[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
Williams, Qatar aim to bring F1 technology to mainstream
Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:02am EDT
DUBAI (Reuters) - The Williams Formula One team has launched a multi-million dollar project with Qatar that aims to bring cutting-edge racing technology to the mainstream mass-transit transport industry, its owner said on Thursday.
Frank Williams said his firm had set up the Williams Technology Center together with the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) where it would develop new environmentally beneficial technologies inspired by Formula One.
"The QSTP has availability of space and young people at a subsidized cost and we are landing in a place where there is a lot of brainpower around us," Williams told Reuters.
One of the projects will focus on developing the energy recovery system KERS for use on buses, trains and cars. In motor racing, KERS recovers energy generated by the brakes and stores it to give drivers a brief burst of extra power at the push of a button.
Williams said the product has potential to be applied also in fields including defense and power sectors.
"In two or three years it may be entering a commercial application for final testing, but it's difficult to say as new stuff is difficult to predict," he said.
The company would not give the exact cost of the project, but said it was below $50 million.
(Reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky; editing by Firouz Sedarat)
[Green Business]
Italy set to relaunch solar mirror power sector
Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:37pm EDT
By Svetlana Kovalyova
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy is to relaunch concentrated solar power (CSP) generation which uses sunlight and mirrors to make electricity and expects have 200 megawatts of new solar farms on stream in 2012, a top industry official said Friday.
Italy, which worked on CSP technology in 1970s but then shelved pilot projects, aims to catch up with the world's leaders California, Spain and Israel, Cesare Fera, chairman of new industry body ANEST told Reuters in a telephone interview.
ANEST was set up this month to promote CSP generation in Italy where photovoltaic (PV) technology which turns sunlight into power has boomed since 2007 thanks to generous incentives.
Work is underway to build four experimental CSP plants with a total capacity of about 10 MW on the island of Sicily and in central Italian regions of Lazio and Marche which should start up next year, Fera said.
"Then industrial-size plants will follow, in 2011 and 2012. Permitting process is already under way in Sardinia, Sicily and other regions. Hopefully authorizations will be done next year, then a year for construction and on stream in 2012," he said.
The current government support scheme puts a 200 MW cap on a cumulative capacity of projects to be covered by incentives which guarantee operators 28 euro cents per every kilowatt hour of power produced, he said.
Applications to build CSP farms -- which use mirrors to capture the sun's rays to create steam that turns a turbine to make electricity -- well exceed 200 MW and the limit will be reached in 2012, Fera said.
GROWTH HINGES ON INCENTIVES
"We must start thinking about post-2012 now," he said.
"One of the goals of our association is to convince the government to extend this limit to at least 2,000-3,000 MW. This will allow us to make big-size installations, to use top technology," he said.
CSP, which currently costs about 3-6 times more to make than gas-fired power widely used in Italy, is likely to become competitive with electricity produced by fossil-fired plants in about 7-8 year at best, Fera said.
CSP's sister PV technology is expected to become competitive with traditionally generated power in 2010-2012, ahead of European rivals thanks to abundant sunshine, falling PV module prices and high electricity prices in Italy.
But CSP technology has a lot of room to cut operating costs and has a considerable advantage over PV installations because it allows for storing energy, Fera said.
The global CSP capacity is currently at about 500 MW -- enough to meet power demands of 210,000 families, according to industry estimates -- with most of it installed in the United States, but it can grow fairly rapidly to 150,000 MW, Fera said.
CSP plants to be built in deserts have the potential to generate up to a quarter of the world's electricity by 2050, according to a report by pro-solar groups in May [ID:nLO523100].
Italy's limited free space due to its geography and dense population would put a natural cap on CSP growth at about 5,000-7,000 MW, Fera said.
(Editing by Nigel Hunt)
[Green Business]
PV Crystalox sees benefits in solar price war
Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:18pm EDT
By Victoria Bryan
LONDON (Reuters) - Price pressure in the solar industry has helped to increase the market and boosted module orders in the second half of the year, according to the chief executive of Britain's PV Crystalox Solar.
"One of the side effects of pricing pressure is we're moving nearer and nearer to grid parity and at that point the market no longer needs incentives," Iain Dorrity told Reuters in an interview on Friday.
Average selling prices for solar systems have fallen by more than fifth in the major German and U.S. markets, as a result of oversupply and price pressure from Chinese producers, hurting earnings for many established solar players, such as Solarworld and Q-Cells.
PV Crystalox makes silicon wafers for major solar cell manufacturers such as SunTech Power and Sharp, and its wafers are mostly sold into the German and Japanese markets, which enjoy generous subsidies.
Dorrity said the German market in particular had seen orders surge in the second half of 2009 as customers rushed to take advantage of low module prices and feed-in tariffs ahead of an expected cut in the subsidy by the new German government.
"In Germany, it seems like everyone came back from their holidays at the end of August and ordered modules," he said.
The new German government has indicated it is more in favor of nuclear power than renewables in order to meet emissions targets but Dorrity said it seemed as though their stance was softening.
Falling crystalline silicon prices have also helped to close the gap between silicon-based panels and thin film panels, such as those made by First Solar, which this week posted third-quarter sales far below estimates.
Along with falling prices, the solar industry has suffered from an oversupply of panels and lack of financing for big projects.
Dorrity said credit finance was still slow but that there were suggestions that overhanging inventory was clearing.
"Cell and module makers now say they're operating at full capacity, which would suggest that any inventory's been burned up."
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
[Green Business]
Trony Solar files for IPO of up to $200 mln
Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:32pm EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Chinese thin film solar company Trony Solar plans to raise up to $200 million in an initial public offering, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday, a move that could add to the crowded ranks of solar companies on major U.S. stock exchanges.
The company has applied to list its American Depositary Shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TRO," according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The underwriters for the IPO include J.P. Morgan Securities Inc, Credit Suisse Securities, Oppenheimer & Co Inc and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, the company said in the filing.
In October, STR Holdings Inc set terms for what is likely to become the first U.S.-listed IPO offering by a solar company in more than a year.
Trony Solar said in the filing that it had an annual manufacturing capacity of 115 megawatts at the end of August.
The company, established in 1993, started making thin film batteries in 1995. In 2006, the company started making solar panels for off-grid systems on a commercial scale.
(Reporting by Laura Isensee)
[Green Business]
Williams, Qatar aim to bring F1 technology to mainstream
Fri Oct 30, 2009 9:02am EDT
DUBAI (Reuters) - The Williams Formula One team has launched a multi-million dollar project with Qatar that aims to bring cutting-edge racing technology to the mainstream mass-transit transport industry, its owner said on Thursday.
Frank Williams said his firm had set up the Williams Technology Center together with the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) where it would develop new environmentally beneficial technologies inspired by Formula One.
"The QSTP has availability of space and young people at a subsidized cost and we are landing in a place where there is a lot of brainpower around us," Williams told Reuters.
One of the projects will focus on developing the energy recovery system KERS for use on buses, trains and cars. In motor racing, KERS recovers energy generated by the brakes and stores it to give drivers a brief burst of extra power at the push of a button.
Williams said the product has potential to be applied also in fields including defense and power sectors.
"In two or three years it may be entering a commercial application for final testing, but it's difficult to say as new stuff is difficult to predict," he said.
The company would not give the exact cost of the project, but said it was below $50 million.
(Reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky; editing by Firouz Sedarat)
[Green Business]
Italy set to relaunch solar mirror power sector
Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:37pm EDT
By Svetlana Kovalyova
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy is to relaunch concentrated solar power (CSP) generation which uses sunlight and mirrors to make electricity and expects have 200 megawatts of new solar farms on stream in 2012, a top industry official said Friday.
Italy, which worked on CSP technology in 1970s but then shelved pilot projects, aims to catch up with the world's leaders California, Spain and Israel, Cesare Fera, chairman of new industry body ANEST told Reuters in a telephone interview.
ANEST was set up this month to promote CSP generation in Italy where photovoltaic (PV) technology which turns sunlight into power has boomed since 2007 thanks to generous incentives.
Work is underway to build four experimental CSP plants with a total capacity of about 10 MW on the island of Sicily and in central Italian regions of Lazio and Marche which should start up next year, Fera said.
"Then industrial-size plants will follow, in 2011 and 2012. Permitting process is already under way in Sardinia, Sicily and other regions. Hopefully authorizations will be done next year, then a year for construction and on stream in 2012," he said.
The current government support scheme puts a 200 MW cap on a cumulative capacity of projects to be covered by incentives which guarantee operators 28 euro cents per every kilowatt hour of power produced, he said.
Applications to build CSP farms -- which use mirrors to capture the sun's rays to create steam that turns a turbine to make electricity -- well exceed 200 MW and the limit will be reached in 2012, Fera said.
GROWTH HINGES ON INCENTIVES
"We must start thinking about post-2012 now," he said.
"One of the goals of our association is to convince the government to extend this limit to at least 2,000-3,000 MW. This will allow us to make big-size installations, to use top technology," he said.
CSP, which currently costs about 3-6 times more to make than gas-fired power widely used in Italy, is likely to become competitive with electricity produced by fossil-fired plants in about 7-8 year at best, Fera said.
CSP's sister PV technology is expected to become competitive with traditionally generated power in 2010-2012, ahead of European rivals thanks to abundant sunshine, falling PV module prices and high electricity prices in Italy.
But CSP technology has a lot of room to cut operating costs and has a considerable advantage over PV installations because it allows for storing energy, Fera said.
The global CSP capacity is currently at about 500 MW -- enough to meet power demands of 210,000 families, according to industry estimates -- with most of it installed in the United States, but it can grow fairly rapidly to 150,000 MW, Fera said.
CSP plants to be built in deserts have the potential to generate up to a quarter of the world's electricity by 2050, according to a report by pro-solar groups in May [ID:nLO523100].
Italy's limited free space due to its geography and dense population would put a natural cap on CSP growth at about 5,000-7,000 MW, Fera said.
(Editing by Nigel Hunt)
[Green Business]
PV Crystalox sees benefits in solar price war
Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:18pm EDT
By Victoria Bryan
LONDON (Reuters) - Price pressure in the solar industry has helped to increase the market and boosted module orders in the second half of the year, according to the chief executive of Britain's PV Crystalox Solar.
"One of the side effects of pricing pressure is we're moving nearer and nearer to grid parity and at that point the market no longer needs incentives," Iain Dorrity told Reuters in an interview on Friday.
Average selling prices for solar systems have fallen by more than fifth in the major German and U.S. markets, as a result of oversupply and price pressure from Chinese producers, hurting earnings for many established solar players, such as Solarworld and Q-Cells.
PV Crystalox makes silicon wafers for major solar cell manufacturers such as SunTech Power and Sharp, and its wafers are mostly sold into the German and Japanese markets, which enjoy generous subsidies.
Dorrity said the German market in particular had seen orders surge in the second half of 2009 as customers rushed to take advantage of low module prices and feed-in tariffs ahead of an expected cut in the subsidy by the new German government.
"In Germany, it seems like everyone came back from their holidays at the end of August and ordered modules," he said.
The new German government has indicated it is more in favor of nuclear power than renewables in order to meet emissions targets but Dorrity said it seemed as though their stance was softening.
Falling crystalline silicon prices have also helped to close the gap between silicon-based panels and thin film panels, such as those made by First Solar, which this week posted third-quarter sales far below estimates.
Along with falling prices, the solar industry has suffered from an oversupply of panels and lack of financing for big projects.
Dorrity said credit finance was still slow but that there were suggestions that overhanging inventory was clearing.
"Cell and module makers now say they're operating at full capacity, which would suggest that any inventory's been burned up."
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
[Green Business]
Trony Solar files for IPO of up to $200 mln
Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:32pm EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Chinese thin film solar company Trony Solar plans to raise up to $200 million in an initial public offering, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday, a move that could add to the crowded ranks of solar companies on major U.S. stock exchanges.
The company has applied to list its American Depositary Shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "TRO," according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The underwriters for the IPO include J.P. Morgan Securities Inc, Credit Suisse Securities, Oppenheimer & Co Inc and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, the company said in the filing.
In October, STR Holdings Inc set terms for what is likely to become the first U.S.-listed IPO offering by a solar company in more than a year.
Trony Solar said in the filing that it had an annual manufacturing capacity of 115 megawatts at the end of August.
The company, established in 1993, started making thin film batteries in 1995. In 2006, the company started making solar panels for off-grid systems on a commercial scale.
(Reporting by Laura Isensee)
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