Solar Industry Responds to Anti-Dumping Allegations

Joanna Schroeder

The Chinese solar community is responding to anti-dumping allegations of Chinese solar products. The European Commission is currently reviewing charges by several European companies. Representatives of JinkoSolar, based in Shanghai, said the charges are unfounded and unfair and do not reflect the reality of the highly-competitive global solar industry. They also believe that trade protectionism will only harm fair competition in the market, hinder development of the entire PV industry and also harm consumers.

“JinkoSolar, as one of the leading photovoltaic manufacturers in the industry, will actively cooperate with the European Commission’s investigation. The company will continue expanding into emerging markets, including China, South Africa, India and Australia to alleviate possible impacts that could result from the potential trade friction,” said Xiande Li, JinkoSolar’s Chairman.

Complaints were lodged in July of this year that solar panels and their key components imported from China enter the European market at prices below market value. According to a press statement, in terms of import value affected, this is the most significant anti-dumping complaint the European Commission has received so far.

Dr. Peng Fang, CEO of JA Solar, also based in Shanghai, responded by saying, “JA Solar believes in fair and open trade. As a public company, we conduct all our business transactions in a transparent manner. The imposition of antidumping tariffs on Chinese solar products would be highly damaging to both the European and global solar markets. Strong and fair competition across the global solar market has been the catalyst for rapid innovation and has allowed millions of consumers in Europe and around the world to access clean and affordable renewable energy. We believe that antidumping tariffs would jeopardize the huge progress the industry has made in recent years.”

The Commission will respond to the charges within the next nine months. During this time, an investigation will be conducted and it will determined if any measures will be taken.

International, Solar

Sacramento Gets New Biofuels Station

Joanna Schroeder

Sacramento, California has a new biofuels station selling both E85 and biodiesel. The station owned by Propel Fuels is co-located at the Mak’s Valero station at 1101 Broadway in downtown. The renewable fuel station is located near I-80, Business Route 80, I-5, Highway 50 and Highway 99. This is the ninth Propel station in the Greater Sacramento area due to consumer and fleet demand.

As part of the opening celebration running September 11-14, Propel will provide Sacramento drivers and fleets with $10 of free E85 Flex Fuel or Biodiesel. The free fuel promotion encourages local drivers to experience the quality and performance of renewable fuels.

“Fleets and families in greater Sacramento have shown us that access to renewable fuels is important to them, so we’re continuing to grow our network of stations here,” said Matt Horton, CEO of Propel. “This is an ideal location, conveniently situated near both the freeway network and downtown, where new fueling stations aren’t common. We’re excited to be partnering with Mak’s to bring increased fuel choices to downtown Sacramento drivers while helping make progress toward our nation’s clean energy goals.”

Today over one million California drivers can use E85 in their flex-fuel vehicles or biodiesel in their diesel vehicles. Sacramento actually has the largest number of renewable fuels stations in any city across the state due to the high number of fleet users and consumer users. These drivers can also track and report CO2 emission reductions as a result of their renewable fuel choice at a Propel pump through the company’s CleanDrive program.

Biodiesel, biofuels, E85

Solar Market Spikes

Joanna Schroeder

According to the “U.S. Solar Market Insight: 2nd Quarter 2012” report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the solar industry achieved its second best quarter ever. In the second quarter of this year, 742 megawatts of solar power was installed. The utility market hit 477 megawatts during the same timeframe with eight states now having installed 10 megawatts or more of solar energy: California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico, and New Jersey. In total, the U.S. now has 5,700 megawatts of installed solar capacity, enough to power more than 940,000 households.

The report concludes the utility photovoltaic (PV) market will remain strong through the last two quarters of 2012. There are 3400 megawatts of utility PV projects currently under construction. The study forecasts an additional 1.1 gigawatts of utility PV could begin operation before the end of this year. By the end of 2012, nearly 3.2 gigawatts of PV will be installed, a 71 percent increase over 2011.

“The U.S. solar industry is rapidly growing and creating jobs across America despite the slow economic recovery,” said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of SEIA. “More solar was installed in the U.S. this quarter than in all of 2009, led for the first time by record-setting utility-scale projects. With costs continuing to come down, solar is affordable today for more homes, businesses, utilities, and the military. Smart, consistent, long-term policy is driving the innovation and investment that’s making solar a larger share of our overall energy mix.”

The U.S. residential solar market has grown over the past four consecutive quarters with 98.2 megawatts installed. California, Arizona and New Jersey led the way while smaller markets also showed strong gains including Hawaii, Massachusetts and Maryland. Another area that has gained momentum is third-party solar ownership models. In California, Arizona and Colorado, this model accounted for more than 70 percent of total Q2 2012 installments.

Shayle Kann, vice president of research at GTM Research added, “We’re starting to see innovative PV business models take a substantial hold in the U.S. residential market. The success of third-party residential solar providers has attracted more than $600 million in new investments in recent months. This influx of cash into the residential space signifies the growing acceptance of solar leases and power purchase agreements as a secure investment for project investors. We expect that third-party installations will claim even more market share in the coming quarters.”

Electricity, Energy, Research, Solar

LS9 Starts Up Demonstration Plant

Joanna Schroeder

LS9 has started up its retrofitted demonstration plant in Okeechobee, Florida with an initial production run of fatty alcohols. These will eventually be converted to renewable fuels and biochemicals. Fatty alcohols are long carbon chain alcohols, and used widely in the $5 billion market for surfactants that include detergents. The facility will also be used to test and optimize new process conditions.

“We are very pleased that our very first run at 135,000 liter scale went so well. It is a direct reflection of the strength of our technology team in South San Francisco and our operations team in Okeechobee,” said Ed Dineen, President and CEO of LS9.

At the onset, the facility will be focused on enhancing production capabilities and to generate large chemical samples for testing and product qualification. LS9 representatives said the first run performed well producing several tons of fatty alcohol with excellent replication of technical metrics seen at pilot scale.

“We plan to perform additional fatty alcohol runs to demonstrate the robustness of our technology platform and then switch to diesel fuel and ester chemical production to further demonstrate the production optionality of the technology,” continued Dineen.

Greg Rood, LS9’s vice president of operations, added, “We’d like to thank all of our employees who have been involved with this project, especially Pablo Otero who was the Project Director. In addition, we would like to recognize the support of the Florida Opportunity Fund and all the local contractors who helped us retrofit the facility.”

advanced biofuels, biochemicals

Schools in Japan Complete Solar Projects

Joanna Schroeder

Sometimes good things really do come out of something bad.  The Great East Japan Earthquake devastated schools, businesses, homes and lives. But this week, the Japan Reconstruction Fund held a ceremony at Shinchi Elementary School to commemorate the completion of several solar facilities in four public elementary and junior high schools in the town of Shinchi in Soma-gun, Fukushima Prefecture. The solar systems are part of the city’s urban development program.

The solar power projects were funded from grants from Coca-Cola Company and Coco-Cola Educational Foundation. The Fund decided to assist Shinchi Elementary School, Fukuda Elementary School, Komagamine Elementary School, and Shoei Junior High School after evaluating requests to help reinforce disaster management with new solar power facilities and to help educate pupils about clean energy.  The solar power system includes an emergency solar generator with a maximum capacity of 20 kilowatts and storage batteries with a total capacity of up to 16 kilowatts.

During the ceremony, Mayor Norio Kato greeted attendees and delivered opening remarks about Shinchi’s recovery. Tatsuya Natori, Chair of the Shoei Junior High School Student Council, delivered a speech on behalf of all the students.

Natori said, “We were very relieved to hear that the solar system means that we can still use electricity after a disaster. We will always be grateful to the Fund for its kindness, and will study hard so we can play solid roles in local reconstruction.”

While the schools are all educating students about energy and environment, they each have a different focus. For example, Shinchi Elementary School focuses on educating about solar and wind power and Shoei Junior High School plans to teach about nuclear power generation as well as solar generation. However, all of the local schools and the town will collaborate in researching solar power and announcing their findings as part of the town’s overall efforts to acquire knowledge about the environment and energy.

Education, Energy, Environment, Nuclear Energy, Solar, Wind

Ag Secretary Highlights Biofuels During US Ship Visit

John Davis

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack went aboard the USS Monterey at the Naval Station Norfolk to highlight the commitment the military is making to advanced biofuels. He was joined by Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Energy for Navy Tom Hicks.

“Developing the next generation of advanced biofuels for our nation’s military is both a national security issue and aneconomic issue,” said Vilsack. “By utilizing renewable energy produced on American soil, our military forces will become less reliant on fuel that has to be transported long distances and often over supply lines that can be disrupted during times of conflict. Meanwhile, a strong and diverse biofuels industry will support good-paying jobs in rural America that can’t be shipped overseas. Through this joint effort, USDA and the U.S. Navy have the opportunity to create a model for American energy security while ensuring the safety of our troops and the long term viability of our armed forces.”

“Secretary Vilsack’s leadership and the work carried out by USDA on alternative fuel is so critical to the Navy’s efforts to address a critical military vulnerability; our reliance on foreign oil,” stated U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

Earlier this summer, the U.S. Navy’s “Great Green Fleet,” a carrier strike group, including aircraft and surface ships, ran on biofuels off the coast of Hawaii as part of the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC). The Navy, USDA and the Department of Energy recently announced $30 million in funding for “drop-in” biofuel substitutes for diesel and jet fuel.

biofuels, USDA

Iowa Teacher Gets Ethanol Rocks Boost

John Davis

The National Corn Growers Association gave an Iowa teacher a bit of a lift in its Ethanol Rocks video contest, an effort to highlight corn ethanol in this country. Mediapolis High School ag instructor and FFA Advisor Alaina Holdgrafer picked up an NCGA backpack filled with goodies, including a Sony HandyCam and a lot of information about ethanol at the recent Farm Progress Show.

“Promoting the Ethanol Rocks video contest at Farm Progress was a great way for NCGA to interest high school and college students in taking part in supporting America’s leading source of domestic renewable fuel,” said Chad Willis, chairman of NCGA’s Ethanol Committee. “The drawing for the video camera, literature on the benefits of ethanol, along with presentations by the Iowa Corn Growers Association, turned Iowa Corn’s booth into the one-stop-shop for information on corn grower contributions to our economy.”

Ms. Holdgrafer was delighted to learn of her windfall. Now that the tools to do so are available, she said she is confident that her students will want to take part in the contest.

The students… and of course, you too… have until 5 p.m. CDT, Monday, October 15 to get in entries for the contest. NCGA wants short videos (2 minutes or less) from active high school and college students that highlight the benefits of ethanol fuel blends to the U.S. environment and economy. First prize receives $1,500 and $500 for second place at each at of the two levels, high school and college. More information is available on the Ethanol Rocks Video Contest website.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Farm Progress Show, NCGA

New Billboard Touts E15 to Iowa Motorists

John Davis

A new billbord courtesy of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association introduces E15 to motorists in in Marion, Iowa. This IRFA news release says the new billboard will go up at Linn Co-op Oil Company, the first EPA-approved retailer in Iowa to sell E15 for 2001 and newer vehicles, SUVs, and light-duty trucks.

“We’re excited that we’re only a week away from having E15 available for all 2001 and newer vehicles,” said Lucy Norton, IRFA Managing Director. “It has been a very long time coming and we’re enthusiastic about Linn Co-op’s first-in-the-state status.”

‘The Roads of Iowa will Never be the Same’ is the theme for the campaign that will be extended throughout September to include other media and direct mail. The billboards are a way to introduce E15 to Marion residents by touting the cost-savings and performance benefits of the latest fuel to receive EPA approval. This campaign is being co-sponsored by Iowa Corn Growers.

IRFA points out that the Hawkeye State (or maybe more accurately after this weekend’s game, the “Cyclone State”) is a leader in renewable fuels production with 41 ethanol refineries capable of producing nearly 3.7 billion gallons annually and one new facility under construction and another 3 biodiesel facilities able to produce 320 million gallons annually.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Iowa RFA, News

Teaming Up to Use ShockWave Biodiesel Reactor

John Davis

Biodiesel maker World Energy has teamed up with Hydro Dynamics, Inc., makers of ShockWave Power Reactor (SPR) technology to expand the commercialization of the SPR technology. This Hydro Dynamics news release says the two companies hope to apply the technology worldwide.

Harnessing the power of cavitation, the ShockWave Power Biodiesel Reactor drives the transesterification reaction to completion in seconds. In true continuous or batch systems, the SPR gives biodiesel producers greater feedstock flexibility and the power to achieve consistently superior quality. The SPR can improve processes to reduce monoglycerides and reduce catalyst utilization. First commercialized for use in biodiesel applications at World Energy’s US Biofuels production facility in Rome, Georgia, in 2007 the ShockWave Power technology is now in widespread use throughout the biodiesel industry. With over 400 million gallons of annual reactor capacity already installed, the
ShockWave Power Reactor is setting a new standard for efficient biodiesel production.

World Energy has on site demonstration and training of the SPR technology at its US Biofuels production facility in Rome, GA.

Biodiesel

Jurupa Unified Schools Go Solar

Joanna Schroeder

Another school district has taken advantage of the California Sun. Jurupa Unified School District has completed a 2.7 megawatt solar and energy efficiency program expected to reduce energy costs by nearly 26 percent among 27 school sites. Estimates show that the solar system should save nearly $34 million in energy costs. Solar Photovoltaic panels were mounted on parking and shade structures on nine campuses.

“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for environmentally sustainable operations at Jurupa Unified School District – one that allows the community to experience the benefits of clean power without negatively impacting limited resources,” said school district Superintendent Elliott Duchon. “We are pleased about the work Chevron Energy Solutions has completed to enable Jurupa Unified School District to bring the benefits of solar energy to our community.”

In addition, old air conditioning units were replaced and the schools upgraded 21,000 light fixtures. The changes to more energy efficient technologies were coupled with an energy education curriculum designed to inspire students to learn about and experience clean energy technologies. Chevron Energy Solutions designed, engineered and installed the solar system. The company also implemented the energy efficiency projects.

“Through this program, Chevron Energy Solutions is helping Jurupa Unified School District demonstrate fiscal and environmental leadership,” said Chevron Energy Solutions President Jim Davis. “The District is investing in sustainable programs designed to deliver ongoing value and improve the learning environment for the community’s students.”

Electricity, Energy, energy efficiency, Solar