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Massachusetts.
To find out more about the promotional offer and/or OneRoof Energy in general, be sure to check out their website — which you can find here.
For a good piece on solar leasing vs solar loans (vs cash purchases), check out: Is Solar Leasing Your Worst Option For Going Solar?
OneRoof Energy Offers 18 Months of Free Solar! was originally published on Solar Love!.
One of the most important parts in PV system architecture is the power converters. The reason is that they play an important role in transforming the different types of electricity, to make the electricity convenient to the end users. Since the solar cell produces a DC type of electricity, there’s room for various types of power converters. Here, some of the most commonly used power converter types are briefly describe according to their topology, function, efficiency, and the major global manufacturers.
1. Power optimizer: Commonly known as a DC-DC power optimizer in solar PV markets, a power optimizer is a module-level power converter. It takes DC input from the solar module and gives either higher or lower DC output voltage. Such a converter is equipped with an MPPT technology to optimize the power conversion from the solar panel to the DC load or a battery or central inverter. It is also considered one of the most efficient power converters, delivering up to 99.5% efficiency. However, it needs DC cabling from the array. Some of the major players in this power converter market are SolarEdge and Tigo Energy.
2. Module inverter/micro-inverter: This is also a module-level power converter. It takes DC input from the solar module and converts it into AC electricity, which is then ready to be connected to the load or single-phase main grid or to a central inverter. It is also equipped with MPPT technology to detect the maximum power point of each module. Even though it doesn’t requires any DC cabling, it is more expensive than the power optimizer due to its advanced design. The efficiency of such a power converter is about 96%. The important players in this power converter market are Enecsys and Enphase.
3. String inverter: As an extension of a module-level power converter is the string inverter, which is suitable for a string or parallel strings of modules connected in series. Such a power converter is used for small PV systems up to 10 kW in capacity and are usually connected to the main grid. The output of such a power converter is 3 phase lines which are ready to be connected to a low voltage main grid. Even though it is incorporated with MPPT technology, due to the connection of a large PV array, it has a global maximum power point (MPP) which then degrades the efficiency of the PV system. In order to improve the efficiency, it would be wise to use a module inverter first and then the string inverter. However such configurations are more expensive. Apparently, one of the cons in such power converters is that the PV system is highly affected by shadowing on PV modules, thereby pulling down the system efficiency as low as possible. Meanwhile, many researchers are investigating a new MPPT algorithm to get the most efficient global MPP to overcome the shadowing affect. Players include SMA, Power One, Fronius, and Delta Energy Systems.
4. Central inverter: In large PV power plants (10 kW and higher), central inverters are used instead of string inverters. However, the central inverters’ functionality remains the same (i.e, to produce a 3-phase high voltage output for grid integration), which is why this power converter is considered essential for connecting with the main grid. In many large PV power plants, central inverters are inevitable. But there are many losses within the PV system due to their large and complex configuration. However, to mitigate such losses, some of the manufacturers, like Siemens, have developed a master-slave arrangement, such that at low irradiance the system efficiency will increase.
This report from Solarpraxis AG allows a deeper dive into these solar PV technologies. In my next article, I’ll provide a comparative analysis of power optimizers and module inverters, focusing in more depth their pros and cons.
Image Credit: Delta Products Corporation
Types Of Power Converters In A PV System was originally published on Solar Love!.
Since the first solar cell was produced by Bell Labs in the 1950s, solar photovoltaic (PV) technology has been gradually evolving. The work resulted in the development of a compound which is formed of semiconductor elements found in the periodic table and the synthesis of an organic solar cell. Broadly, photovoltaic technologies are now classified as: crystalline silicon solar cells, thin-film solar cells, and organic solar cells. In the following paragraphs, an overview of various concepts in photovoltaic technology based on crystalline silicon wafers are briefly described. Such concepts were used from the early 1990s to deliver relatively high-efficiency solar modules for the market. As the $/watt of a solar panel is dropping, the evolution in photovoltaic technology is also progressing.
Many researchers are working on c-Si solar cell solutions aimed at overcoming the limitations faced using the traditional method of photovoltaic technology production. The prime approach to increase the efficiency of c-Si solar cell would reduce both surface and bulk recombination within the cell. For this reason, most of the high-efficiency c-Si solar cells is based on monocrystalline wafers. Notably, in c-Si PV technology, there are three important concepts: PERL, IBC, and Hetero-junction types of solar cells.
1. PERL: PERL is an abbreviation for Passivated Emitter Rear Locally diffused. This concept was first developed by Prof. Martin Green’s group at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Many of us who know him have dubbed him as a “father of photovoltaics.” Through this concept, a collaboration between Suntech and UNSW achieved a 20.3% efficiency record for a production solar cell in March 2012. This concept has been an example for various PV technologies developed afterwards. Figure 1, below, shows the PERL solar cell concept, which uses p-type Float zone silicon wafers.
Fig 1 : PERL solar cell.
In the PERL concept, the front contact area, the emitter layer, and the rear contact are together able to achieve higher efficiency.
2. IBC: IBC is an abbreviation for an Interdigited Back Contact solar cell. Back-contacted solar cells, in contrast to PERL, use n-type Float zone monocrystalline wafers. SunPower commercialized IBC solar cell modules with an initial achievement of 22.5% of efficiency. Now SunPower has achieved an efficiency of 24.2% from a monocrystalline silicon IBC solar cell.
Fig 2: IBC solar cell.
The IBC solar cell has many localized junctions instead of a single large p-n junction. The electron-hole pairs generated by the incident light that is absorbed at the front surface can still be collected at the rear of the cell. The semiconductor-metal interfaces are kept as small as possible to reduce the unwelcome recombination at this defect-rich interface. Such a small cross-section of metal fingers also reduces the resistive losses of the contacts. As depicted in Figure 2, the back of the IBC solar cell has two metal grids. One collects the current from the n-type contact and the other contact collects the current from the p-type contact. The front surface field is created by being heavily n-doped at the front of the cell to reduce surface recombination. However, the doping intensity decreases gradually towards the back to act as a p-doped region. Finally, it behaves like a p-n junction. The front surface acts as a passivation (silicon dioxide) of the defects at the front interface. As in case of PERL, the top front surface is textured and deposited with double layered anti-reflection coating.
3. Hetero-junction: So far, both PERL and IBC solar cells are homo-junction solar cells, or a p-n junction with a depletion zone (i.e., these junctions are fabricated by different doping types within the same semiconductor material). This means that the band gap in the p- and n-doped material is the same. However, in hetero-junction solar cells, the junction is made from two different semiconductor materials. One semiconductor material is p-doped and the another type of semiconductor is n-doped. The crystalline silicon wafer–based hetero-junction solar cell concept was invented by the Japanese company Sanyo, which is currently part of Panasonic. It is also called a HIT solar cell, which stands for heterostructure with intrinsic thin film, and has achieved an efficiency of 24.7%.
Fig 3: Hetero-Junction solar cell.
In c-Si wafer–based hetero-junction solar cells, one semiconductor material is from an n-type float zone monocrystalline silicon wafer and the other material from hydrogenated amorphous silicon. As depicted in Figure 3, there are two junctions — front and rear — in the solar cell. The front junction is formed by a thin layer of intrinsic amorphous silicon with deposition of a thin layer of p-doped amorphous silicon on top of it. In Figure 3, i/p a-Si stands for intrinsic p-doped amorphous silicon. Similarly, the rear junction (i/n a-Si) is composed of a thin layer of intrinsic amorphous with deposition of n-doped amorphous silicon on top. HIT allows the introduction of the n-type backside contact scheme as seen in IBC, thus allowing it to use a bi-facial configuration (i.e., it can collect light from the front as well as scattered and diffuse light falling on the back of the solar cell).
A comparison remark of the above three concepts is presented here. From this remark, a customer can decide which is the right PV technology for their needs. The c-Si wafer–based HIT solar cell from Panasonic achieved an efficiency of 24.7% on a wafer size of 102 square centimeters, making it a favorable PV technology in the commercial market. However, it is still important to acknowledge the below remarks.
1. PERL vs IBC
Often, the PERL concept requires a more expensive process in fabrication than IBC or HIT. The IBC solar cell doesn’t suffer from shading losses of a front metal contact grid. And due to the use of n-type float zone c-Si wafers, the IBC solar cell doesn’t suffer from light-induced degradation. Another important note is that the IBC n-type silicon wafer is not sensitive to impurities like iron impurities. However, in PERL p-type float zone c-Si wafers, boron doping is homogeneously distributed over the IBC n-type float zone c-Si wafer. This means that within one n-type wafer the electrical properties can vary, resulting in a lower energy yield of solar cell production from n-type float zone c-Si wafers like IBC.
2. PERL & IBC vs HIT
In HIT solar cells, the use of amorphous silicon in the contact area makes it a good passivation material which enables a longer lifetime of the charge carriers, thereby increasing the yield. In PERL and IBC, diffusion to the contacts takes place in the emitter layer through a metal finger spacing, but in HIT, it occurs through a transparent conductive oxide metal ITO which shortens the diffusion length as compared with PERL and IBC.
Concepts In Photovoltaic Technology was originally published on Solar Love!.
Enjoy the beautiful line of diversity and the faces of happy folks breaking ground on the 250 MW Solar Project of the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project. Community, government, and energy industry leaders symbolically joined on March 21st to actively commemorate the start of construction for the project.
(From right to left) US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid joins Moapa Band of Paiutes Chairwoman Aletha Tom, First Solar CEO James Hughes, LADWP director of power system planning and development Randy Howard, and the Moapa Band of Paiutes Tribal Council to break ground on the 250 MW Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project.
Image Credit: First Solar
“Today’s event marks a very important milestone for Nevada, the Moapa Band of Paiutes, and tribal nations throughout the country,” said Reid. “The Moapa Southern Paiute Solar project is the first utility-scale solar project on tribal land and will deliver much needed economic benefits to the Tribe and Nevada. It will also create about 400 construction jobs, and replace dirty energy with clean solar power.”
The news release from First Solar states: ”U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) joined representatives from the Moapa Band of Paiutes, executives from First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), as well as other community, government and energy industry leaders to celebrate the start of construction of the 250 Megawatt (MW)AC Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project. The project is located on the Moapa River Indian Reservation just north of Las Vegas, and has a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the LADWP to deliver clean, solar energy for 25 years to the City of Los Angeles.”
Continuing, the news release describes how much of leadership from the Moapa Band of Paiutes will help to generate clean electricity and reduce pollution:
The power plant, anticipated to be fully operational by the end of 2015, is expected to generate enough clean solar energy to serve the needs of more than 93,000 homes. This amount of renewable energy will displace approximately 313,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually—the equivalent of taking about 60,000 cars off the road.
The project will play a key role in LADWP’s efforts to build a clean energy future by expanding renewable energy to 33 percent of its total power supply and eliminating coal power. Solar energy from the Moapa plant will contribute 2.4 percent toward LADWP’s renewable energy portfolio. This transformational goal also includes reducing energy use by at least 10 percent through energy efficiency measures; expanding local solar and other forms of distributed generation; initiating a robust demand-response program; and rebuilding local power plants to better integrate renewable energy and be more flexible to meet peak demand.
Of course, this will also help the Moapa Band of Paiutes. It will create jobs and economic growth. ”This is an important step in becoming a leader in Indian Country and will help to create a model for other Tribes to follow,” said Aletha Tom, Chairwoman of the Moapa Paiute Tribal Council. “If our small Tribe can accomplish this, then others can also. There are endless opportunities in renewable energy, and Tribes across the nation have the available land on which to build them.”
Read the entire press release for more information. Enjoy some more details about the Moapa Band of Paiutes here:
The Moapa Band of Paiutes is part of the Southern Paiute Nation with a mission to preserve its homeland, particularly the 72,000 acre Moapa River Indian Reservation, by building an independent and self-governing community and providing opportunities for economic, educational and cultural growth. The Paiutes respect and honor the land and all living things upon it, and the Tribe has the ability to be a front-runner in the clean energy field. The Tribe also operates farms, the Moapa Travel Plaza, a sand and gravel operation and has other future plans for expansion at the Valley of Fire area.
Read more on related solar stories:
Native American Tribe’s Push For Solar & Wind (To Replace Coal & Keep Out Natural Gas)
First Solar Module Cost To Almost Halve (While Natural Gas Prices Increase)
First Solar And GE Team Up For Next Generation PV Plants
First Solar & Moapa Paiute Tribe Break Ground On 250 MW Solar Project was originally published on Solar Love!.
Yingli Solar (aka Yingli Green Energy*), which is “the largest vertically integrated photovoltaic (‘PV’) module manufacturer in the world,” recently landed its largest order to date in Israel and the Middle East as a whole. The order is for just 27.5 MW of solar PV panels, which isn’t a ton but demonstrates that Yingli is getting its foot in the door of the young, high-potential Middle East market.
“The Company will supply its YGE 72 Cell NH Series modules to a solar power plant that will occupy more than one million square meters of land in Israel. Designated a National Infrastructure Project by the Israeli Government, the solar farm has been granted the conditional feed-in tariff approval from the Israeli Public Utilities Authority,” a press release about the news stated.
“This supply agreement builds upon our long-standing relationship with Ledico Ltd., our local distribution partner in Israel, and it also extends our presence and visibility throughout the region. We view Israel as an important and sustainable growth market with the potential to reach more than 340 MW of installed solar PV capacity in 2014. We are excited to continue supporting the region’s successful implementation of solar PV through this major supply agreement,” said Mr. Liansheng Miao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yingli Green Energy.
*Full disclosure: I own stock in Yingli Green Energy.
Yingli Lands Largest Order To Date In Israel & Middle East was originally published on Solar Love!.
It may not get the attention that First Solar, SunPower, and Yingli Green Energy get, but JinkoSolar is routinely one of the top 10 solar module manufacturers in the world. JinkoSolar just yesterday launched a new series of “Smart Modules,” boosting efficiency. “JinkoSolar Smart Modules correct mismatch issues towards cells and module strings by using […]
JinkoSolar Launches New Smart Modules was originally published on Solar Love!.
US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz this week announced $30 million of support for 12 more unique, hybrid solar projects through the ARPA-E program. Actually, it’s through a program within that program – the Full-Spectrum Optimized Conversion and Utilization of Sunlight (FOCUS) program, “which is aimed at developing new hybrid solar energy converters and hybrid energy storage systems that […]
ARPA-E Supports 12 Unique Solar Projects With $30 Million was originally published on Solar Love!.