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on November 28th, 2011% ![]() November 28, 2011, 11:31 AM EST
by Nathan Myhrvold
Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) — This month, the U.S. Department of Commerce launched a formal investigation into complaints, lodged by the U.S. solar-cell manufacturers, that the government of China is funneling loan guarantees, grants and subsidies to its solar-cell companies.
Apparently, the Commerce Department is shocked, shocked to learn that a government would subsidize the solar industry.
A few days later, the new York Times described a “gold rush” under way in the U.S. as builders of wind and solar farms cash in on grants and loan guarantees offered by both the federal government and various states. these incentives effectively allow players at every level of the renewable-energy industry to lock in profits of 10 percent to 30 percent a year for the 20- to 30-year life of their plants — not bad considering 10-year Treasury bonds are paying only 2 percent.
both of these developments are symptoms of a larger problem with the world’s current approach to renewable energy. the range of prospects being tried now is dizzying — from high-tech windmills to biofuels, from corn to algae, from silicon photovoltaic cells to boilers heated by thousands of reflected sunbeams. But they all share one thing that makes them appealing to investors: taxpayer dollars. one of the ugly secrets of the renewable-energy industry is that its products make no economic sense unless they are highly subsidized.
‘Levelized’ Energy Cost
To get a sense of just how deep these subsidies run, I looked up projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration of the “levelized cost” of energy from various power sources. Let’s say you decide to build a new electricity plant that will come online five years from now. before getting a loan, you’ll want to estimate how much money you will have to lay out for construction, operations and maintenance, fuel, interest payments, insurance and so forth over the 30-year lifetime of your plant. Divide that total investment by the amount of electricity the plant is likely to sell, and you get a break-even price per kilowatt-hour. That’s the levelized energy cost.
in its most recent projections, the EIA gave renewables every benefit of the doubt. its projections assumed, with remarkable optimism, that regulators will impose what amounts to a carbon tax of $15 per ton of carbon dioxide emitted by power plants. And they ignored the costs imposed on the larger electrical system by the highly variable output from solar and wind farms, which thus require backup energy from gas, coal or nuclear plants. Even so, the EIA numbers show that renewable energy of every kind is still far from being economically viable.
At 6.3 cents a kilowatt-hour, the levelized cost of natural-gas generation comes out the lowest, mostly thanks to the surge in cheap gas recently unlocked by hydraulic fracturing. Coal is the next cheapest source, at 9.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.
among renewable-energy sources, wind turbines on land are the most viable, with a levelized cost per kilowatt-hour averaging 9.7 cents, but ranging (under the EIA’s optimistic assumptions) from 8.2 cents at the very windiest sites to 11.5 cents where conditions are less favorable. so wind power should command a 54 percent premium to electricity from natural gas — and that price difference widens to 73 percent if the putative carbon tax fails to materialize (see table).
Watts from offshore wind turbines are 290 percent higher in price than those made from natural gas; solar photovoltaic is 230 percent more expensive; and the cost premium for solar thermal soars to almost 400 percent. clearly, outside of exceptional circumstances, only enormous subsidies from taxpayers can keep these technologies competitive.
so why are they being deployed at all? the main argument — often made by renewable-energy entrepreneurs and others who think that the U.S. should lead the world in “green” jobs — is that once we start to produce renewables in volume, their costs will come down. so governments should merely subsidize today’s projects enough to push the technologies over their short-term humps.
Learning-Curve Effect
This learning-curve effect is well-known in the electronics industry. And it’s true that incremental improvements in the design and production of solar cells and wind turbines during the past decade have shaved costs and lifted efficiencies. the cost gap between renewables and fossil fuels used to be even wider than it is now.
A second argument often made in favor of subsidies stems from concern about climate change. we really ought to cut our greenhouse-gas emissions, this thinking goes, and although the best way to do that would be to either outlaw fossil-fuel use for certain purposes or to enact a high carbon tax, neither of those options is politically viable right now. Although they rarely say it explicitly, many environmentalists embrace government subsidies and mandates for renewables as a politically expedient, second-best alternative to a ban or tax on carbon emissions. Green-jobs advocates have given them a convenient argument that sells a lot better than a tax.
But these arguments ignore the other, more productive uses that could be made of the money spent on subsidies. rather than accelerate deployment of technologies that we know are inefficient, wouldn’t it be better to invest in the research and development that are needed to come up with renewable technologies that are cheap as well as clean? Subsidies also reward inefficiency, cultivate dependency on government largess and promote a rush to manufacture before the hard work of perfecting a technology is done.
As for the learning-curve effect, the electronics industry has demonstrated that when a technology has true potential, subsidies aren’t needed. each step of the way, electronics technology paid for itself — as well as for the R&D that led to successive generations.
This was certainly true for microprocessors and memory chips, whose cost per transistor or per bit of storage space consistently fell by half every year to 18 months. Solar-cell makers and their champions love to talk about a similar “Moore’s law” for solar, but the physics of the situation argues against this. yes, since 1985, solar-cell prices have dropped by roughly a factor of four, but during that same period, Moore’s law slashed the price of computational power by a factor of at least 130,000.
better Technology Ahead
Solar cells being deployed today convert into electricity just 10 percent to 15 percent of the solar energy that strikes them. Laboratories have made cells that can reach 40 percent efficiency, a level where things start to get interesting. But these advanced cells are expensive and tricky to make. A lot more R&D must be done before they can be produced cheaply and in volume.
Unfortunately, to compete in the gold rush for government support, the solar-energy industry mainly spends its time making current-generation, inefficient cells. the argument that this will help accelerate the next generation just isn’t holding up. It’s a bit like the old joke that you can lose money on every sale but somehow make it all up on volume.
Which brings us back to that Commerce Department investigation into China’s alleged handouts to solar-panel makers. If the charges are true, think about where those cheap solar panels end up: Many of them are being sold to utilities in the U.S., which are building solar-power plants that are themselves subsidized by the U.S. government. so at worst, the net effect is that the Chinese government is helping American taxpayers get more power plants for their money. why is that such a bad thing?
Some people fret that China will reap the green jobs of the future, but no economically viable green-energy product exists. it makes no sense for the U.S. to try to dominate a money-losing industry, especially by guaranteeing profits to inefficient power plants for 30 years.
the smarter strategy would be to boost spending on R&D toward a new generation of renewable-energy technologies that can compete in the marketplace without subsidies. A great deal of invention is required, so this won’t be easy or cheap. But it’s just the kind of challenge that American inventors and entrepreneurs have excelled at in the past.
(Nathan Myhrvold, the former chief strategist and chief technology officer at Microsoft Corp. and the founder and chief executive officer of Intellectual Ventures, is a Bloomberg View columnist. the opinions expressed are his own.)
–Editors: Mary Duenwald, David Henry.
Click on “Send Comment” in sidebar display to send a letter to the editor.
To contact the writer of this article: Nathan Myhrvold at
To contact the editor responsible for this article: Mary Duenwald at
on November 28th, 2011% ![]()
There are hundreds of different companies that are able to supply solar power equipment. These companies have increased in popularity due to people wanting to protect the environment. by using solar power you can protect the environment by not having to burn fossil fuels. The amount of fuel that we have available is limited and they are quickly running out, by using solar power you are conserving the natural resources.
The most important part of any solar power system is the solar panels themselves. Huge companies such as big Frog Mountain, Solar Cell Sales and mr Solar produce a fairly basic kit which contains a solar panel, batteries and everything else you would need. You will not need any other specialized equipment like an air compressor. There are a few very large companies such as Kyocera Solar Power, these are made possible by the popularity and demand for such systems.
You will also need to purchase inverters and batteries from one of these solar power companies. one company called evergreen solar produces photovoltaic modules, these are used in very big solar installations. Photovoltaic or PV is the name for the way the energy is converted from light into electricity.
Another really useful use for solar equipment is heating. Solar Attic and go Solar Company produce, design and install solar heating equipment to your home. after sales support is also available from these companies, and most are very friendly. You can also purchase solar heating equipment to heat swimming pools.
The Wireless Solar Process
Some solar power companies have pioneered wireless solar power, one such company is known as SunWize technologies Inc. by doing this you can create environmentally friendly power without much effort.
Solar energy can also be seen on race cars, space craft and even airplanes Solar power companies all around the world produce silicon solar cells which are used in such applications. A company known as Nanosolar creates roll prints of solar cells which are much thinner than silicon, 1/100th thinner to be precise Solar technology also finds itself at home in remote locations, particularly on livestock farms.
You will be able to find wholesale solar distributers, and retail shops. one useful wholesale distributor is solardepot.com. The retail solar stores are the ones that you should look out for if you want to buy equipment for your own home. Large systems are often only for industrial use, however you will find that many companies make smaller systems suitable for private use.
Commercial buyers may also be interested in solar powered street lights, billboards and parking lots. many other companies have produced products which are aimed directly at personal use, from calculators, to laptop computers.
on November 27th, 2011% ![]()
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With margins sagging under the pricing pressure, Suntech, LDK and JA Solar are all moving to conserve cash and reduce capital expenditures.
Suntech, the world’s largest maker of photovoltaic panels, trimmed its shipment forecast for the current quarter by about 10 percent and said it would seek to aggressively cut costs in 2012.
But Suntech’s shares firmed almost 17 percent, or 39 cents, to $2.62 by afternoon trade, leading a bullish bounce that saw most of the companies rise more than 5 percent, and some more than 10 percent.
The volatile sector has been heavily targeted by “short sellers,” who bet on share prices to drop, and Tuesday’s gains appeared to be related to some of those investors buying to cover their positions, market analysts said.
“Chinese-listed solar stocks dominate the list names with the greatest amount of short interest, accounting for eight shares out of the top 20 (shorted) shares,” Data Explorers said in a research report.
Suntech, JA Solar and LDK, as well as Canadian Solar Inc and Hanwha SolarOne co ltd, took one-time charges to write down the value of their inventories, and all were carefully eyeing the market and managing their factory output.
“We’re monitoring our inventory level carefully and currently producing to order,” Min Cao, JA Solar’s chief financial officer, told a conference call.
Still, companies appear wary of cutting spending too deeply and losing pace with their competition.
“We’ve been a little bit surprised that there haven’t been larger declines in (spending) by some of the marginal players,” said Edward Guinness, co-manager of the Guinness-Atkinson Alternative Energy fund, which owns shares in Trina Solar ltd, Yingli Green Energy Holding co ltd and LDK.
Companies remain under heavy pressure to cut their production costs to keep ahead of the market price declines.
Chinese manufacturers, who produce the majority of the world’s modules, are targeting module costs of about 80 cents per watt next year, down more than 25 percent from current levels.
Those reductions will likely only be reached by the largest players, who can buy supplies at a discount and drive down costs.
“The only people that are going to achieve 80 cents (per watt) are the volume leaders,” Guinness said
Suntech, which has been among the fastest to expand its manufacturing capacity, posted a net loss of $116.4 million, or 64 cents per American Depositary Share (ADS),for the third quarter versus a year-earlier profit.
“Looking forward, we expect excess capacity to fuel strong competition and consolidation in the next two to three quarters. This will be challenging for all solar companies,” Zhengrong Shi, Suntech’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement.
JA Solar Holdings posted a net loss of 36 cents per share, compared with a net loss of 49 cents per share in the same period last year.
JA Solar cut its 2011 shipment forecast to 1.6 gigawatts, down from a previous 1.8 gigawatts. Shares of JA Solar fell 4.6 percent to $1.45 in premarket Tuesday trading.
“As a result of on-going macro-economic and industry uncertainty, visibility in the near term is limited,” Peng Fang, JA Solar’s chief executive, said in a statement.
LDK, which makes the polysilicon wafers used in solar panels, posted a net loss was $114.5 million, or 87 cents per ADS, as its sales dropped 30 percent to $471.9 million.
Elsewhere, Canadian Solar reported a third-quarter loss of $43.9 million, or $1.02 per share, compared with a net profit of $20.3 million, or 47 cents per share, in the same period last year.
Hanwha SolarOne posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss, hurt by lower shipments and prices. the company cut its full-year shipment outlook saying it expects industry conditions to remain tough.
On Monday, Trina Solar, said it would reduce its output to about 80 percent of capacity in the fourth quarter. It reported a worse-than-expected third-quarter net loss of $31.5 million, or 45 cents per ADS.
Shares of Suntech rose 16.6 percent to $2.60 on Tuesday, LDK was up 6.0 percent at $3.00, JA Solar shares gained 3.3 at $1.57, Canadian Solar rose 10.9 percent to $2.44 and Hanwha rose 12.4 percent to $1.36.
(Reporting by Matt Daily and Ernest Scheyder in New York Swetha Gopinath and Divya Lad in Bangalore; Editing by Derek Caney, Dave Zimmerman and Gerald E. McCormick)
on November 26th, 2011% ![]()
An accumulation of credits can earn you a decent amount of money when traded. You therefore need to find a market dealing with energy credit buying. choose a qualified sun energy consultant that knows it well. a reliable consultant can for example find you an aggregator that puts together many individual certificates to spread the costs of selling them direct. the demand for credits is determined by the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) which is a regulation on electric companies to produce green energy. Another way to trade your renewable energy credits is through open markets, auctions and long-term contracts. Many suppliers of solar energy like you mean there is competition, the reason you need a great group of people helping you find the perfect place for your credit units.
Basically the force of supply and demand affects every energy project including yours. a shortage in the credit supply will increase the prices to fund projects and cause a shortage in solar system installations and an increase in the credit supply will lower financing prices and cause acceleration in solar installations. Spot marketing is one way to make money from the solar project you’re involved in. This option has high pricing compared to prices in long-term contracts because the purchaser is taking a lot of market risk. Long term contracts are however better than spot sales in times when a high price can be locked in. there are some states where benefiting from SREC sales is better like new Jersey. This state boasts some of the largest solar credit sales. This NJ energy scheme ensures the growth of people using a clean form of energy. with solar for all, many people are making the shift to this form of clean energy.
The new energy commodity markets are aimed at finding a price that will create a balance between installations of solar facilities and meeting demand as set by the RPS. an aggregator is also beneficial because they can find a market on your behalf in other states where prices are not badly off.
Electricity suppliers rely on home owners with the biggest solar credits as well as smaller systems to supplement their production. if your solar system successfully produces more kilo-watts than your credits will be in high demand for such entities because they have to deal with less people. This arrangement pays more because you can deal direct with the suppliers. with sun energy, you can therefore invest in remodeling or increase your solar system production on spare land to improve your price demands.
So you can see that there is no set pricing for a financial solar energy plan. Their pricing is also affected by a state’s Solar Alternative Compliance Payment (SACP), the period over which the credits are sold which changes the supply and demand curve in your state of trade. This clear energy from the sun is therefore very beneficial for individuals and small firms willing to beat their competitive counterparts using solar today.
It is good to look for a viable market to trade your credits there are many in each state. decide if you want to go for spot transactions because of the higher price or go for the minimum risk associated with long-term contracts. Long contracts availability can also affect price points. You can even do both by engaging your first solar facility in a spot transaction to evade high discounts and premiums associated with long-term contracts but then switch to a long-term contract when you feel the market price is suitable.
If you build a process and business plan on how to go solar showing stability in the market, then you can probably get some backing from financial institutions and grow your sun and solar facilities. Weighing between the available options that work in your state is the best way to benefit out of solar energy. Learning about solar pricing and sales will help you seek out better markets for your credits without any associated expenses. with solar for you, the sun is free of charge, you can make a continuous earning from selling your SREC because the sun will always rise. the energy from the sun should therefore be turned into a money generating activity since people will always have a demand for power supply.
on November 23rd, 2011% ![]() November 02, 2011, 2:18 PM EDT
By Natalie Obiko Pearson
(Updates with excerpt from trade complaint, Trina’s margins, in ninth, 10th and 18th paragraphs.)
Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) — Chinese solar-panel makers borrow from state banks at higher interest rates than what Solyndra LLC was charged by the U.S. government this year, according to Trina Solar ltd., China’s third-biggest maker of the equipment.
Jifan Gao, chief executive officer of Changzhou-based Trina, said China Development Bank Corp. charges interest at the “market’s average level” of 6 to 7 percent. that exceeds the average rate of about 5 percent offered to Solyndra on $70 million the U.S. panel maker borrowed in 2011 before filing for bankruptcy protection in September, according to Bloomberg calculations based on filings by a U.S. Treasury bank.
Gao’s comments are the clearest defense yet by a Chinese solar executive against accusations they’ve used more than $30 billion in state subsidized loans to dump panels on overseas markets. U.S. manufacturers led by SolarWorld AG asked the Obama administration to slap duties of as much as 100 percent on more than $1 billion in Chinese imports to counter what they called illegal aid. that added to the debate in the U.S. over publicly funding solar companies that exploded with Solyndra’s collapse.
“I need to clarify a long-term misunderstanding about the China Development Bank,” Gao said in an interview in Singapore. “we have to make it clear that the strength of China-originated solar companies is not about subsidies or cheap loans from the government. we don’t have any advantages in this area.”
Solyndra Versus Suntech
Trina, along with China’s Suntech Power Holdings co. and LDK Solar co., the world’s largest and second-biggest panel makers, also have credit lines from the state-backed bank.
Solyndra, of Fremont, California, had a $535 million U.S. loan guarantee and was charged quarterly interest rates of 0.545 percent to 1.731 percent on about $70 million in government loans made in 2011, according to a statements by the Federal Financing Bank, the financing arm of the U.S. Treasury. in total Solyndra borrowed about $527 million in U.S. funds.
Trade tensions flared over the Chinese loans as the global solar industry copes with slowing growth and falling prices for its wafers and panels caused by a surge in manufacturing capacity. three major U.S. solar companies failed since August, including Solyndra. Chinese companies deny they’re dumping panels. Gao’s comments are the most detailed on the matter to date.
“While it is complicated to compare Chinese interest rates to U.S. ones — inflation in China is very high — we do not believe the CDB loans to be particularly cheap,” said Jenny Chase, lead solar analyst at Bloomberg new Energy Finance. “we expect the Chinese central government to take a more cautious view in the coming months on policies to support Chinese solar manufacturers.”
The complaint filed by U.S.-based manufacturers last month went beyond financing issues.
It alleged that Chinese solar cell and panel producers “benefit from an all-encompassing range of illegal subsidies from the Chinese government, including massive cash grants; significantly discounted raw material inputs such as polysilicon and aluminum; heavily discounted or free land, power and water; multibillion-dollar preferential loans and directed credit; extensive tax exemptions, incentives and rebates; export assistance credits; and export insurance at preferential rates.” China provided $30 billion in credit to its biggest solar manufacturers last year, Jonathan Silver, former executive director of the U.S. Energy Department’s loan program, told a congressional panel Sept. 14 before his resignation was announced on Oct. 6.
Gao said that figure is misleading and probably only a fraction of that amount has actually been disbursed. The CDB’s credit lines are “like memorandums of understanding, they’re not contracts,” he said. “It means this is an amount that can be discussed but it’s not guaranteed.”
Companies that take funds from the CDB must apply for loans on a project-by-project basis, and the bank scrutinizes each. Terms haven’t been disclosed either by the CDB or in company filings. “If any company is not in a healthy operational condition, they would not get a guaranteed loan,” he said.
Gao estimates that 10 percent to 20 percent of the funds have been drawn down by companies. Five U.S. companies were awarded $1.56 billion in guarantees through a program championed by President Barack Obama, according to a Bloomberg survey in September.
in three years, Chinese panel makers went from 30 percent market share to more than half by improving quality and slashing prices, Bloomberg new Energy Finance data shows. Last year, they sold more than half the world’s solar panels for the first time, including $1.4 billion of exports to the U.S.
Gao attributed that success to better operational management that creates a “huge cost advantage” to competitors from Japan, Europe or the U.S., he said. “we have a faster reaction to the market because it’s being managed properly. this gives us a competitive advantage.”
The spot price of solar panels has fallen about 40 percent this year as manufacturers particularly in China ramped up their production capacity, according to new Energy Finance. The 10 largest silicon panel manufacturers doubled their manufacturing capacity last year, the data show.
many solar-equipment companies are losing money as the average operating margin fell to minus 5.9 percent in the second quarter compared with a positive 12 percent a year earlier, Bloomberg data show. At Trina, second-quarter panel shipments jumped 78 percent from the year-earlier period, while its operating margin shrunk to 5.7 percent from 22.5 percent.
Price Versus Performance
Trina says it’s innovating more quickly and expanding sales service overseas to take market share. The company has filed 600 patents and announced in September that it may have set a world record in laboratory testing for power output from a multicrystalline module. that product will go into mass production by 2012, Gao said.
Ultimately price alone won’t determine the winners, Chinese or otherwise, Gao said. Customers in the most mature markets, like Europe, U.S. and Japan, are increasingly choosing their suppliers based on panel performance which can boost a project’s profitability and after-sales service, he said.
“They care about price, that it should be reasonable, but it’s not the most important thing,” he said.
–With reporting by Christopher Martin in new York; Editors: Reed Landberg, Todd White
-0- Nov/02/2011 17:56 GMT
To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Obiko Pearson in Mumbai at
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at
on November 22nd, 2011% ![]()
The sun offers us the glorious possibility of independence from electric companies who have monopolized the energy market and continue to raise their prices because the service they provide is required by everyone. Thanks to solar energy systems, it is no longer necessary to pay high premiums to electric companies who are polluting the Earth on a daily basis, through the use of fossil fuels. San Francisco Solar Panels for your Home adds significant value to your home. The reason for this is that solar panel systems are becoming highly desirable and in the future potential buyers will seek out houses that already have this clean and renewable energy system in place.
There are a variety of reasons why well-informed citizens are interested in owning photovoltaic systems. The most prominent two are for the financial benefits and to help reduce the negative impact that burning fossil fuels has on our planet. because solar power comes, obviously, from the sun, there are not any additional costs after the system has been installed. you simply enjoy your free power and continue living your life just as you always have. The only difference is that you have significant amounts of money saved at the end of every month.
The initial investment to obtain solar power for homes is completely affordable for all people. in fact, Verengo offers the highest quality solar energy systems on the market, for no money down. because of the importance of switching to solar power, Verengo’s passionate representatives will work with you to make your monthly payments low and manageable. All of this plus the fact that there are numerous government incentives in place means that regardless of your income level, you can be a part of the solar revolution.
Now is absolutely the time to invest in solar energy. As it becomes increasingly common, the prices will rise significantly with the demand. right now we are at the beginning of a long journey that solar power will be taking. Fossil fuels are depleting rapidly and solar power is next in line to take over its position. Thankfully, this can all be accomplished with great ease, due to its affordability and sustainable nature. It is imperative that you act now and be a leader in the approaching solar power movement that will be upon us soon, rather than waiting until the prices shoot sky high.
on November 21st, 2011% ![]()
An excellent technique to increase the value of your building and benefit from the sun’s energy to power the electricity in your household is to put in photovoltaic solar panels. the cells within the panels are made of material such as silicon which work as a semiconductor. Sunshine is absorbed as energy directly into this material and then moved as free flowing power. Many people today also use this approach into the heating system for their own swimming pools.
This method of transforming natural light to electric power is just one of the methods believed to help manage global warming. if every one the residences added these kind of panels not only would electric power expenses to the consumer be reduced significantly but the actual air quality we breathe would improve profoundly. It’s a tremendous way to turn into an effective steward of our earth.
Quite a few people and businesses put in photovoltaic solar panels for the costs benefits as well as the durability of the solar panels themselves. With the simple fact that there are no moving pieces and the creators issue at the bare minimum a twenty year warranty, the possibility of recouping your expense is very good. A large number of installers calculate their life at a little more than forty years if they are correctly taken care of.
According to a solar income authority, everyone can certainly anticipate the life-span of your photovoltaic solar panels to drop about a half percent of performance each year. the first panels that were mounted over forty years ago are still running as well as creating power at just about 80% of just what they released when they were first hooked up.
Photovoltaic solar panels are traditionally installed on residential roofs, on top of commercial properties and can be on stand alone facilities. the most important factor is to use it in the spot that will get the most noontime direct sun. you will need to cut any trees or problems which would possibly prevent any of the natural light. just about any obstructing could make your device to reduce some of its functionality.
Your new photovoltaic solar panels could be mounted on pole-mounts, roof-ground mounts or flush mounts. Pole mounts are a metal rack and rail that is bolted to a sleeve which will connect to the panels. Roof-ground mounts are put to use with the really oversized systems. They are generally a grid system of supports and can easily be rather large. They are typically not the most charming mount. the flush mount is put to use on the majority of roof tops and is without a doubt the most effective and least expensive of the mounts around.
Whenever you assess the rates of several photovoltaic solar panels it can be essential to evaluate the dollar per watt rate. if a unit is being provided for $4.30 per watt then most people would assume a 50 watt solar panel to cost about $215.00. A more modern panel may possibly be more effective than an outdated one if you have constrained installation room. if open area is in no way a problem then you would save a little with the older, physically larger technology.
Superior, technology and age of the solar panels are essential variables when assessing price ranges. A slightly older unit that has been inside storage may be a little more valuable in contrast to one of the same age that has been made use of for a greater period due the specific wattage reduction over time. take all points into consideration before you buy.
on November 20th, 2011% ![]()
The Feed In Tariff and Renewable Heat Incentive don’t just incentivise households to install solar panels, and they don’t just give solar panel producers a chance to expand and become more numerous. The scale of solar technology adoption has been massive – the installed capacity of photovoltaic panels in the UK rose from 28 to 50MW just from January to September in 2010. this has meant that a whole new industry has sprung up – solar panel price comparison companies.
You’ve probably seen the adverts on television for similar companies in traditionally much larger scale industries, such as car or travel insurance, but it is a sign of the times that you can compare different solar panel prices and installations from the comfort of your sofa. just search for solar comparison on Google and you’ll see several of them popping up in the main results and the adverts around the page.
How do they work?
People are lazy, and often don’t know much about solar panels These companies create websites offering customers information about the schemes on offer and the opportunity to get several quotes quickly and easily. Customers will submit their details, which these companies will try to sell to solar panel installers operating in that customer’s area. they usually will sell the details to up to three companies to allow the customer to have a price comparison.
Why don’t solar panel installers just create websites like this?
These companies have to spend a lot on building and advertising their websites (often several thousand pounds per week), and leads will come from all over the UK, which means it is only viable if you’re a national company and have a call centre to deal with all the leads. If a local company advertised on such a large basis, it would generate thousands of leads that it couldn’t deal with, spending a huge amount of money at the same time. Customers also like the idea of doing a price comparison, because they inevitably want a few quotes.
Are they expensive, and do they generate a lot of leads that are no good?
The leads vary in price from company to company, but are usually around 40 each. better comparison companies will verify their leads – once the customer has entered their details, they will get phoned by the comparison company’s call centre, and they’ll get asked about their property, and will get given some more information on the potential costs and benefits of solar panels to make sure they really know the size of the investment. this means that giving them quotes shouldn’t be a waste of time as they know roughly what to expect.
What are the drawbacks?
If you, as a solar panel installer, get leads from a price comparison company, then you are being compared to probably two other solar companies, hence you will have to ensure that the quotes you offer are competitive. this means that you may have to buy several leads to get any business, and obviously you have to pay for each lead. it is best to think of them as another form of marketing, but don’t expect every lead to turn into a sale. many of them run without a contract – you can just order a few leads to try out the service, and if the profits from the extra business outweigh the costs, then keep using them. If they’re no good, you can just stop. for example, if you spent 120 to buy three leads, and one of them turned into a sale, then you may make 900 profit, hence it would be worthwhile. making sure you use a company that verifies its leads will dramatically improve the returns you’ll see – companies that do this typically turn away 60% of customers because they didn’t fully understand the schemes available (ie they were looking for a grant), or they didn’t appreciate the cost of solar installation, hence the 40% of leads that you can buy from them will be much better quality.
on November 16th, 2011% ![]()
With the popularity of different renewable energy systems, specifically solar energy systems, there are already so many companies that are engaged in this kind of industry. As a matter of fact, there are already so many solar panel companies and manufacturers engaging in the production of different components for this industry. Hence, if you are planning to participate in this market, then there are few things that you need to learn about solar panel companies.
At the very least, there are three (3) very important and essential things that you need to learn regarding the different solar panel companies. these are related to their various competencies, years of experience and appropriate certification.
On the one hand, different solar panel companies have their respective competencies and advantages from each other. I must say that you cannot find all of the criteria that you have set in a single company. This is because I believe that there is no perfect company. maybe you can find a company that is close to what you are ideally looking for, but the thing is that it is not the perfect one you need. in other words, this also means that one company can have more technically competent than the others in terms of trainings and the like, but they might have fewer years of experience. aside from that, they might also have less equipment for the job you require as well.
On the other hand, you also need to check about the number of years of the solar panel companies in the industry. This is very important if you are looking for the right one who has the abundant experiences in the market. Furthermore, this can also serve as the indication of the company’s expertise as well. You know that the expertise is not only gained from technical education, most of the time, even these technical skills are learned from continuous immersion to the job. Hence, if the personnel of the solar panel companies you want to deal with do not have the formal background about the job, then it will be compensated by their years of experience doing the same job all over again.
Lastly, you can also check if the solar panel companies you want to deal with have the appropriate and proper certifications or licenses issued by the regulatory board of the government, which allow them to do the job you are asking from them. If they do not have even a business certification, then there is no basis for you to transact with them.
About the Author
This article is about “Things to Learn about Solar Panel Companies” and was written by U4D SEO Sheffield on behalf of Enviko Solar Panel Companies.
Article source: goarticles.com/article/Things-to-Learn-about-Solar-Panel-Companies/5609923/
on November 16th, 2011% 
The Techonomy conference opened up this morning with four young innovators who won the Staples Ashoka Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition. They discussed their emerging companies, ranging from solar power to social medicine to creating carbon nanotubes.
Eden Full (right), 19, of Roseicollis Technologies, explained her SunSaluter, a low-cost, non-electrical rotator for solar panels. Solar is expected to meet seven percent of the need by 2030 and 25 percent by 2050. But to do so, the panels must rotate to capture more energy, Full said. She came up with the SunSaluter to solve this.
Karthik Naralasetty (second from right), 22, talked about his Facebook application, socialblood.org, that lets individuals join groups based their blood type. the social campaign makes it easier for blood donors and recipients to be matched so patients and doctors can find the blood type they need in emergencies.
Vineet Singal (second from left), 21, shared a personal story about having to lose weight to lower his risk of diabetes. as a result, he created Anjna Patient Education, a health education network designed to present health information to underserved individuals. This has iOS and Android applications designed for free clinics to teach patients how to use the medications and to send text messages to remind patients to take their medicine.
Vivek Nair (left), 23, said his company, Damascus Fortune, is designed to “turn pollution into money.” It uses waste to create carbon nanotubes through a catalytic converter. Carbon nanotubes currently cost $50 to $400 per gram but Damascus Fortune can produce them for $1 per gram.
It’s a great selection of companies and I was impressed by the passion and ingenuity displayed by all of the young entrepreneurs. they have simple ideas not only for building new companies, but for improving the world.
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