Siemens Exits Solar, Desertec in Green Portfolio Setback

Siemens AG (SIE) plans to give up its unprofitable solar-energy business after failing to turn the unit around, in a blow to the German engineering company’s effort to win more revenue from its so-called green portfolio.

Siemens is pulling the plug on a business
created with acquisitions including
Archimede Solar Energy and Solel Solar
Systems in 2009, as deteriorating prices
for photovoltaic modules have made
concentrated solar power less attractive.

Siemens is offering the asset to potential buyers, the Munich-based company said in a statement today. The company will also end its membership in a high-profile venture to generate renewable energy in the Sahara desert. Siemens will keep its wind and hydro-power activities, the company said.

“Due to the changed framework conditions, lower growth and strong price pressure in the solar markets, the company’s expectations for its solar energy activities have not been met,” Siemens said in the statement.

Siemens is pulling the plug on a business created with acquisitions including Archimede Solar Energy and Solel Solar Systems in 2009, as deteriorating prices for photovoltaic modules have made concentrated solar power less attractive. The solar-power activities had been unprofitable since Siemens bundled the operations into a separate unit a year ago.

The engineering company will continue to sell related products including steam turbines, generators, and control systems to customers operating solar power plants, it said.

Non-Core

“The decision to sell is really quite obvious,” said Ingo-Martin Schachel, an analyst at Commerzbank AG (CBK) in Frankfurt. “Solar is no core business and no core competency of Siemens. The growth prospects for these markets have deteriorated such that there is really no reason to remain active here.”

The retreat is part of an efficiency program targeted at taking profit margins back to the levels achieved in 2011. Operating profit at the renewable energy division plunged 34 percent to 100 million euros ($130 million) in the nine months through June 30, while sales rose 35 percent.

Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher aims to generate 40 billion euros from sales of environmentally friendly products by 2014 and has pushed the company deeper into areas including wind power and solar energy. Siemens was forced to take a charge on off-shore wind parks after struggling to connect the to the mainland power grid.

Siemens solar and hydroelectric power units had sales “in the low triple-digit millions” in the past fiscal year, and employ about 800 people, 680 of which in solar, Siemens said. The loss at the solar businesses was about the same magnitude as its revenues, Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser said on a conference call with analysts on July 26. The company’s wind power business has more than 7,000 employees.

Germany’s photovoltaic industry is fighting for survival, as companies from Solar Millennium AG (S2M) to Solon SE (SOO1) filed for insolvency proceedings in the past year. OC Oerlikon AG (OERL), the Swiss maker of textile machinery and car gears, today rose the most in a month after saying Chinese regulators approved the sale of its solar unit to Tokyo Electron Ltd. (8035)

“This is more evidence that there is no such thing as too big to fail at the solar industry,” said Jenny Chase, head of solar research for Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “Solar thermal at the moment is a hard sell.”

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-22/siemens-exits-solar-business-in-setback-for-green-portfolio-push

Swiss Aviation, Solar Energy Companies Look to Invest in India

Swiss companies in areas such as solar energy and aviation are expected to invest in India following the country's decision to further open up its economy to foreign investments.


A senior minister from Switzerland said here that companies from that country have expressed willingness to make more investments in India and its move to open up the domestic market further to FDI is a good move.

"Market opening (up) would be a good thing for India. You are still a very closed market... We believe in open markets," Swiss Minister for Environment, Transport, Energy and and Communications Doris Leuthard told reporters.

Unveiling big bang reforms to boost the sagging economy, India last month cleared 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail besides giving green signal to overseas carriers for making 49 per cent investment in the aviation sector.

Leutherhad, who completed her three-day visit to India on Saturday, said that open markets would help in bringing more competition.

She indicated that Swiss carriers would be willing to explore opportunities in the Indian aviation sector.

"We have a lot of airlines... I don't see why one should waste a moment when there are opportunities," she said.

According to her, India has a big potential in the solar energy area as well, and Swiss companies are looking to make more investments in this sector.

Leutherhad also noted that Switzerland has been negotiating a free trade agreement with India for sometime.

Trade between the two nations was about $ 4.8 billion last year and is expected to increase fast in the coming years.

Source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-10-21/news/34627735_1_aviation-sector-solar-energy-fdi

Tamil Nadu to be Hub of Solar Power

Tamil Nadu's Solar Energy Policy 2012 unveiled by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Saturday aims at making the southern state a regional solar energy hub.


Under the scheme, the state will have solar energy parks, will encourage households to adopt solar energy, make it compulsory for all new government buildings to have rooftop solar panels and ask big industries to use solar power. The scheme aims at generating 3,000 MW of solar power by 2015.

According to the policy, Tamil Nadu has around 300 clear sunny days in a year and southern parts of the state are considered the ideal locations for development of solar power projects.

The policy aims to set up 1,000 MW of solar power generation capacity during 2013-2015.

As per the policy, the state would make it compulsory for high tension power consumers like special economic zones (SEZ), industries, IT parks, telecom towers, colleges and residential schools and buildings with built up area of 20,000 square metre or more to purchase six percent solar power from Jan 2014.

The above category of consumers may fulfil their obligation by captive generation, buying from third party solar power generators or renewable energy certificates from solar power projects in Tamil Nadu or purchasing solar power from Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd. (TANGEDCO) at solar power tariff.

As per the policy, installation of solar water heating systems would be made mandatory for industries having hot water boiler/steam boiler using fossil fuel.

Power consumers falling under domestic, agricultural, power looms, low tension industries, cottage and small-scale industries categories are exempted from solar power purchase obligation.

Solar power projects would be developed through competitive bidding. Investments though joint ventures by state undertakings will also encouraged through competitive bidding.

Appropriate incentives will be provided to attract investors to this sector so as to make the state a regional hub for the solar power industry.

The Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency will act as the single window clearance agency for solar power projects in the state.

Source: http://india.nydailynews.com/newsarticle/f08b716b04704a88c33b7c401660f07c/tamil-nadu-to-be-hub-of-solar-power

Thomas Installs Largest Solar Panel System in State

The largest solar panel system in the state will be erected this week on the roof of the Alfond Athletic Center at Thomas College, according to college officials.


The 12,600-square-foot, 170-kilowatt solar photovoltaic array is expected to provide 11 percent of the college's energy needs and pay for itself in 15 years; it is projected to save Thomas more than $500,000 over its expected life span of 35-plus years.

"When we pay less for energy, students pay less for an education," said Christopher Rhoda, who is vice president of information services at Thomas and oversees energy conservation on campus. "For us, it's as much about controlling costs as it is about generating revenue."

The 700 solar panels will be installed on railings atop the athletic center roof, Rhoda said. Workers this week are expected to start installing the panels, which are roughly 3-by-5-feet, 1.5 inches thick and weigh 44 pounds each.

The $700,000 project -- for which Thomas will ultimately pay only about $175,000 -- is possible through a special program devised by ReVision Energy, the company doing the project.

Thomas is partnering with ReVision, a for-profit company, on the project, which is being financed through a power purchase agreement. As part of that agreement, Coastal Enterprises Inc. of Lewiston provides project financing to ReVision, which installs, owns and manages the solar energy system for six years. During that time, Thomas will buy the electricity it produces from ReVision and ultimately will purchase the system from ReVision at a reduced rate, Rhoda said.

Bill Behrens, co-founder of ReVision, which has offices in Liberty, Portland and Exeter, N.H., said his company has done smaller but similar partnerships with organizations including Good Will-Hinckley, Unity College, College of the Atlantic, Natural Resources Council of Maine and Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

ReVision is the only company that does such partnering with nonprofits on solar energy systems and does not make a profit, supporting itself with other projects for individuals and businesses, he said. But ultimately, the nonprofit projects keep people employed and provide alternative energy, which is important for the state, Behrens said

"Financially, we feel if we break even at it, we're actually creating something in Maine that wouldn't otherwise exist, so that's valuable to us," he said.

Behrens says there's no reason why Maine should buy electricity from outside its borders, because the state has plenty of sunshine and it is underutilized. It takes people with vision, such as educators and college officials, to work on a project that will be sustainable into the future, according to Behrens.

"You can't do this if you are just thinking about the next six months or a year," he said. "You have to have that vision that your institution is going to be here for the long haul."

Thomas College President Laurie Lachance said in a press release that the solar project is part of the college's energy plan.

"That plan seeks to provide Thomas College with diverse renewable energy sources that will lower long-term energy expenses and keep tuition costs down," she said.

Rhoda has 20 solar panels at his own home which offsets about 75 percent of his home electricity, he said. He also has solar tubes to heat hot water and, where he once used 1,300 gallons of oil a year, he now uses less than 30 because he also has a wood pellet boiler, he said.

Thomas uses a lot of oil, propane and electricity and always is looking at ways to reduce costs, he said. Diversifying energy sources for campus is a way of reducing costs, as when the price of one source goes up, another can be tapped. The college also hopes to take advantage of natural gas in the future, he said.

The college is planning to build a new academic center with a geothermal system to heat and cool the building, he said.

Studies have shown that about 80 percent of electricity is lost during transmission when it is generated offsite, according to Rhoda.

"Not only does local generation help the person it generates for, but overall, it helps the grid because it's generating the power closer to where it's being consumed," he said.

Work started on the solar energy system two weeks ago and the panels are scheduled to arrive on campus Monday. Behrens said the system should be operational by mid-November. Sunshine, he said, is the energy of the future and Maine has plenty of space for developing solar energy systems.

"It's honestly a demonstration of how we can create energy independence right here in Maine with a resource that's going to be with us for decades," he said. "It's not going to run out."

The largest solar array now in Maine is at The Step Guys, a company in Alfred that produces precast concrete products. Behrens said that solar array is 110 kilowatts, as opposed to Thomas' 170 kilowatt. Behrens said the Thomas array will be more than 50 percent larger than the one in Alfred.

ReVision is the leading installer of solar hot water and solar electricity systems for homes, businesses, schools and nonprofit entities in Maine and New Hampshire, according to the company's website.

Source: http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/thomas-installs-largest-solar-panel-system-in-state_2012-10-20.html

How to tap our Solar Potential

For two centuries, we have been burning billions of years of photosynthetic residue, better known as fossil fuel, to power our factories, homes, vehicles and cities. But we may not need to do this much longer – solar resources are great enough for all of us. Indeed, it may surprise many to learn that the amount of solar energy striking the earth in one hour is equal to the total energy consumed by all of humanity in a whole year. Learning to capture more of this resource could yield huge dividends for humanity.


Here at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland we have developed a solar cell technology that takes its cue from photosynthesis: dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). By separating the components for light absorption (which determines the cell’s color) and the transportation of electrical current, this technology is remarkably similar to natural photosynthesis and provides unique benefits for integrating solar cells into everyday life. The color tunability and transparency of the cells, as well as an enhanced efficiency in indoor light – power conversion efficiencies can reach over 12 percent at full sunlight intensity and more than 25 percent for interior lighting – afford DSCs the opportunity to extend solar power generation seamlessly and conveniently into our office buildings and living rooms.

The start-up company G24i, meanwhile, has already licensed this technology for marketing commercial products and entered into partnership with Logitech and Texas Instruments to create light-powered computer and iPad peripherals, as well as solar powered blinds and shades. (G24i has produced a short video that gives some technical insight this technology).

Standby power consumption from home appliances accounts for almost 10 percent of the power consumption in an average U.S. residence, but many of these devices contain a design element that could be replaced with a solar cell, such as the frame around a TV set or the plastic body of a TV remote. As a result, lightweight flexible solar cell technology is a potential game changer for many power consumers around the world.

But solar energy storage presents a major challenge for the burgeoning solar industry. Storing the sun’s energy – packets of photons – in the form of chemical bonds is one way to accomplish this task. Nature stores solar energy by combining CO2 and water through photosynthesis to produce plant matter and the oxygen we breathe. We hope to do something similar: produce hydrogen and other fuels from water and CO2. This starts by splitting water with the power of the sun, just the way plants do. Once hydrogen is liberated from the oxygen bond in water (2H2O à 2H2 + O2), it can be used directly in a hydrogen fuel cell, burned in BMW’s hydrogen combustion engine, or used to chemically reduce the greenhouse gas CO2.

The reduction of CO2 to form liquid fuels such as methanol, which can be burned like ethanol in a flex-fuel engine, provides a way to mitigate the ongoing release of CO2 into our atmosphere while newer, greener technologies make it to market. Note here how sustainable and remediating this cycle could be: solar energy is used to convert greenhouse gas into fuel while producing oxygen, akin to the overall process accomplished by natural photosynthesis.

Another method, the photoelectrochemical (PEC) approach, can produce hydrogen or oxygen directly on the surface of a light harvesting material. In our own laboratories, we investigate using iron oxide (rust) and copper oxide to accomplish this task. These two materials can be produced at very low cost and could be scaled up to the quantities necessary for converting huge amounts of solar energy into stored chemical energy. Additionally, PEC technology can be integrated synergistically with DSC technology to form a “tandem” setup. With this approach, we have recently demonstrated that it is possible to produce hydrogen and oxygen from water, using only cheap, earth-abundant materials.

In my vision of the future, humanity has tapped the ultimate resource that is our sun, reliably harvesting, transferring and storing its energy to provide clean and sustainable power. I can see a day when the sun powers our electronics, our cars, our homes, our cities – our whole planet. We have been working to realize this goal for more than two decades, and I believe the technology is finally coming into maturity. Solar is not a thing of the future; it is ready and waiting for us to take advantage of right now.

Governments and companies that embrace this idea early will not only help the planet, but they may also win out in the long run economically. After all, fossil fuels will burn out long before the sun ever does.

Source: http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/20/how-to-tap-our-solar-potential/

Vikram Solar to commission Rs.410 crore plant in Rajasthan

Kolkata-based Vikram Solar, a leading solar product manufacturer, is likely to commission its 40-MW solar power generating plant in Rajasthan by the end of January 2013, investing more than Rs.410 crore.


The firm, an arm of Vikram Group and a top photo-voltaic (PV) solar-module-maker, has already signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Rajasthan government.

"Our own solar power plant in Rajasthan will be commissioned by January next year. It is being set up under the National Solar Mission," Gyanesh Chaudhary, Vikram Solar director, told IANS.

The National Solar Mission, launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in January 2010, has an ambitious target of installing 20,000 MW of solar energy by 2020. For this the government has signed PPAs with different solar power developers for solar PV projects.

"We are investing more than Rs.410 crore in the Rajasthan project," Chaudhary said.

Vikram Solar has already commissioned a 2 MW solar project in Chhattisgarh, 5 MW solar power plant in Gujarat and a 1 MW project in Rourkela in Orissa, among others.

The company was currently in talks with the Tamil Nadu government for setting up facilities there, Chaudhary said.

The firm entered into a tie-up with Spanish solar power company Proener Renovables last year to take up engineering procurement construction (EPC) contracts for large solar power projects in India and overseas.

Vikram Solar GmbH, a fully owned subsidiary of the firm, has a 1.6 MW plant in Kottenheim in Germany.

According to Shaibal Ghosh, president, international business and head - marketing, the company is successfully running projects in France, Italy and Spain.

The company is also in the process of doubling its capacity in a photo-voltaic cell plant in the special economic zone (SEZ) at Falta in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, spending Rs.100 crore.

"At Falta, we have 70 MW solar power production capacity. We are in the process of doubling it. By the end of December this year, the full capacity of the plant will be 140 MW," Ghosh added.

Source: http://india.nydailynews.com/business/050b226881c1b6257471fd684fc5135d/vikram-solar-to-commission-rs410-crore-plant-in-rajasthan

Global Solar Industry Failing Because We're Subsidizing The Wrong Side

Bad news looms for California buyers of solar panels: the economic malaise that's devastating U.S. manufacturers of photovoltaic panels is hitting the Chinese industry hard as well. Bolstered by aggressive government subsidies, Chinese companies have built far more production capacity than short-term market demand justifies.


This has pushed solar panel prices to record lows in the short term. Unless the Chinese government continues to prop up its country's solar manufacturers, though, Chinese companies may be pushed into the same cycle of consolidation and bankruptcy that their American and European counterparts now enjoy. This would lower production capacity, cutting down on the supply of available panels, and making it more expensive to add those panels to your rooftop.

According to a report Thursday by the Financial Times' Leslie Hook, Li Junfeng -- deputy director of China's National Development and Reform Commission's energy research institute -- Chinese solar companies will have to play a role in the decommissioning of at least half the planet's photovoltaic manufacturing capacity. Worldwide, the industry has about 100 gigawatts' worth of production capacity, with annual demand at just 30 to 50 gigawatts.

The United States has placed steep tariffs on Chinese solar modules, and the Euro zone has threatened to do likewise. According to Hook, though, Li called the trade sanctions "the straw that broke the camel's back."

"According to him," Hook writes, "the real culprit was the rapid, credit-fuelled expansion in Chinese solar capacity that has contributed to today's global production [over]capacity."

Li told Hook that China's central government would not be bailing the manufacturers out anytime soon, and he criticized cities and other local governments in China who had made recent offers of financial assistance to keep their factories open. "If other local governments follow the policies in Xinyu and Wuxi [the cities that gave bailouts], it is like giving solar firms poison to quench their thirst. It will only quicken their death," Li told the Financial Times.

It's another example of how the market is ill-adapted to meeting the needs of a global environmental crisis. We need to install as much PV as possible so that we can shut down fossil-fuel-fired power plants, and yet demand is low because the more destructive forms of power are, for the moment, cheaper. Some of that price difference is due to unbalanced government subsidies, and some due to coal and gas's environmental costs being paid under a separate check.

It would seem the solar industry's crisis is too big and too important for the free market to fix. Li may well be correct in saying that subsidies to manufacturers may just prolong the companies' metaphorical agony. Perhaps it's time to ramp up government subsidies on the demand side, by making solar installation even more affordable than the overcapacity has. There's no question that we'll need every bit of that 100 gigawatts of annual photovoltaic module production capacity in the coming years, as we'll need to install terawatts' worth of renewable energy generation capacity in the next decade.

Governments ought to make sure there's enough demand to keep those factories running at full capacity, and even expanding. Buying the total possible output of those factories and then giving it to homeowners, schools, government agencies and qualifying commercial. With PV prices at $1 a watt and dropping, the governments of the world could make sure those factories are running at peak capacity by spending $70 billion or less. That's less than companies spent on TV advertising in the U.S. in 2011, and less than half the amount Wall Street banks and securities firms paid in bonuses in 2009.

And if we increased PV module demand this way, typical California households could have between $30 and $300 extra in their discretionary income each month.

Just a thought.

Source: http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/trade/global-solar-industry-failing-because-were-subsidizing-the-wrong-side.html

Lawrence Berkeley Lab Begins Construction On Solar Energy Research Complex

Crews broke ground Friday on a $54 million Solar Energy Research Center at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. began building a three-story, 40,000-square-foot facility that will be devoted to researching and developing transportation fuels from sunlight using photovoltaic and electrochemical solar energy systems, according to a company news release.

The project is scheduled to be completed in late 2014.

The new building will be tucked in a hillside at the Berkeley Lab overlooking the UC Berkeley campus.

Heinz Frei, director of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, said the new facility will house some of the most cutting edge energy development work in the world, including generating fuels from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water.

"At this new building you will have fundamental research conducted by scientists working shoulder-to-shoulder with engineers to translate the science to new technologies," Frei said.

Frie said the Berkeley and Richmond campuses will both be leaders in renewable fuel technology, one of the most in demand research in the 21st century. The Richmond facility will be a leader in biofuel production, Frei said, while Berkeley will lead on converting sunlight to fuels using nanotechnology.

The Berkeley lab was started in 1931, and researchers have won more than a dozen Nobel Prizes. The U.S. Department of Energy lab is managed by the University of California.

The new construction and expansion at the dense Berkeley lab site follows an announcement earlier this year that a second lab campus will be built on Richmond's southern shoreline area.

The Richmond site plans call for a 2-million-square-foot facility at the 120-acre Richmond Field Station that will house more than 800 scientists doing research in bioscience, cancer, bioenergy and other research. Construction has not yet begun, but plans call for the facility to be operational by 2016.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_21813213/lawrence-berkeley-lab-begins-construction-solar-energy-research

Tamil Nadu to be Hub of Solar Power

Tamil Nadu's Solar Energy Policy 2012 unveiled by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Saturday aims at making the southern state a regional solar energy hub.


Under the scheme, the state will have solar energy parks, will encourage households to adopt solar energy, make it compulsory for all new government buildings to have rooftop solar panels and ask big industries to use solar power. The scheme aims at generating 3,000 MW of solar power by 2015.

According to the policy, Tamil Nadu has around 300 clear sunny days in a year and southern parts of the state are considered the ideal locations for development of solar power projects.

The policy aims to set up 1,000 MW of solar power generation capacity during 2013-2015.

As per the policy, the state would make it compulsory for high tension power consumers like special economic zones (SEZ), industries, IT parks, telecom towers, colleges and residential schools and buildings with built up area of 20,000 square metre or more to purchase six percent solar power from Jan 2014.

The above category of consumers may fulfil their obligation by captive generation, buying from third party solar power generators or renewable energy certificates from solar power projects in Tamil Nadu or purchasing solar power from Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd. (TANGEDCO) at solar power tariff.

As per the policy, installation of solar water heating systems would be made mandatory for industries having hot water boiler/steam boiler using fossil fuel.

Power consumers falling under domestic, agricultural, power looms, low tension industries, cottage and small-scale industries categories are exempted from solar power purchase obligation.

Solar power projects would be developed through competitive bidding. Investments though joint ventures by state undertakings will also encouraged through competitive bidding.

Appropriate incentives will be provided to attract investors to this sector so as to make the state a regional hub for the solar power industry.

The Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency will act as the single window clearance agency for solar power projects in the state.

Source: http://twocircles.net/2012oct20/tamil_nadu_be_hub_solar_power.html

Chinese Government Mulls Policies to Support Solar Power Industry

China is working on policies, including subsidies and easier access to the grid, to help its ailing solar power producers expand in the domestic market, the China Daily reported on Saturday, citing industry officials and government sources.


The State Grid Corp, China's largest state-owned utility, is considering giving its subsidiaries at city level the authority to approve solar power plants with less than 10,000 kilowatts of installed capacity to be connected to the grid, said deputy director Meng Xiangan.

At a meeting earlier this week, the State Grid also agreed in principle to waive charges associated with connecting to the grid, which usually costs millions of yuan, Meng said, adding that a plan to develop the country's solar industry has been handed to the central government and is awaiting approval.

"The obstacles companies face in order to be connected to the national grid are the biggest problem for the solar power industry," Meng was quoted as saying.

The National Energy Administration is also working on a plan to offer subsidies ranging from about 0.40 yuan ($0.06) to 0.60 yuan for each kilowatt-hour of distributed solar power.

The amount includes subsidies from both the central and local governments, the China Daily said, citing a senior official from the administration.

China's export-focused solar panel industry has been hit hard by excess manufacturing capacity and waning foreign demand as European nations cut back subsidies for green power. Companies have slashed prices 30 percent this year as stockpiles grow, virtually erasing the industry's profits.

Chinese producers, including Suntech Power Holdings and Trina Solar, are increasingly turning to their home market, which has become one of the world's biggest, for solar energy development.

Overseas, they battle not only a weak market environment but also anti-dumping tariffs in the United States. Europe also could impose import duties.

Source: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-10-19/business/sns-rt-us-china-solarbre89j02z-20121019_1_solar-power-solar-energy-development-trina-solar

Another Taxpayer-backed Green Energy Company Files for Bankruptcy

Massachusetts-based solar company Satcon Technology Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, becoming the second taxpayer-backed green energy firm this week to do so.


Steve Rhoades, Satcon's president and CEO, said that after considering its alternatives, the company's board decided that the Chapter 11 filings were a "necessary and prudent step" that would allow the company to continue to operate while it reorganizes.

“This has been a difficult time for Satcon,” he said in a statement. “Our goal is for Satcon to emerge from bankruptcy reorganization and continue to provide our customers with the quality products that they need."

The filing comes after electric vehicle battery maker A123 Systems filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday. That company got $129 million in federal grant money.

Satcon also benefited from federal grants under the Obama administration, though it has received far less than A123 Systems. According to the Energy Department, the company was approved for two separate stimulus awards worth $3 million each. The company so far has received roughly $228,000 from them. The company also received a string of contracts under the George W. Bush administration worth millions.

The Energy Department, in its original justification for one of the Satcon grants, said it was developing a “compact, lightweight power conversion device” that could eliminate the need for large transformers by connecting large-scale solar power systems directly into the power grid. The goal was to “reduce the cost of operating, installing and siting” solar power systems.

But the company filed for bankruptcy following years of financial struggles and a severe downturn in the solar power industry.

The Boston company filed its petitions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware after defaulting on a portion of its debt earlier this month.

Satcon has struggled financially for several years. Its power-conversion devices and other products were in steady demand in 2011, but never translated to profitability. The company posted losses each year from 2005 to 2011, and it reported a loss for the first six months of 2012.

In January, Satcon announced plans to cut 140 jobs, or about 35 percent of its workforce, and close a factory in Canada, blaming a drop in demand for solar power installations around the world.

The company said at that time that it planned to restructure its global distribution business to shift its focus from Europe, where most of the solar demand has been concentrated for the past few years, to North America and Asia.

The solar power industry has struggled for the past few years, hit by intense competition from cheap Chinese imports and then a steep drop in global demand.

Last year, Solyndra LLC drew national attention after it filed for bankruptcy protection, leaving taxpayers on the hook for $528 million in federal loans. Evergreen Solar, which also received millions in state aid, and Abound Solar have also filed for bankruptcy protection over the past two years.

Satcon also said Wednesday it expects its secured lenders will allow it to use collateral that will give it access to the funds needed to operate its business.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/18/another-taxpayer-backed-green-energy-company-files-for-bankruptcy/

Scientists Use Solar Power to Study Elephants in Africa

A team of elephant researchers from Stanford University has transformed a remote corner of southern Africa into a high-tech field camp run entirely on sunlight. The seasonal solar-powered research camp gives scientists a rare opportunity to quietly observe, videotape and photograph wild elephants at Mushara waterhole, an isolated oasis in Etosha National Park in Namibia.

Stanford University researchers are using solar power to operate
an elephant field study camp in Namibia's Etosha National Park

"One of the really special aspects of solar energy is that it allows us to be in this incredibly remote area that's closed to tourists and is off the grid," said lead researcher Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, an instructor at the Stanford School of Medicine and a collaborating scientist at Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology. She is also co-founder of Utopia Scientific, a non-profit organization that promotes awareness about science, conservation and public health.

"We get to watch elephant society unfold before us in a very quiet environment – no generators, no people, no vehicles," she added.

O'Connell-Rodwell has been studying elephant communication at Mushara for 20 years. She was the first scientist to demonstrate that low-frequency calls produced by elephants generate powerful vibrations in the ground – seismic signals that elephants can feel, and even interpret, via their sensitive trunks and feet.


To identify individual elephants, Stanford undergraduate Patrick Freeman took hundreds of high-resolution photographs using a camera run on solar-powered batteries. His trip to Namibia was supported by a travel grant from the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE) at Stanford. Each year, VPUE provides additional funding to support Stanford undergraduates working in the camp.

Solar energy was also used to operate a powerful speaker system that delivered low-frequency sounds to elephants gathered at the waterhole. The solar panels provided enough electricity to run a makeshift elephant dung laboratory, operate camera and editing equipment for a documentary video crew, and power two 12-volt refrigerators stocked with fresh meat, dairy products and beer.

Wildlife on parade

Mushara is home to hundreds of wild animals – including rhinos, giraffes, hyenas and lions – that parade to and from the watering hole 24/7. To keep inquisitive critters from wandering into camp, which operated from June through August this year, researchers installed a solar-powered electric fence around the perimeter that delivered a harmless shock to any animal that got too close. "It will just scare them away," said researcher Tim Rodwell, a Stanford MD who teaches medicine at the University of California-San Diego. "A lion tried to touch the fence in the far corner. He only tried it once."

Solar energy also enabled the Stanford team to stay connected to the Internet – allowing O'Connell-Rodwell to send numerous blog posts to the New York Times website directly from Mushara.

The solar panels and the rest of the electrical system were dismantled at the end of the season when the researchers returned home. O'Connell-Rodwell and her team plan to reconstruct the solar-powered camp at Mushara next year and resume their long-term elephant research project.

"Basically, all of our high-tech electronics are run off of a couple of solar panels, a couple of batteries and an inverter," she said. "The sun does the rest."

The Stanford team also received technical support from solar energy companies Soltec and HNU Energy.

Source: http://phys.org/news/2012-10-scientists-solar-power-elephants-africa.html