Review International NEWS

Gujarat inks deals for International 215 MW Recently the State Government of Gujarat, Western India, announced NEWS their “Solar Power Policy 2009” to achieve a capacity of 500 MW in the state. The ­government guarantees a feed-in-tariff of 0.27 US$/kWh for a period of 12 years. The maximum size per project is 5 MW to en­ able more customers to participate. The state has already received proposals worth 2,000 MW. Reacting to this policy, ­ Renewable Resources Ltd. signed a deal for 200 MW and is already in talks with global majors from Europe and USA for technology tie-ups. TATA Power has announced setting up a 5 MW project. ­Infrastructure Development Finance ­Company Ltd. said, its fully owned subsi­ diary IDFC Projects Ltd. inked two memo- randums of understanding with Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd. and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. to establish a Giving great pleasure: The electricity of the new solar power system in a western Chinese village will be 10 MW solar plant. used for lighting and for the operation of radios and television. Photo: SolarWorld AG Modules for Mexico’s Solar power for Chinese villages largest rooftop project The German SolarWorld AG has been promoting the solar electrification of more The German aleo solar AG delivered than one hundred villages in the West of China that had previously been cut off around 450 kW of solar modules to from the power supply. As a result 29,000 people in a total of 142 villages in the thinly a Mexican project developer. The modules populated provinces of Xinjiang, Qinghai and Yunnan will be given access to electricity have been partly installed on a roof in for the first time. Within the framework of a co-operation project between theFederal ­ Re- Aguascalientes owned by a supermarket public of Germany and the People’s­ Republic of China, SolarWorld has equipped each of chain. The plant consists of about 1,060 these villages with a solar power generating plant. All in all, the solar power output of the aleo S_16 165-W modules. aleo also sup- plants adds up to 1.2 MW. The power plants produce about 1.1 million kWh current per plied the inverters. year. The solar power is mainly used for lighting and for the operation of smaller electri- “We see a lot of future potential in cal appli­ances, radios and television sets in a total of 7,300 households. ­Mexico, especially in the area of industrial rooftop use”, comments Robert ­Schwarzinger, Director of Business ­Development North America. Although Econcern to install Kaneka expands thin- there is no solar electricity subsidy pro- gramme in Mexico, is becom- 42 MW in Italy film capacity to 150 MW ing a lucrative business, because recently The Dutch sustainable energy com- The Japanese Kaneka Corporation ex- electricity prices have risen dramatically. pany Econcern plans to invest € 200 pands its thin-film produc- million in a 42 MW Italian solar project. tion capacity from 80 MW to 150 MW by “Project Trullo” will start with the construc- 2010. Kaneka’s thin-film solar cells are tion of seven 1 MW solar parks in Puglia, based on hybrid technology. According to southern Italy, in early 2009. The parks are the company, the conversion efficiency is expected to be in operation by 2010. Once 12 % being the world’s highest level of con- completed, Project Trullo will add 15 % to version efficiency for thin-film solar cells. Italy’s 280 MW solar power generation ca- The new production equipment will be in- pacity currently installed. Econcern plans to stalled at the company’s subsidiary Kaneka increase its Italian solar assets portfolio to Solartech Corporation. The amount of the at least 50 MW and is currently reviewing capital investment is expected to come to other potential projects. Econcern will hold more than ¥ 10 billion (€ 85 million). With 51 % of shares in the holding company of respect to manufacturing costs, Kaneka’s Project Trullo. The Ampere Equity Fund, an goal is to bring about significant cost reduc- investor in projects, has tions so that a cost of 100 ¥/W (0.85 €/W) The 450 kW solar plant is the largest rooftop acquired the remaining 49 %. can be achieved at an early point of time. project in Mexico. Photo: aleo solar AG

6 Sun & Wind Energy 2/2009 AZ_210x297_englisch_OHNE.indd 1

© sol-E Suisse AG/BKW FMB Energie AG We care! to workatit. for granted–youhave You cannottaketrust www.kyocerasolar.de Solar Powerfor Everyone. You canenquireaboutyourlocal Kyocerapartnerhere:[email protected] products. Thatcreatescertainty. Andcertaintycreatestrust–thebestbasisforagoodpartnership. photovoltaic modulesin-house for morethan30yearsnow–withoutbuyinginsemi-finished high-quality solarsystems.Wehave beendevelopingandproducingeverycomponentofour When itcomestorenewableenergy sourcesmoreandpeopleareoptingforKyocera’s

20.06.2008 17:07:16 Uhr Review International NEWS

World’s biggest PV The 46 MW solar power plant in Amarelaja, Portugal: the world’s plant put into service biggest PV plant up to now. The Spanish Acciona Energy has put Photo: Acciona Energy into service its solar power plant in South-Western Portugal – according to the company, the largest solar park in the world. The 46 MW plant is located in ­Amarelaja and is capable of producing 93 million kWh per year, equivalent to the electrical consumption of 30,000 Portu- guese homes. The 250 hectare plant con- sists of 2,520 solar trackers supporting more than 262,000 polycristalline silicon modules with a capacity of 170 and 180 W. The plant is owned by Acciona, which in- vested about € 261 million in this project.

250 companies pushed overall peak power output of around 27 MW. The construction of these plants World record in solar out of the PV market has been scheduled for 2009 and 2010. By According to the online platform now, this is Phoenix Solar Group’s largest energy conversion ChannelPartner, there were about combined project package in the Italian Researchers at the German Fraun­ 350 Chinese photovoltaics manufacturers market. hofer Institute for in mid-2008. Of these, 250 or around 70 % ­Systems ISE have achieved a record effi- were pushed out of the market by the end ciency of 41.1 % for the conversion of sun- of the year due to declining prices and a re- SolarWorld opens light into electricity. Sunlight is concentrat- duced demand. Analysts had already ed by a factor of 454 and focused onto a warned in mid-2008 that a large percent- factory in South Korea small 5 mm2 multi-junction solar cell made age of the Chinese manufacturers had too The German manufacturer out of GaInP/GaINAs/Ge (gallium indium little equity capital and thus had a limited ­SolarWorld has commissioned its phosphide, gallium indium arsenide on a ability to survive. The remaining producers first manufacturing facility for solar power germanium substrate). Thus, the ISE out- have a strong vertical integration or are modules in Asia together with its Korean reaches the record held by the US National provided with public funds. joint venture partner SolarPark Engineering Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The largest PV and solar module manu- Co. Ltd. The module factory in the South Since 1999, Fraunhofer ISE has been de- facturer in China is Suntech Power with a Korean city of Jeonju has a capacity of veloping metamorphic multi-junction solar capacity of 1 GW. Other Chinese sector gi- 150 MW and can be expanded to 1 GW at cells, which are a special using III-V semi- ants are Yingli Green Energy with a capacity its present location. With the new manufac- conductor compounds. By choosing the of 800 MW to 1 GW, Trina Solar with 700 to turing facility the SolarWorld Group is tak- metamorphic material combination, a solar 800 MW and Solarfun Power with a capaci- ing account of the market growth for solar cell structure could be used for the first time ty of 600 MW. The world market leader is power technology in Asia. In Korea and that is completely current matched under the German company Q-Cells AG with an ­Japan SolarWorld is expecting an increase the terrestrial solar spectrum. According to annual production of 570 MW. For 2009, in the market volume of at least 800 MW Fraunhofer, this is what makes the structure the company currently expects production each by the year 2012. The investment vol- so efficient for solar energy conversion and of between 800 MW and 1 GW. ume amounts to € 30 million. is an important reason for the achievement of the high efficiencies. Even at a higher sunlight concentration of 880, an efficiency Phoenix Solar Energy of 40.4 % was measured. The multi-junction solar cells are used in acquires Scarlatti concentrating PV systems for solar power Phoenix Solar Energy Investments stations in countries with a high percentage AG – wholly-owned subsidiary of the of direct solar radiation. Fraunhofer ISE is German Phoenix Solar AG – has acquired working together with the German compa- all the shares in Scarlatti Srl, an Italian nies Azur Space and Concentrix Solar to company headquartered in Eppan, South make this technology competitive as soon Tyrol. Scarlatti holds the shares in 4 project as possible. companies under the condition precedent of achieving a status where construction can begin without delay. These companies Electricity from sunlight: picture of the solar will develop a total of 5 projects for the cell with a record efficiency of 41.1 % construction of PV systems in Sicily with an Photo: Fraunhofer ISE

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second stage this will be extended to a ­ from S.C. Ewind SRL. and S.C. ­total size of approx. 80 MW. The coherent Wind Power Park SRL. According to Vestas, project site was divided into several the contract includes delivery, installation ­smaller units with 5 MW each, for the reali- and commissioning of the turbines and a zation of the PV parks. The 5 MW parks are long-term service agreement. The turbines sold separately to institutional investors. with a capacity of more than 200 MW in to- Construction for the first project will start in tal will be installed in two projects in the re- the middle of 2009. Sinosol is responsible gion of Constanta at the Black Sea. The for technical planning, the procurement of wind power parks will be constructed dur- all components as well as the turn-key real- ing 2009 and 2010 and are developed by ization and operation for the entire project. Monsson Alma SRL from Constanta. Plovdiv Solar Ltd. owns the project site and obtained all permissions. According to Plovdiv Solar the project is currently the Roboter inspects rotor Awardee: Dipal Chandra Barua Photo: dpa biggest planned solar park in Bulgaria. blades Zayed Future Energy Scientists at the German Fraunhofer Donauer opens office in Institute for Factory Operation and Prize for Dipal C. Barua Automation (IFF) have developed a robot Dipal Chandra Barua, Managing the Czech Republic that inspects the rotor blades of wind tur- ­Director of the energy company In January, the German company bines for damage. The “RIWEA” consists of Grameen Shakti, is the first winner of the Donauer Solartechnik GmbH opened three parts: an infrared radiator warms the new Zayed Future Energy Prize. Grameen a distribution office in the Czech Republic. surface of the rotor blades, an infrared Shakti (GS) is an organization that is com- According to the company, the new branch camera records the temperature patterns mitted to supplying the rural population of in Breclav is located in the region with the and registers defects in the material. In ad- Bangladesh with renewable energy. GS has highest solar irradiation in the country. As dition, the robot is equipped with an ultra- already installed over 200,000 PV systems, a specialist wholesaler, Donauer offers PV sound system and a high-resolution cam- which currently supply electricity to more modules, mounting systems and solar ther- era, so that it is even possible to detect than two million people. Under Barua’s mal collectors. Apart from the wholesale damage that is invisible to the human eye. leadership, GS has also developed a biogas­ business, turnkey large-scale PV systems A special carrier system ensures that the system that utilizes cow and poultry ma- are a major focus of the company. robot is directed along the surface of the nure. The generated gas can be used for rotor blade with high precision. “This is a cooking and lighting. The company has al- highly complex platform with 16 degrees of ready installed more than 6,000 of these EWEA: Wind energy freedom, which is capable of pulling itself systems. It is planned to install a further up on its own on ropes”, explains project 500,000 of these small-scale plants by jobs to double by 2020 manager Norbert Elkmann. 2012. The energy technology is offered with According to the new report “Wind According to the IFF, the robot can per- the help of micro-credits. at Work” from the European Wind form its tasks on any wind turbine, onshore The award, which is endowed with US$ Energy Association (EWEA), jobs in wind as well as offshore, regardless of turbine 1.5 million, was presented by General energy will more than double from 154,000 size. The RIWEA always delivers a detailed Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the to 325,000 by 2020. In 2007, wind energy status protocol without overlooking any de- Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The organiza- increased more than any other power gen- fects. The automated rotor blade inspection tion that founded the award is Masdar, Abu erating technology in the EU. The growth in system will also reduce the hazards for hu- Dhabi’s initiative for supporting a sustain­ installed wind capacity has been matched man technicians working at great heights to able energy supply system (see pages 32- by an increase in related jobs. The report examine the rotor blades, which have a 35). shows that turbine manufacturers are the length of up to 60 m. main employers, with 37 % of all direct jobs, followed by component manufactur- ers and project developers. Currently 75 % Sinosol plans biggest of all direct wind energy jobs are to be found in the three “pioneer” countries solar park in Bulgaria ­Denmark, Germany and Spain, but other The German-Chinese Sinosol Group countries, such as France, the UK and Italy has signed an exclusive agreement are beginning to catch up. with the Bulgarian project developer ­Plovdiv Solar Ltd. about the turn-key con- struction of solar parks on a 330 ha ground Vestas delivers 67 near Lyubimets. The project site is in South Bulgaria near the border to Turkey and turbines to Romania Greece. The authorities and the utility com- The Danish wind turbine manufactur- The RIWEA inspection robot pany have already granted permission for a er Vestas A/S received an order for scrutinizes rotor blades. capacity of 50 MW in the first phase. In a delivery of 67 V90-3.0 MW turbines for Graphic: Fraunhofer IFF

10

Review International NEWS

Synthetic natural gas from wood For the first time, scientists have succeeded in transforming wood in- to synthetic natural gas (BioSNG) which can be fed into the public gas distribution sys- tem. Researchers at the Swiss Paul ­Scherrer Institute and Vienna University of Technology, Austria, have developed a two- stage process in which a combustible gas mixture is first generated from the wood. This mixture is then transformed into meth- ane by means of a catalytic process. The procedure is being tested using the bio- mass gasification unit in the Austrian town of Güssing, which in December 2008 pro- duced biomethane for the first time. ­According to the daily newspaper ­“Österreichischer Kurier”, the 1 MW pilot The development team in front of the pilot plant for generation of methane from wood in Güssing, plant needs 360 kg of wood to produce Austria. Photo: PSI 300 m3 of wood gas. From this, 120 m3 of biomethane­ are generated. In the coming years, the procedure tested in Austria will ocean energy, Pandion Ltd., for € 500,000. Corrections be applied commercially on a larger scale The ocean energy developer Wavebob Ltd. for the first time in a Swedish biomass- will hold the remaining 49 % of Pandion. Correction to the article “Heating in hotels: fired power plant. In early January, the Pandion has applied for ocean energy sites overcoming a lack of knowledge” in issue ­scientists received the “Watt d’Or 2009” on the west coast of Ireland, which will be 6/2008: award in the category “energy technolo- developed for demonstration to a commer- The solar system in Sunny Beach (Bulgaria) gies” for their work. The award is given by cial size, over 250 MW electricity, when it is was designed and installed by DIMAS the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. technically and economically viable. ­SOLAR’s partner APEX SOLAR. We regret “Ocean energy has large potential to that we forgot to mention this fact. contribute to the implementation of Vatten- Cosun and Avantium falls’s climate vision to be climate neutral Correction to the article “Italy’s wind by 2050”, says Lars G. Josefsson, President energy sector: confidence for the future” in join forces and CEO of Vattenfall. At first, “the technol- issue 6/2008: The Dutch companies Royal Cosun ogies must be further developed and opti- The photo on page 163 does not show the and Avantium announced the start of mised, and the power system concepts President of the Italian wind energy associ- their collaboration. They join forces to de- need to be integrated, before the technolo- ation Associazione Nazionale Energia del velop a specific process for the production gy can be commercially introduced”, ex- Vento (ANEV), Oreste Vigorito, it shows of a new generation of biofuels and bio- plains Helmar Rendez, Senior Vice ANEV Secretary General Dr. Simone Togni. plastics from selected waste streams. ­President. We apologize for this mistake. Avantium is developing these products un- der the name “Furanics”. Cosun will focus on the selection, isolation and purification Gamesa to supply 22 of suitable components from agricultural waste streams. Avantium will continue to MW for Italian project focus on the development of an efficient, Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica en- chemically catalyzed production process. tered an agreement with the Italian The duration of the first phase of the col- company Alerion Parco Eolico Licodia laboration will be approx. two years. With Eubea S.R.L., an affiliate of Alerion positive results, the companies intend to ­Industries S.P.A. The contract comprises scale-up the production technology and im- the supply of 26 Gamesa G5X-850 kW wind plement it on commercial scale. turbines in 2009. The wind turbine genera- tors with a total capacity of 22 MW will be destined for the Licodia Eubea Wind Farm Vattenfall prepares for located in the Sicilian region of Catania. The agreement includes the supply of the ocean energy project wind turbines, their installation and start- The Swedish utility company up, as well as their operation and mainte- ­Vattenfall AB has acquired 51 % of nance. The start of assembly work is Oreste Vigorito Photo: ANEV the Irish site development company for planned for the first quarter of 2009.

12 Sun & Wind Energy 2/2009 KATAX21*29,7_eng0108 11-01-2008 11:26 ™ÂÏ›‰·1

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