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Nifty Fifty looks good! Saving the day! We DO need some income! Imagine how we would fly then!
3 Out Of 4 New Solar Homes In NSW To Include Battery Storage
July 1st, 2015 by Giles Parkinson
Originally published on RenewEconomy.
The Australian Energy Market Operator predicts that NSW and Victoria will lead the country in the adoption of battery storage by households over the next two decades.
In its first ever analysis of the potential impacts of new technologies – specifically battery storage, but also electric vehicles and “fuel switching” from gas to electricity – AEMO predicts the adoption of battery storage will be rapid, but slow for EVs.
The analysis is driven by the publicity surrounding the release of the Tesla Powerwall, the anticipated cost cuts of battery storage, and the move by major retailers to offer battery storage to consumers.
Broadly, it concludes that while initial pay-back times are high, the take-up rate will still be rapid, with nearly half the forecast capacity by 2034 taken up in the next 10 years.
It notes that this will have a significant benefit for the grid, because it will reduce maximum demand. The vast amounts of rooftop solar in Australia are credited with mostly shifting and narrowing the peaks, but not reducing them.
But it is just the first piece of the puzzle. As AEMO notes, payback and uptake of battery storage can vary immensely, depending on the size and cost of the system (of which little is yet known), assumed cost falls, the size of a solar PV array, and the structure of tariffs. And, for states like Tasmania, the amount of sunshine.
For battery storage, AEMO says three-quarters of households adding solar in NSW will include battery storage, but Victoria will have the most capacity installed by 2034.
The AEMO study, however, does not include battery storage retrofit installations in the 1.4 million households that already have solar. It says this is too difficult to model just now, but it will be its next undertaking.
That explains why NSW and Victoria may lead the market in its estimates. Both have tariff structures and demand profiles (such as time of use metering in Victoria) that would encourage battery storage, and relatively low penetration of rooftop solar to date.
Queensland currently has the most rooftop solar, and South Australia the highest penetration of rooftop solar, reducing the scope of the market within the AEMO parameters.
To put the AEMO forecasts in some context, analysts such as Bloomberg New Energy Finance predict that Australia could have 37,000MW of battery storage by 2040, outstripping the amount of rooftop solar, which it puts at 33,000MW (that includes commercial installations).
AEMO, on the other hand, thinks that rooftop solar installations will outstrip battery storage. It has previously predicted a five-fold increase in solar PV systems to 21,000MW by 2034, although its high scenario could add another 20 per cent, outstripping the capacity of coal fired generation.
t notes that battery storage will have an impact on grid demand. Just the battery storage associated with newly installed solar (and not including retrofits to existing solar arrays ) – could reduce maximum demand in Victoria by 720MW, or 6.2 per cent.
In Queensland and South Australia, the reduction is smaller, but remember this calculation does not include the retrofit market. If that was incorporated – Morgan Stanley has predicted half of the battery storage market could be retrofits – the reduction in peak demand in Victoria would be even higher. This could be critically important to the sizing of the grid, because so much money is spent on bulking up the grid to meet those maximum demand levels.
As for paybacks, AEMO has taken a more conservative view than most other analysts. That’s because it has been relatively cautious with the costs of battery storage, and it forecasts a flatter cost reduction in coming years. It estimates that an initial decline in costs of 8 per cent in the first year, and an annual decline of 12 per cent thereafter.
Also, it is not including the retrofit market, which could be a big driver for some households, particularly in NSW, where premium feed in tariffs for more than 160,000 homes are due to expire in December, 2016. This has been a big driver of low payback forecasts for Morgan Stanley and UBS, which focused on areas of high time of use tariffs. Queensland solar feed in tariffs, on the other hand, will last another decade, and will not provide a big incentive for battery storage in that time.
AEMO suggests that the payback for battery storage added to new systems in most states is very high. But the interesting graph is the following, which shows how those payback estimates will fall, even with its conservative estimates of cost reductions. (We go into more detail about these paybacks here).
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/cost-of-solar-battery-storage-aemos-state-by-state-payback-predictions-36257
AEMO has adopted a conservative view, expecting the cost curve to decline at a much slower rate than initially predicted by BNEF. AEMO’s projected cost curve was based upon the component costs illustrated above, with manufacturing and technology costs continuing to decrease over time, but at this slower rate.
On the other technologies, AEMO predicts a slow take up of electric vehicles. It notes that only 1,909 electric vehicles were sold to 30 April 2015, and just 0.1% of new vehicle sales in 2014.
“Based on this current level of uptake and the absence of any policy incentives, AEMO assumes the uptake of electric vehicles to continue to be small, with a projected 165,734 electric vehicles across the NEM in 2024–25, increasing to 524,775 in 2034–35.
It also believes that “fuel switching amongst Australian households – from dual gas and electricity systems to electricity only – will stay low and contribute an additional 2,552 GWh (1.2%) to consumption from the grid.
Here are AEMO’s overall thoughts on battery storage installations by state (WA and NOT not included because not part of the National Electricity Market and managed by separate organisations). More can be found here.
Queensland
There is already a relatively high installed capacity of residential rooftop PV in Queensland. Despite 2,046 MWh of battery storage capacity being installed with new rooftop PV over the forecast period, this represents a relatively small percentage of total installed rooftop PV capacity.
New South Wales
The combination of the tariff structure and average household daily demand profile gives consumers in New South Wales economic incentive to install rooftop PV and battery storage. By the end of the forecast period, New South Wales has the largest percentage of installed rooftop PV (72%) that is integrated with battery storage. This will have an impact on grid demand forecasts.
South Australia
South Australia currently has the highest penetration of rooftop PV of all the NEM regions. As in this paper AEMO has only considered uptake of battery storage with new installations of rooftop PV, this reduces the size of the market being modelled in South Australia. In addition, the installation of rooftop PV in South Australia already has a short payback period. The forecasts show that the benefits of installing battery storage compared with rooftop PV alone were limited in South Australia, compared to other NEM regions.
Victoria
Victoria currently has a time-of-use tariff structure that incentivises the uptake of battery storage, as households are able to use electricity from the battery during peak times. Victoria has the highest installed battery capacity (2,774 MWh) by the end of the forecast period, and this results in a sizeable reduction in the summer and winter maximum demand forecasts,
Tasmania
As Tasmania historically has the least amount of solar resource, the payback period is the longest of all NEM regions. However, the percentage of total installed rooftop PV that is integrated with a battery storage system is the third highest of the NEM regions across the forecast period. Despite this uptake, given Tasmania’s maximum demand peak occurs in winter, there is only a small reduction in the 10% POE maximum demand forecasts.
Reprinted with permission.
Watching the race. For a second we were ahead!
Solar3d Market Cap Micro Cap | 64M
Alpha Natural Resources Inc ANR: Market Cap Micro Cap | 64M
There is a big fight/race on to get renewables cheaper without subsidies. So when budgets come out, and renewables are cheaper, they will ask WHY ARE WE SUBSIDIZING FOSSIL FUELS?
4¢/KWH solar will start waking people up. Now they are talking 2¢/KWH solar. And during times of oversupply, people will be getting paid to take power. Which has already happened....
Solar Independence Day Arrives This Friday And Saturday
Posted on July 1, 2015
his Friday and Saturday, locations throughout England and Scotland will be opening their doors to the public to celebrate solar energy and showcase its potential.
Ahead of the day, Paul Barwell, CEO of the Solar Trade Association said, “Solar Independence Day will show how versatile this technology is. We’ve got everything from a housing estate in Northumberland to a stately home in Aberdeenshire, a community solar farm in Hampshire to a waste facility in Berkshire, all generating clean, green home-grown electricity.”
It is estimated that the UK now has almost 8GW of solar PV, across homes, offices, schools, warehouses and in solar farms. That’s enough to power the equivalent of 2.4million homes securing 30,000 jobs in the sector and its supply chain.
The biggest event will be taking place in Ashington, Northumberland, where almost 400 homes have had solar installed on their roofs. Schools are also involved, with a group of Brighton schoolchildren set to visit a solar farm in West Sussex. And on a solar farm in Worcestershire guests will be treated to ‘sunny honey’ on toast, made by the bees on that very solar farm.
The theme of the event follows the Solar Trade Association’s publication just a few weeks ago of its ‘Solar Independence Plan for Britain’. Mr Barwell continued, “Our Solar Independence Plan sets out how the new government can double the amount of solar and get solar as cheap as fossil fuel electricity by 2020, for a very modest amount of extra funds.”
In addition to the open days across the country, MPs will be visiting solar homes in their constituencies on the day and a ‘Build your own solar charger’ workshop is being held in Bristol for the Bristol Drugs Project, a charity working with people recovering from alcohol and drugs use.
US Solar Electricity Production 50% Higher Than Previously Thought
Energy agencies are consistenly underselling solar PV production.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/us-solar-electricity-production-50-higher-than-previously-thought
Jason Kaminsky and Justin Baca
June 30, 2015
Renewable energy’s share of our overall energy mix is at the highest level in over 70 years -- even with the drought-induced decline in Western hydropower output.
In California, increasing solar power generation made up for the shortfall in hydropower production. In fact, solar production was up so much that California became the first state to get more that 5 percent of its electricity from utility solar. This dramatic growth in solar generation has driven the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) to make a regular habit of reporting record solar outputs as more and more plants come on-line.
These numbers from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and CAISO are helpful. But both miss a huge portion of solar generation.
Solar electricity produced on the utility side (wholesale) of the meter is easily counted by these agencies. But they don't count distributed generation -- the smaller systems located on rooftops. Neither has much visibility on the generation coming from the nearly 700,000 customer-sited PV systems in the U.S.
The EIA has access to data received via its Form 923, which applies only to a sample of plants larger than 1,000 kilowatts-AC. (CAISO has more complete information on utility generation but, of course, this is limited to California and does not include behind-the-meter generation.)
The information from these forms provided a fairly accurate view of U.S. generation when the electricity grid was made up almost entirely of central power plants. But now the data gaps are growing.
So how much are the data collectors missing? Customer-sited distributed PV now represents about 9.2 gigawatts-DC, or about 45 percent of total solar capacity, as shown in the U.S. Solar Market Insight Q1 2015 report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. In other words, our official sources are missing a very significant part of the solar generation picture.
In an effort to provide a more complete estimate of solar generation in the U.S., SEIA and kWh Analytics teamed up to complete an analysis of U.S. solar production, including previously uncounted generation from behind-the-meter systems.
To do this for residential and non-residential systems, kWh Analytics tapped into its database (the industry’s largest independent database of solar production data) to supply monthly “production factors” (aggregate kilowatt-hour yield per kilowatt-DC monitored) by state and market segment. SEIA combined these figures with detailed capacity data to estimate generation from the total known PV fleet for each month in each state for behind-the-meter systems and added this to EIA estimates for utility solar production.
The results are astonishing: we estimate that actual solar production is 50 percent higher than the previous best estimates of solar production. In the 12 months ending in March, solar energy systems in the U.S. generated 30.4 million megawatt-hours of electricity. EIA’s utility-only estimate for the same period is 20.2 million megawatt-hours.
This means that solar power in the U.S. now supplies enough electricity to meet the yearly demand of Hawaii, Rhode Island, Alaska and Vermont combined. Three states can now boast that solar electricity provides more than 5 percent of total consumption within the state: California, Arizona and Hawaii. And total U.S. solar electricity generation now exceeds the consumption of 16 individual states and the District of Columbia.
Why good data is important
Energy is central to just about everything in modern life; that’s why the EIA was created and given the monumental task of tracking vital energy statistics. Accurate information is the lifeblood of effective regulatory and policy decisions at all levels of government -- just look at any action taken by a PUC or FERC and you’ll find heavy use of data on energy.
Or, for a higher-level view, take the title of an April report from the Government Accountability Office: “Electricity Generation Projects: Additional Data Could Improve Understanding of the Effectiveness of Tax Expenditures.” In the report, the GAO recommends that more data be collected in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the federal Investment Tax Credit. Disregarding behind-the-meter production will make solar appear dramatically more expensive.
We can draw another big example from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) draft Clean Power Plan to regulate carbon emissions from power plants under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. In an effort to establish where we are and chart a path forward, EPA relied upon EIA’s estimate of solar generation in 2012 (the last full year available at the time). That figure was 4.3 million megawatt-hours.
In EPA’s “Alternative Approach,” one of two methods for establishing goals in the draft the Clean Power Plan, this produced a target solar contribution of 8.7 million megawatt-hours in 2030 -- less than a third of actual U.S. solar generation will be in 2015. (SEIA and others have pointed out this undercounting of solar and other renewable generation. A revised rule is expected in August.)
Also, it’s just nice to give full credit to the 174,000 solar workers in the U.S. who work every day to build our energy future. Every megawatt-hour counts. Every megawatt-hour from solar saves 172 gallons of water, displaces 1,500 pounds of CO2 emissions and provides energy people can feel good about.
***
Jason Kaminsky is vice president of partnerships at kWh Analytics and Justin Baca is director of research at the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Cheapest Solar Ever: Austin Energy Gets 1.2 Gigawatts of Solar Bids for Less Than 4 Cents
“We expect to see prices out in the future that are possibly below $20 a megawatt-hour.”
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/cheapest-solar-ever-austin-energy-gets-1.2-gigawatts-of-solar-bids-for-less
Stephen Lacey
June 30, 2015
A lot more cheap solar is coming for Austin, Texas.
The city's utility, Austin Energy, just released new data on developer bids for PV projects as part of a 600-megawatt procurement. The numbers show how far solar prices have come down over the last year -- and will continue to drop.
According to Khalil Shalabi, Austin Energy's vice president of resource planning, the utility received offers for 7,976 megawatts of projects after issuing a request for bids in April. Out of those bids, 1,295 megawatts of projects were priced below 4 cents per kilowatt-hour.
"The technology is getting better and the prices are decreasing with time," said Shalabi during a presentation in front of the Austin city council last week.
Shalabi displayed the chart below showing an "exponentially declining curve" for PV projects in Texas.
"If you continue the curve, you can see that if the cost points continue along this sort of exponentially declining curve. We expect to see prices out in the future that are possibly below $20 a megawatt-hour," he said.
Source: Austin Energy
As part of a resource plan approved by city officials in 2014, Austin Energy must procure 55 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2025. The utility plans to build 600 megawatts of utility-scale solar projects in the next few years in order to meet the target.
In March of last year, Recurrent Energy signed a 25-year deal with Austin Energy to deliver electricity from a 150-megawatt solar plant for just under 5 cents per kilowatt-hour. It was a landmark contract. But today, more than a thousand megawatts of projects are coming in for 20 percent cheaper.
"These bids are without question the cheapest bids ever seen in a utility solar solicitation," said Cory Honeyman, a senior analyst with GTM Research.
This price trend is a mixed blessing for developers and the utility. It shows that Austin Energy will be able to meet its 600-megawatt target with competitive PV resources. But Shalabi also said the company has "a little bit of buyer's remorse" when bids came down 20 percent after signing the 150-megawatt contract with Recurrent.
Yes, solar prices are coming down so quickly that a 5-cent contract can induce buyer's remorse.
This could cause delays for developers if Austin Energy cuts its procurement in 2015 in the hopes that solar prices keep dropping.
According to Austin Energy's projections, contract prices will likely rise for 18 months if the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) expires at the end of 2016. But then prices will drop back down to today's levels -- or lower. With that scenario in mind, the utility may only sign one-third of expected contracts as it plans through 2020.
"The prices of equipment and installations are going down so fast that if you were to issue another RFP post-2016, you would wipe out that difference, which is very, very small -- in the order of single digits," said Shalabi. "In other words, the ITC is not a driver for us making a decision today. We don’t have to gobble up all 600 megawatts because of the ITC."
Nationwide, an ITC expiration is expected to slow utility-scale project development for at least a year. According to GTM Research, large installations will drop from 7.2 gigawatts in 2016 to around 1 gigawatt in 2017.
Rooftop Solar: California Legislature’s Newest Renewable Energy Campaign Is Through the Roof
Posted by: Jenna Cyprus June 30, 2015 in Culture and Society, Editor Pick: Culture and Society, Environment, Science and Technology
http://blogcritics.org/rooftop-solar-california-legislatures-newest-renewable-energy-campaign-is-through-the-roof/
California policy makers are at it again, this time pushing for even more sustainable legislation to cover the nation’s third largest state by area, particularly as it pertains to solar roofing. If the politicians behind this debate get their way, renewable energy will create more than half of the entire state’s electricity before the dawn of 2030. Current state law mandates 17 percent renewable energy.
Solar Panels on Every Rooftop
Several elements go into the policy under review, but none so prominent as the push for solar panels on every rooftop. This idea has sent the level of tension over the bill through the roof, with huge backlash from those who believe that rooftop solar panels will be more of a pain than they’re worth.
“The rooftop solar is going to be a big policy issue,” according to Anthony Rendon, an Assemblyman who also chairs the utilities and energy committee. “It’s also going to be a big political issue.”
And he couldn’t be more correct. The largest issues include working with unions, solar companies, and utilities to come up with a feasible plan at a cost the state and its residents can afford.
It seems that a major contributor to the continued squabbling over the policy is the fact that rooftop solar energy has not always been a part of the renewable energy portfolio. It’s a fairly recent investment, which also makes it a separate market from what the utilities and energy committees are used to dealing with. That makes it more complicated and expensive to implement. If the bill were pushing for wind or hydropower alone, it would likely be receiving much less backlash.
The Enforcers
Those who are running the campaign with full force include Senate President Pro Tem Kevin da León and Governor Jerry Brown, who have both forcefully endorsed the idea to the Senate, the Assembly, and the general populace. Though many Republicans also support the idea, it is largely a Democratic notion with a strong Democratic following.
Possibilities Abound
The integration of a 50/50 renewable energy system in the state of California seems not only possible, but probable. With Governor Brown and a myriad of other government officials pushing the legislation so aggressively, odds are it’s going to happen, and right on schedule.
“No one is questioning the quality of California’s burgeoning residential solar industry,” according to Ravi Chiuvolu of Sling Shot Power, a California clean energy provider. “Frankly it’s booming. The rest of the nation is looking to drought ridden California and wondering how we are doing it.”
Chiuvolu’s statement reflects the advanced state of California’s renewable energy sector. Many have even expressed disbelief that it took the state’s government this long to recognize and act on the innovation’s potential.
Thankfully, it looks like the policy has a deal with a series of investors who will be financing the project in order to offset the cost for consumers. The policy is almost certainly going to happen, so it’s up to California residents to jump on the rooftop solar panel train and get ahead of the initiative.
Nice Vol.
A lot of trading?
2PM moving again. Are they off lunch?
Interesting article.
1.It is old 6/25
2. It IS hotstocked pretty much a rag.
But I do like the article...
BioSolar Inc (OTCMKTS:BSRC)'s Electrifying Run Continues
Last week, BioSolar Inc (OTCMKTS:BSRC, BSRC message board) came up with a press release and said that they, along with their clever new invention, are about to change the lithium-ion battery industry. We don't know about the lithium-ion battery industry, but they've certainly changed the way the company stock behaves.
BSRC was transformed from an illiquid, sub-ten-cents ticker that nobody could care less about to one of the hottest stocks on the OTC Markets in a matter of mere hours. And it wasn't a one-day-wonder, either. Apart from a small slip on Monday, the ticker has been consistently logging double-digit gains which means that, after a 38% jump, it finished yesterday's session at $0.35 per share.
Of course, the management team should be thanked for that as well. On Tuesday, they said that they want to protect their super lithium-ion battery with a patent and thanks to this, some investors are now more excited than ever. People around the message boards are now dreaming of a $1 billion valuation and are imagining a bidding war between Google, Tesla, and Samsung for BSRC's buyout.
Imagination and dreams, however, won't get the company far. Some actual results are needed and that's where BSRC seems to be lagging behind. The company has been around for a while and plenty of business ideas and strategies have gone in and out of its headquarters. Sadly, none of them really worked and at the end of March, the company was left with the following financials:
cash: $173,538
current assets: $239,363
current liabilities: $3,683,015
NO revenues
quarterly operating loss: $155,144
Coming up with a clever new invention that is supposed to change the way we store and use electricity is all well and good, but you have to be able to fund its development and by the looks of things, this might be a tall order for BSRC. Of course, the management team can always turn to the toxic financing providers (as they have done in the past), but, as we've mentioned numerous times on these pages, this could pose a threat to retails investors and shareholders like you.
The company still has plenty of convertible debt on its books and all of it can be turned into stock at some hefty discounts. How hefty?
During Q1, when people like you were paying between $0.07 and $0.17 per share on the open market, some note holders received more than 300 thousand shares at just $0.036 apiece as a conversion of debt. In April, when the ticker was still fluctuating between $0.06 and $0.12, a further 595 thousand shares saw the light of day at a rate of about $0.02 per share.
As you can see, the people who received these shares (as well as others who may or may not have converted their notes over the last two and a half months) are now presented with a brilliant profit opportunity. Unfortunately, if they decide to take it, you and your investment might suffer which means that considering all the potential risks is probably your best bet.
About twenty minutes after the opening bell, BSRC is sitting at $0.345 (1.4% in the red).
Solar-powered Formula E can overtake Formula 1, says Richard Branson
The Virgin tycoon believes all-electric and solar-powered racing cars will prove more attractive to sponsors and racing enthusiasts within the next four or five years.
Richard Branson, the British billionaire and owner of the Virgin brand, suggested at the weekend that the pace of development of electric vehicles (EV) is so great that the all-electric Formula E racing series will soon surpass Formula 1 as the de facto choice for racing enthusiasts and sponsors.
Speaking ahead of the U.K.’s first-ever 100% electric motor car race in London at the weekend – which featured solar-charged vehicles at the Battersea Park track in front of 60,000 spectators – Branson was bullish on EVs’ potential to seriously disrupt the automobile industry in all its guises.
"I think there is still going to be room for Formula 1 in the next few years, but four or five years from now you will see Formula E overtaking Formula 1," said the tycoon. "Just as clean energy type of businesses will power ahead of other types of businesses."
Branson said that he is "willing to bet" that 20 years from now no new vehicles will be made anywhere in the world that are not powered by an electric battery. "The current technology is antiquated and polluting and will disappear. Like other sectors, everything will be clean and companies that move quickest in that area are going to dominate the marketplace."
The Formula E racing series – the first season of which was fittingly won at the weekend by Nelson Piquet Jr, the son of Formula 1 legend Nelson Piquet – has attracted a strong following in a relatively short space of time since its opening race in Beijing last year.
Hailed as a "sexy" breakthrough in clean energy by Branson, the Formula E series is set to push clean technology to its limits in the same way that Formula 1 drove the development of traditional motoring. "Ten or 20 years ago, people might have thought electric cars were what granny drove, but now they see wonderful hybrids, Elon Musk’s cars, or Formula E vehicles going 140mph around the track," added Branson. "I think it will spur on the revolution the world needs."
Showcasing the power of solar
The final race in London at the weekend was the first in the world to use cars that have been regularly charged by solar, with even the safety and medical cars powered by solar-powered batteries located in the pit lane. The entire event was also connected to a small off-grid solar station consisting of 26 solar panels. This tiny array was used to power the big screens that displayed the race, as well as cell phone recharging stations and ticket scanners.
Although the 10 two-car teams were not directly solar-powered, the potential is there in the future, said FIA Formula E chief executive Alejandro Agag. "The problem with solar is the rhythm at which the energy is generated or the amount of panels you need at any given moment. To charge all the racing cars, we would have to cover the whole park with solar panels."
Agag added, however, that Formula E’s denouement demonstrated what is possible. "Now what you need is to be able to store the energy because if you can store it [the solar power] for a day you have enough energy to charge the cars."
Agag spoke at the annual Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership conference in London last week, where it was revealed that the U.K. plans to have "every car on the road ultra low emission" by 2050.
"One day, electric vehicles will be the clear choice for the majority of drivers," said Andrew Jones MP. "This is a huge opportunity to make the U.K. one of the world’s leading markets and producers of electric cars." According to government forecasts, replacing the country’s fleet of private cars with EVs would help to prevent as many as 29,000 deaths – caused by pollutants – annually.
A study in March by Cambridge Econometrics found that the U.K. could cut its oil imports by 40% if six million EVs were deployed on British roads. This would also lead to a 47% drop in carbon emissions by 2030, saving each motorist more than $1,500 a year in fuel bills.
The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership surveyed motorists about their future purchases and found that almost half polled expect their next car to be an EV.
"The world is moving in our direction," said Agag. "It is not so easy to change the minds of 50 and 60 year olds, but the important ones are the kids because when they become 18 they will want to buy a car. We can have an effect on new generations."
Read more: http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/solar-powered-formula-e-can-overtake-formula-1--says-richard-branson_100019980/#ixzz3eV5he5oJ
Solar Boom Raises Doubts on Sale of Australia Power Assets
New South Wales state seeks to auction long-term lease on part of its electricity grid
ROSS KELLY
Updated June 29, 2015 3:39 p.m. ET
http://www.wsj.com/articles/solar-boom-raises-doubts-on-sale-of-australia-power-assets-1435591642
SYDNEY—When bidders crunch the numbers on a looming US$20 billion auction of Australian power assets in one of the world’s biggest privatizations of this year, they would do well to cast their eyes upward—to the tops of apartment blocks and factories.
Business for fitters of rooftop solar panels in eastern Australia, where the sale is to take place, is flourishing as more households and companies choose to generate their own power rather than relying entirely on electricity from the grid.
While solar remains a small part of the nation’s energy mix, accounting for about 2% of electricity output, the industry’s growth in recent years is casting a shadow over the impending auction of power assets in Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales.
Demand for solar power began stirring around eight years ago, when expensive upgrades to the grid jacked up electricity bills while rooftop-panel prices were falling. The market has continued to grow despite easing in late 2010, when the state government started slashing generous subsidies for people who sold solar power back into the grid.
Now, many expect a strong pickup with the launch of new batteries from Tesla Motors Corp. and others capable of storing substantially higher amounts of solar energy for use after sundown—and at prices that are expected to fall more within the reach of ordinary households. Batteries with weaker storage capabilities have been around for some time, but stronger ones have tended to be prohibitively expensive.
Whether it takes 12 months, two years or five years, I believe battery storage will become viable,” said Matt Vella, managing director of MPV Solar, which turns over five million Australian dollars (US$3.9 million) a year installing panels in sun-soaked Sydney suburbs. “When it does, it’ll be as big for the energy market as the shift from the fixed-line telephone to mobile phones.”
New South Wales last week invited first-round bids for a long-term lease of 49% of the government’s power-transmission network. The money will go for infrastructure such as schools and highways. The auction is expected to attract pension funds and power companies from China to Canada eager to snap up monopoly assets that tend to generate unexciting but reliable returns.
Last year, the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing made an investment of nearly US$2 billion in Envestra Ltd., an Australian gas-transmission company that he fought off others to obtain. The price was 1.5 times the value of the company’s asset base; at that level, the part of the grid for sale in New South Wales would go for around $A25.8 billion.
The problem for bidders is this: How do you value the poles and wires that crisscross the state if demand for solar panels and storage batteries surges? A recent survey commissioned by Morgan Stanley found 2.4 million households in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia states were willing to spend up to A$10,000 each on a solar-panel installation, including the batteries. There were 7.8 million households in Australia in 2006, a total projected to rise to at least 11.4 million by 2031, according to the most recent count by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The worry for grid owners is that cheaper storage devices will take more people off their networks more often, forcing a ramp-up in prices to cover costs. And the higher rates go, the more appealing solar panels and other energy-saving gizmos, such as low-voltage lights, look.
“That’s when people start talking about the death spiral,” said Clinton Wood, director of Lighthouse Infrastructure, a Melbourne-based fund manager with investments in solar power.
I just put it into the "It happens" category.
It was their 24th launch.
Next launch to the ISS is supposed to be with an updated rocket.
I wonder if the Jason 3 launch will be a "GO"
http://spacexstats.com/mission.php?launch=25
Not a bad day, considering this is the end of the world day....
When is SLTD going to be put into the DOW?
On the webcast they called it an anomaly!
Elon Musk ?@elonmusk 10h10 hours ago
Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before first stage shutdown. Will provide more info as soon as we review the data.
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Elon Musk ?@elonmusk 9h9 hours ago
That's all we can say with confidence right now. Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis.
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Elon Musk ?@elonmusk 9h9 hours ago
There was an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank. Data suggests counterintuitive cause.
That's all we can say with confidence right now. Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 28, 2015
WTF? http://stockpricetarget.blogspot.com/2015/06/buy-or-sell-stock-ratings-for-week-of_27.html
SLTD SOLAR3D, INC SELL
-----------
But:
Solar3D secures two ag solar contracts worth $3 million http://t.co/mbxUxygFa2 @Solar3D @SUNworkssolar
— Solar Builder (@Solar_Builder) June 22, 2015
TSLA Tesla Motors Inc. Day Highhttp://t.co/VmwpzEgkz1$TSLA $VAC $WDC $SLTD #TSLA #stock #share
— clayton (@clayton_dd) June 28, 2015
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Special Saturday Stock Pick SLTD
We have a new stock pick to add to our stock ideas page
And this one you may have heard of, SLTD (Solar3D). It was a penny stock that saw great growth before their management decided on a reverse split to uplist onto NASDAQ and they have real revenue and exciting solar related products that have great potential and we have been monitoring it for a quite some time.
We are alerting at its current price of $3.71 and see huge upside for this as one of our most solid picks yet.
This will be a long term play but with a target of $8.00 a share. This could mean huge growth for you at over 100% gains.
WOW!
What are the listing requirements for the
A:
Major stock exchanges, like the Nasdaq, are exclusive clubs - their reputations rest on the companies they trade. As such, the Nasdaq won't allow just any company to be traded on its exchange. Only companies with a solid history and top-notch management behind them are considered.
The Nasdaq has three sets of listing requirements. Each company must meet at least one of the three requirement sets, as well as the main rules for all companies.
Listing Requirements for All Companies
Each company must have a minimum of 1,250,000 publicly-traded shares upon listing, excluding those held by officers, directors or any beneficial owners of more then 10% of the company. In addition, the regular bid price at time of listing must be $4, and there must be at least three market makers for the stock. However, a company may qualify under a closing price alternative of $3 or $2 if the company meets varying reequirements. Each listing firm is also required to follow Nasdaq corporate governance rules 4350, 4351 and 4360. Companies must also have at least 450 round lot (100 shares) shareholders, 2,200 total shareholders, or 550 total shareholders with 1.1 million average trading volume over the past 12 months.
In addition to these requirements, companies must meet all of the criteria under at least one of the following standards.
Listing Standard No. 1
The company must have aggregate pre-tax earnings in the prior three years of at least $11 million, in the prior two years at least $2.2 million, and no one year in the prior three years can have a net loss.
Listing Standard No. 2
The company must have a minimum aggregate cash flow of at least $27.5 million for the past three fiscal years, with no negative cash flow in any of those three years. In addition, its average market capitalization over the prior 12 months must be at least $550 million, and revenues in the previous fiscal year must be $110 million, minimum.
Listing Standard No. 3
Companies can be removed from the cash flow requirement of Standard No. 2 if the average market capitalization over the past 12 months is at least $850 million, and revenues over the prior fiscal year are at least $90 million.
A company has three ways to get listed on the Nasdaq, depending on the underlying fundamentals of the company. If a company does not meet certain criteria, such as the operating income minimum, it has to make it up with larger minimum amounts in another area like revenue. This helps to improve the quality of companies listed on the exchange.
It doesn't end there. After a company gets listed on the market, it must maintain certain standards to continue trading. Failure to meet the specifications set out by the stock exchange will result in its delisting. Falling below the minimum required share price, or market capitalization, is one of the major factors triggering a delisting. Again, the exact details of delisting depend on the exchange.
Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/121.asp#ixzz3eGRke2l9
Follow us: @Investopedia on Twitter?
By Investopedia Staff
http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/121.asp
A:
Major stock exchanges, like the Nasdaq, are exclusive clubs - their reputations rest on the companies they trade. As such, the Nasdaq won't allow just any company to be traded on its exchange. Only companies with a solid history and top-notch management behind them are considered.
The Nasdaq has three sets of listing requirements. Each company must meet at least one of the three requirement sets, as well as the main rules for all companies.
Listing Standard No. 1
The company must have aggregate pre-tax earnings in the prior three years of at least $11 million, in the prior two years at least $2.2 million, and no one year in the prior three years can have a net loss.
Listing Standard No. 2
The company must have a minimum aggregate cash flow of at least $27.5 million for the past three fiscal years, with no negative cash flow in any of those three years. In addition, its average market capitalization over the prior 12 months must be at least $550 million, and revenues in the previous fiscal year must be $110 million, minimum.
To whoever it was.
Thank you!
Solar Just Crossed a Major Threshold – Get in While There’s Still Time
Welcome to the 1 percent!
http://dailyreckoning.com/solar-just-crossed-a-major-threshold-get-in-while-theres-still-time/
No, not you silly. I’m talking about solar.
Solar has finally taken its first step toward becoming a legitimate energy player. As of right now, solar provides 1% of the world’s electricity. And today you’ve got a chance at some red hot gains off a short-term solar play as solar use expands by the day…
Yes, solar has entered the 1%. It took 40 years to get there, according to Ramez Naam’s blog. But it won’t take another 40 years for solar to get to 2%…
Using independent industry projections, “it will take 3 more years to get the second 1%,” Naam explains. “Then less than 2 years to get the third 1%. And by 2020, solar will be providing almost 4% of global electricity.”
That might not sound like a lot, but it is. That represents massive growth from today’s numbers.
No way around it, solar is becoming a force to be reckoned with. It’s not about whacky environmental types anymore. And it’s no longer a foolhardy speculation on Wall Street. Solar firms are growing faster and faster. And investors with the foresight to grab onto this trend (and hold on tight) could mint a fortune.
Google climbs into renewable energy with new plant
Former coal plant will be fossil-fuel-free in seconds
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) —Out with the 20th century, in with the 21st.
That's what Google is doing in northwest Alabama -- building a new data center on the site of an old coal-fired power plant.
The plant -- known as Widow's Creek -- is closing by October thanks to tightening pollution rules. In its place, Google plans on building a $600 million server farm on 350 acres of land that will eventually be powered by 100 percent renewable energy.
"Decades of investment shouldn't go to waste just because a site has closed," Patrick Gammons, Google's senior manager for data center energy, said in a blog post Wednesday.
While Google won't use the smoke stack or turbine halls at the plant, it will tap into the transformers, power lines and other equipment to bring clean power onto a site that currently produces some of the nation's dirtiest electricity.
In addition to the infrastructure, the site was chosen for its proximity to the river -- water is used to cool the servers -- and the talented local work force. The nearby town of Huntsville is home to a NASA research center.
Data centers are massive buildings that house thousands of servers. The servers make things like a Google search or You Tube video happen, and they use massive amounts of electricity.
A Google spokesman said the company will work with the Tennessee Valley Authority -- the regional utility and current plant owner -- to develop and bring in renewable electricity from sources like wind or solar. Eventually the plant will use only renewable energy.
"Major internet companies want the ability to power their facilities with renewable energy," David Pomerantz, a climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace, said in response to the announcement. He called the move a "poignant symbol of how quickly our energy economy can change for the better."
Google has a goal of using all renewable energy company-wide, though it hasn't set a deadline for that target. It currently gets about 35% of its power from clean sources.
Construction on the data center should begin next year, and it will eventually employ 100 people. About 150 people currently work at the coal plant. The Google spokesman said some of those people may be able to find work at the data center.
Wall Street Pumps Billions Into Renewable Energy
By TIM PUKO
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/06/25/wall-street-pumps-billions-into-renewable-energy/
Getty Images
After years of lofty promises, Wall Street believes the renewable energy industry can produce a payoff.
In just a few years, investors have gone from zero to billions in the amount of money they’re pumping into renewable-energy companies and environmentally friendly projects.
Tax-equity funds and specialty financial tools like “green bonds” and yieldcos have become increasingly popular. And investments in the renewable-energy companies that benefit from these financial tools have far outperformed those in oil-and-gas drilling and coal mining since the start of 2013, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a research arm of Bloomberg LP.
Analysts, bankers and investors at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum in New York this week were ebullient. Many see the sector as past a tipping point: Skepticism has melted among the financial brokers of the energy world, and they have started to fund the renewable-power sector as a legitimate upcoming rival to fossil fuels.
“Wall Street is really warming up to this,” said Kevin Birzer, chief executive of Tortoise Capital Advisors, which manages $18 billion. “And I think we’ll see a lot more of it.”
U.S. solar companies had closed a cumulative $2.6 billion in tax-equity funds by late 2014, up from nothing about five years before. “Green bonds,” a type of debt designed to fund environmentally friendly projects, drew $40 billion in investment in 2014, about eight times what it had seen in 2012. Yieldcos have had $4 billion in issuances announced this year, up from about $2.5 billion in each of the last two years, according to Bloomberg NEF.
Including renewable-energy assets into financial packages like securitized debt, green bonds and yieldcos have been one of the biggest sparks for new investment. Many investment fund managers avoid the risk of direct investment in real estate and infrastructure, so these financial tools allow them to put money behind those same projects in a way that is designed to diffuse the risk. They can also market the investments to clients as environmentally friendly.
Yieldcos are a corporate structure akin to master limited partnerships (MLPs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs), designed to produce steady dividends.
Tortoise ramped up its investments in yieldcos starting in 2014, Mr. Birzer said. The firm targets long-term investments and has confidence in yieldcos because their assets come with purchase contracts that guarantee revenue for 20 years, he added. Big gains by yieldcos have helped the firm’s Tortoise Select Opportunity Fund gain 9% this year, a spokeswoman said.
Many investors have also become convinced that, beyond fancy financing tools, renewable power can simply compete. The costs for a new wind power in the U.S. and Europe have now fallen below $100 a megawatt-hour, about on par with coal, according to Bloomberg NEF. It projects solar- and wind-power costs will continue to decline around the world, largely falling behind coal and gas in the decades to come.
Many had predicted hard times for the sector after the financial crisis and the U.S. oil-and-gas boom. Companies went bankrupt and competition became fiercer. Many described it as a “bloodbath,” but really it was a time for natural growing pains that helped the sector consolidate, said Bloomberg NEF’s founder Michael Liebreich.
“There’s certainly optimism that after all of the tumult, prices have really come down,” said Ray Wood, head of global power investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
The investments are paying off, too. From the start of 2013 through April, the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index — which tracks companies that focus on cleaner energy, conservation and efficiency – has returned about 50%, while the S&P 500 Oil & Gas index has been virtually unchanged. The Stowe Global Coal index has lost more than 50%, according to Bloomberg NEF.
“There’s all sorts of reasons to believe,” Mr. Liebreich said. “You’re not going to put it back in the box again.”
The boys are trying their darnest
Bid | Size 0.305 | 5,000
Ask | Size 0.345 | 5,000
Nice job in my absence!
I'll leave it in your good hands.
I'm leaving for summerfest.com
Is this the MMs?
Bid | Size 0.37 | 2,500
Ask | Size 0.389 | 2,500
2,500 high and low........
How about the big 30?
Keep this going.
This is starting to become real money!
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If they could get the battery working early, I see no reason what it couldn't be a $Billion+ company. Or multiple...... Tesla Apple and Samsung Etc could come knocking at our door! How about a bidding war!
I hope so. Both BSRC and CABN looking good this morning....
They were resting! Getting ready to pop! (I hope...not a prediction)