Not all is good news in the solar industry, and researchers are not helping …

Indian solar cell manufacturers were hanging out at the 18th International Photovoltaic Science and Engineering Conference & Exhibition. Yeah, they really do have conventions for this kind of thing. This one took place from Jan 19 to 23, 2009, in Kolkata, India.

India’s solar cell manufacturers all have plans to enhance production capacity, BUT, many of them are postponing their plans because of the ongoing global financial crisis.

Titan Energy Systems Ltd, is based in Hyderabad-based. The company makes solar modules. Plans to increase its annual production capacity from current 100MW to 500MW by the end of 2009 may have to be put on hold for about six months says the company.

Jupiter Solar Power Ltd, is a solar cell manufacturer that was established in 2007. The company originally planned to start manufacturing photovoltaic cells last year in November 2008. That date was postponed until February 2009 because of the financial crisis. Additionally, Jupiter Solar Power is delaying its production increase scheduled for 2010, until 2011.

Business is good for those in the solar industry … not so good for those trying to get in.

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Nippon Oil Corp,also know as Eneos and Sanyo Electric Co Ltd have a joint venture – 50:50 to produce amorphous Si thin-film solar cells and marketing power generation systems. Panasonic, which recently bought Sanyo has not put up any money yet.

Sanyo will develop manufacturing technologies for thin-film solar cells as well as the production of cells and modules. Eneos will make large-scale power generation systems using the modules. Eneos is also responsible for distribution and sale as well as provide material technologies for gases (eg, hydrogen gas) required in the cell production.

“The establishment of the new company is part of our efforts to become a comprehensive energy provider based on solar cells, fuel cells and rechargeable batteries, which are like the ‘three musketeers of batteries,’” Eneos President Shinji Nishio said.

Sanyo Eneos Solar have a target of 80MW per year sales with an energy conversion efficiency of 10% by 2010. Full-scale mass-production and an annual production of 1GW with conversion efficiency of 12% or higher by 2015. 2GW/year production by 2020.

The power generation systems are expected to be installed mainly in the Middle East.

Sanyo says it can make up for the slow start through superior technology and reliability.

“The solar cell business is a long-term project with its focus on 2020 or even 2050,” he said. “We are not at all concerned about a short-term depression. For manufacturers that have the lead in the thin-film solar cell production (by purchasing the production equipment in whole), the conversion efficiency will probably peak at about 7%.”

“In contrast, we will promote the research and development concurrently with the production and will constantly improve our technologies to achieve an efficiency of 10%, 12% and higher,” he said.

Business is good in the solar energy industry and will be so for a long time to come. Wonder if those report

Toyota is coming out with a new Prius, a solar-powered Prius. The car will have solar panels in its roof that will be used to run the car’s air conditioning. And, when does a car need air conditioning? Right! When the sun is out.

The 2010 Prius is expected to get 55+mpg, be plug-in-able, smaller, a wagon, and even Li-ion battery carrying.

How cool is Toyota?

The solar panels will go on the high-end version of the Prius = be expensive.

The solar panels will be made by Kyocera.

Prius had its debut in Japan in 1997. So far it has sold more than 1 million vehicles worldwide. The 2G version came out in 2003. The 3G version is due out this year.

Sanyo Electric is the world’s largest Li-ion secondary battery maker. At Eco-Products 2008, Sanyo introduced a street lamp that operates on solar power. The lamp stores power generated when the sun is up, then uses a built in capacitor for illuminating at night. This strategy along with low-power white LEDs is becoming the trend. Sanyo hopes to replace the lead batteries in use with current solar-powered lamps with Li-ion secondary batteries win 2-3 years.

Meanwhile, Fuji Heavy displayed a rechargeable lawn mower that also uses a Li-ion secondary battery module. The lawn mower (disguised as a weed cutter) can be charged in about 60 minutes. It used to take me about six minutes to cut my lawn with a pair of scissors. Seriously! My lawn was that small.

Now we can mow our grass at night and not use any fossil fuels, eh?

A Japanese group was able to charge a Li-ion secondary battery with DC power generated by solar cells and supply it to home appliances without using AC conversion.

The test was part of the Development Project of Energy-saving Technologies for Weak Energy Storage Type Eco House.

The program was conducted by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment with an aim of developing technologies to prevent global warming.

Until now, existing home-use solar power systems converted DC power into AC power before supplying it to homes. Power generated by solar cells had to be converted twice because home appliances use DC power.

This new system can boost efficiency use because it directly supplies generated power without converting it, much less converting it twice.

CO₂ emissions generated by a typical home over a period of four hours can be cut by 40%.

Next up, a wooden laboratory building that uses the DC power supply system by 2010.

Get this – the group aims to cut CO₂ emissions by charging Li-ion secondary batteries with hydroelectricity generated by:

1. a waterwheel set in the drain in the bathroom
2. by a light breeze that blows through a room
3. by a man riding on a fitness bike.

Go Japan!

Source: NikkeiBP (Image by Marufish)

We hear that China is not very eco-friendly. That may be true in many regards, but not so when it comes to the builders of Asia’s largest railway station – Beijing South. The station is large enought to hold a 747, has a roof area the size of 24 football pitches, can send 30,000 passengers on their way each hour and needs only 150 people to operate. Best of all…the power for the facility is generated by 3,246 solar panels that sit atop a glass roof. This gives new meaning to what’s above a glass ceiling, eh?

China is investing $735 billion over the next 11 years to expand it’s railway system to reach 120,000km (70,000 miles). To think…if all the new stations are green. China has 150 projects under construction and eight more were announced last month.

China definitely takes a beating on environmental concerns, and many of them rightfully so. Can you say fossil fuel consumption and coal power? But, Beijing South is a step in the right direction.

You can find Beijing on a map of China.

he problem is not why Japan cannot meet its protocol goals. The problem is why Japan doesn’t know WHY it’s not meeting its goal. Consider these two most recent Christmas displays.

This one is not technically a Christmas display, but it’s Christmas, and here it is. It’s called the Kobe Luminarie in central Kobe, home of Kobe Bryant and Kobe beef. The Luminarie has been running annually since 1996. It will end on Dec. 15th. It is built to remember the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake. GP thinks that Japan could remember those who died in the earthquake by taking better care of the environment left for those who are still alive.

This one is a Christmas display.

It is the Caretta OCEAN Christmas 2008 at Shiodome in Tokyo and will run through Dec 25.

Maybe…maybe…Japan could learn a lesson from the guys who made this tunnel at the Toki no Sumba resort in Shizuoka prefecture. The entire thing is lit up with lights from solar power.

Now, if they could just figure out how to do the Christmas displays and commemorations with solar power at night, eh?

Business is bad? Where is business bad? Not in the solar cell industry is business bad.

During the 3Q of this year, Japan’s fiscal 2Q shipments of solar cells to the European Union grew 44% on the year in power capacity terms. It now reaches 304,500kW says the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association.

Europe accounted for 60% of all shipments. Exports to the Old Country rose 53% from the same period last year. These shipments are the main engine for overall growth.

The market for solar cells is firm despite the global financial crisis. Hmm … anybody looking for a job?

Nobody knows whether shipments can keep up the pace. We could lay a bunch of economists end to end but they still wouldn’t be able to reach a conclusion.

Best business decision these days – think GREEN! – via Nikkei (sub req)

Image courtesy of Zruda

Solar energy is making such giant strides forward that it would be no surprise if in the next decade or so we all completely convert to solar power. For now though, each day is proving to be a new adventure for those working with and following the power of the sun.

The new arena that is being touched by solar power is the field of submarines as Swiss company BKW is all set to build the world’s first solar powered submarine.

Spending most of the time underneath the water, it won’t sport solar panels itself, but the docking station will. It will feature 30kW solar panels that will fully recharge the submarine’s batteries while docked.  Dubbed Project Goldfish, the submarine will be capable of carrying 20-30 passengers and two crew members, at a depth of up to 300 meters across Lake Thun in the Swiss Alps.

When required, the solar platform will be automatically hooked up with the sub via GPS.  There’s also a zero-emission solar-powered shuttle that will  ferry passengers to and from the shore and the boarding platform, making it completely eco-friendly trip.

The project is expected to be operational by 2012. – via CleanTechnica

Ota City is Japan’s Solar City. Three-quarters of the town’s homes are covered by solar panels. The panels are distributed for free. They are also a draw for new residents keen to minimize their power bills.

“We moved here because of the panels — it was something we wanted, but not something we could afford on our own,” said a resident.

Ota is located 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Tokyo and Pal Town is dubbed “Solar City”. The town received free solar panels from 2002 through a 9.7 billion yen state-backed study. Solar power is generally unreliable in cloudy Japan. But at high noon in sunny weather, a 4-kilowatt rooftop power generator can produce enough power to run a typical household. Cloudy weather cuts the power generated to less than half.

It is still not practical to implement the plan nationwide.

“People want solar power,” said an Ota City assistant section manager. That’s right! We want dependable, affordable solar power.