Category Archives: Recycling

Operating expenses are down and useful lifespans are up on utility-scale solar projects

By Kelly Pickerel, Solar Power World

The expected useful life of utility-scale solar PV projects has increased over time, while anticipated operating expenditures (OpEx) have decreased, according to new research from Berkeley Lab. Findings are detailed in a new paper: “Benchmarking Utility-Scale PV Operational Expenses and Project Lifetimes: Results from a Survey of U.S. Solar Industry Professionals.”

Useful life and OpEx are important (but sometimes overlooked) drivers of the levelized cost and profitability of utility-scale PV plants. This paper draws on a survey of U.S. solar industry professionals and other sources to clarify trends in these cost factors. Key findings include: Continue reading here.

TAX CREDITS EXTENSION

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING 

Previously Posted Resource On Virtual PPAs
Introduction to the Virtual Power Purchase Agreement, Rocky Mountain Institute Report
This report serves as an introduction to the virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA)—its place in the off-site renewable energy procurement market, how the VPPA works, and why VPPAs have been a popular instrument in the United States thus far. 

RECYCLING MARKET REPORT

Solar Panel Recycling Market, Transparency Market Research
An increased number of end-of-life solar panels are creating a demand for recycling activities in the U.S. Moreover, analysts of Transparency Market Research (TMR) opine that the U.S. is anticipated to account for the highest number of end-of-life solar panels in the upcoming decades after China. Hence, companies in the solar panel recycling market are focusing on value-grab opportunities in the U.S. As such, the market is estimated to reach a value of ~US$ 600 Mn by the end of 2027.

LONGi joins the Global Initiative RE100; commits to 100% renewable power across its entire global operations by 2028

LONGi News Release, PR Newswire

LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as “LONGi”), the world’s leading solar technology company, announced that it has officially joined the global RE100 initiative led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP, on March 12th, 2020. LONGi commits to sourcing 100% renewable electricity across its entire global operations by 2028 with an interim target of 70% by 2027.

The global RE100 initiative aims to unite Global Fortune 500 companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Philips and Goldman Sachs, to the committed goal of 100% renewable energy in the shortest possible timeframe. In order to achieve this climate goal, each company in the RE100 will commit to source 100% of the electricity used across their global operations from renewable energy. Continue reading here.


228 RE100 companies have made a commitment to go ‘100% renewable’. Read about the actions they are taking and why here.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING

GREENTECH MEDIA PODCAST

Watt It Takes: Turning Real Estate Into Clean-Power Assets
This week on Watt It Takes: Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch sits down with Robyn Beavers, the co-founder and CEO of Blueprint Power. Blueprint works with real estate companies to turn their buildings into clean energy power plants. Blueprint developed software that helps building owners optimize their use of co-generation, fuel cells, solar or batteries.

BUILDING INTEGRATED PV (BIPV)

GAF Energy, part of the world’s largest roofer: The time is now for building integrated PV and solar roofs, PV Magazine

Martin DeBono, president of GAF Energy, part of the world’s largest roofing company, thinks that the time is now for building integrated PV (BIPV). He told PV Magazine: “You have the backing of GAF — a 100-year old company and the world’s largest roofer.” He added, “I can assure you — without naming names — the largest solar companies in the U.S. are getting into roofing. I think that Tesla has it absolutely right. They’re playing the long game, as are we. The industry will evolve from rack-mounted to BIPV.”

OF POTENTIAL INTEREST TO NEBRASKA MANUFACTURERS

EPA encourages manufacturers to save energy, Yale Climate Connections
More than 1,000 plants have signed up for the Energy Star Challenge for Industry.

RECOMMENDED VIEWING

Seven of the best new documentaries about global warming, Yale Climate Connections
The films screened at the recent Wild & Scenic Film Festival. Throughout these diverse pieces was a common probing of the disproportionate impacts of climate change on the health and wellbeing of indigenous communities, people of color, and economically disadvantaged individuals.

NEW APPA INFOGRAPHIC: ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY 

 

What makes a utility environmentally responsible?, American Public Power Association

Environmental responsibility is a key cornerstone of public power. In meeting this, utilities fulfill a variety of roles, such as:

 

SOLAR RECYCLING 

Washington State Passes Bill That Will Improve Solar Recycling Program, Solar Power World
This week the Washington State House and Senate passed a bill that will update the state’s solar recycling policy. This bill will inform the final design and adoption of a comprehensive solar recycling program that is data-driven and considers the lifespan of modules that can last up to 50 years in the field.

GLOBAL NEWS

Illinois legislation promises a renewable energy revolution. But who would pay?

By Kari Lydersen, Energy News Network

The competing bills come from different constituencies. The Clean Energy Jobs Act, or CEJA, is largely backed by environmental and community groups, while Path to 100 is supported by the renewables industry. Both aim to get the state to 100% renewable energy by 2030 by tapping money collected on customers’ utility bills.

Currently, Illinois utility customers pay a monthly charge that is capped at 2% of what customers paid per kilowatt-hour in 2007. CEJA would raise the cap to 2.67% this year and 4.88% by 2023. These changes would allow the collection of up to $700 million a year by 2023, according to CEJA supporters. Currently, about $235 million a year is collected for renewables through customer bills. Read more here.

Photo Credit: Keith Ewing / Flickr / Creative Commons

SEIA NEWS RELEASE

The Solar+ Decade Will Usher in Widespread Clean Energy and Massive Economic Growth, by Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA President & CEO

We already know that public support for solar is higher than any other fuel, with wind as a close second. Storage can help expand both. Poll after poll shows that the public wants more renewable energy, and fast. Some want it because it will directly address climate change; others because the economic benefits are too good to pass up. Now it’s on us to mobilize our grassroots support to make this goal possible.

GRID DATA MANAGEMENT

Utilities vs. grid edge upstarts: Turf battles in an increasingly DER-centric world, Utility Dive article contributed by Dan Goldman, Managing Director & Co-founder, Clean Energy Ventures

As a result of the need for new data access, analytics and management, the grid edge is hosting a turf war between utilities and private sector upstarts racing to capture data and create avenues for acting on it. On one side, utilities believe they will be in the best position to manage the grid if they own and control the data directly, without intermediaries. On the other side, grid edge upstarts — Tesla, Vivant, SunRun and many other technology-enabled start-ups — want to collect and manage the data directly for their own platform benefits, and see an opportunity to provide it to utilities for a fee. New technology solutions to gather and manage the data are emerging rapidly as a result.

REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

RECYCLING WIND TURBINES

Commentary: For retired wind turbines, we can find alternatives to landfills, contributed opinion by Scott Coenen / Wisconsin Conservative Energy Forum, Energy News Network
Many have probably now seen the picture, shared widely on social media, of wind turbine blades being buried in a landfill in Wyoming. The picture highlights a legitimate challenge to wind energy, especially as costs continue to fall and deployment of wind increases across the country. Importantly those challenges, one of them highlighted here, are not a reason to walk away from the table. We can find solutions.

COAL-ASH CLEANUPS

Cap coal ash in place? Duke and others have learned better, contributed Utility Dive article by Frank Holleman, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. In South Carolina, all three utilities — Duke Energy, SCE&G (now owned by Dominion) and Santee Cooper — are cleaning up every one of their unlined riverfront lagoons. 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Solar Power Just Miles from the Arctic Circle? In Icy Nordic Climes, It’s Become the Norm, Inside Climate News. As solar prices fall and efficiency increases, countries like Finland are discovering the benefits of summertime solar. 

Report says new storage capacity increasingly included in IRPs

By Paul Ciampoli, American Public Power Association Blog

“Of the 45 states taking grid modernization actions during the quarter, 40 took actions related to energy storage,” said Autumn Proudlove, lead author of the report and Senior Manager of Policy Research at the NC Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC). “Utility integrated resource plans are increasingly including new energy storage capacity, while states continue to evaluate how energy storage is addressed in resource planning rules.” Other key grid modernization trends in the third quarter highlighted by the center are utilities filing innovative rate design proposals and states and utilities planning online energy data portals. The executive summary for the report is available here. Read the entire article here.

Additional Recommended Reading 

  • Engie’s renewables chief on scaling corporate contracts, hydrogen hopes and offshore wind, GreenBiz. Many new renewable contracts Engie intends to sign will include clauses for making sure renewables are available 24/7, which means they’ll be hybrid arrangements that include a mix of clean (or cleaner) power sources such as solar, wind and hydro and, increasingly, some sort of storage — Engie has big aspirations in green hydrogen. Heather Clancy interviews Gwénaëlle Avice-Huet, executive vice president in charge of the global renewables and green hydrogen business line for Engie, and president and CEO of the Engie North America operation.
  • EDF’s Energy Storage Ambitions Come Out of Hibernation, Greentech Media
    After something of a hiatus, EDF has acquired Pivot Power — along with its 2-gigawatt storage pipeline and its unique approach to the market. “EDF has made a lot of noise with ambitions to be a leader of the global energy storage market announced last year,” said Rory McCarthy, senior storage analyst at Wood Mackenzie. “However, they haven’t [followed through on] this with anything in the U.K. market — until now.”
  • Previously Posted: Huge Battery Investments Drop Energy-Storage Costs Faster Than Expected, Threatening Natural Gas, Forbes. The global energy transition is happening faster than the models predicted, according to a report released by the Rocky Mountain Institute, thanks to massive investments in the advanced-battery technology ecosystem.

Bipartisan Legislation

Energy Storage Tax Credit – H.R.2096/ S. 1142: Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act of 2019.

Actions: Introduced in House April 4, 2019

Battery Recycling

Department of Energy Announces Winners of Solar Prize and Two New Innovative Solar Initiatives

Department of Energy News Release           

WASHINGTON, D.C. – [Tuesday], at Solar Power International, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Assistant Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Daniel R Simmons, announced the winners of the first round of the American-Made Solar Prize, a $3 million competition designed to revitalize U.S. solar manufacturing. As part of the prize, the winners each received $500,000 in cash for use at DOE National Laboratories. 

“The American-Made Solar Prize brings together private sector entrepreneurship with expertise at DOE’s national labs to foster next-level innovation in U.S. solar manufacturing,” said Assistant Secretary Simmons. “These transformative technologies will address critical needs in the U.S. solar industry, and develop impactful solutions for industry to utilize and overcome these challenges.”

More information on the Solar Prize winners can be found here. For more information on DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, click HERE.

Read the entire news release here.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING

FEATURED SOLAR EXAMPLE

The SmartFlower is an all-in-one solar system. The petals open at morning and follow the sun on its path across the sky. They close up at night or if Nebraska winds get too gusty, reopening when the wind dies down. The system is 40% more efficient in energy production than traditional solar. The SmartFlower generates 5.5 Mwh of energy per year. The SmartFlower in the above photo is located at Timberlake Ranch Campus, a Christian family camp at 2709 North S Road, Marquette, Nebraska.  A second SmartFlower was installed at the Nebraska Christian School, 1847 Inskip Avenue in Central City, Nebraska.
SmartFlower Distributor & Installer: Interconnection Systems, Inc. based in Central City
Employment: To apply for a job with Interconnection Systems, Inc., send a cover letter with your C.V. to: info@isi.consulting

HYDROGEN

  • The slow, inexorable rise of green hydrogen, PV Magazine
    The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) believes the production of hydrogen from renewables has the potential to deliver 19 exajoules of energy in 2050. Some 16 TW of solar and wind power generation capacity – 120 exajoules – may be needed to generate green hydrogen or related products from electrolysis by that point. Today the world hosts around 7 TW of total power generation capacity, around 1 TW of which comes from solar and wind, according to IRENA’s Hydrogen: A renewable energy perspective report. An International Energy Agency report on The Future of Hydrogen stated fossil-fueled production of the fuel is responsible for “annual CO2 emissions equivalent to those of Indonesia and the United Kingdom combined”.
  • Electrolysis breakthrough could solve the hydrogen conundrum, by Alexandr Simonov, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Published by Phys.Org.
    Australia, with its abundant sun and wind, has the potential to become a renewable energy superpower. By using electrolysis, hydrogen gas could be created from excess electricity generated by large renewable electricity projects. This hydrogen could be used as a fuel within Australia and exported to countries hungry for fossil fuels alternatives.

Energy Department Announces Battery Recycling Prize and Battery Recycling R&D Center

Department of Energy News Release, January 17, 2019

Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced the launch of a Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize and the establishment of an associated Battery Recycling R&D Center. These efforts aim to reclaim and recycle critical materials (e.g., cobalt and lithium) from lithium-based battery technology used in consumer electronics, defense, energy storage, and transportation applications.

“America’s dependence on foreign sources of critical materials undermines our energy security and national security,” said Perry. “DOE will leverage the power of competition and the resources of the private sector, universities, and the National Laboratories to develop innovative recycling technologies, which will bolster economic growth, strengthen our energy security, and improve the environment.” Read the entire news release here.

Image Credit: Tesla

THE LITHIUM-ION BATTERY MARKET 

Global lithium-ion battery market expected to exceed $60B by 2024: report, Utility Dive
Global Market Insights released a report Monday estimating that the lithium-ion (li-ion) battery global market size will exceed $60 billion by 2024.

THE PV RECYCLING MARKET  

Prescient & Strategic Market Research, May 2018
The global solar panel recycling market is estimated to be valued at $80.7 million in 2017 and is projected to reach $269.8 million by 2023, witnessing a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 22.0% during the forecast period. Increasing adoption of solar power as a source of energy and favorable government regulations supporting sustainable development are the key factors driving the market growth. Solar panels are made up of glass, aluminum, synthetic materials, silicon, and other metals, which can be separated through the process of recycling, after the completion of the panels’ lifecycle.
 Read a summary of the report here.

IRENA Research Report, June 2016
A study by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), End-of-life management: Solar Photovoltaic Panels, estimates that recovered raw materials alone from solar modules could be worth $450 million by 2030, and $15 billion by 2050.

PV RECYCLING INITIATIVES

SEIA National PV Recycling Program. Members of the Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA) are committed to responsible end-of-life management and are proactively developing collection and recycling processes for the solar industry. Many SEIA member module manufacturers already operate take-back and recycling programs for their products. By creating a member-based program that aggregates the services offered by recycling vendors and PV manufacturers, SEIA is making it easier to select a cost-effective and environmentally responsible end-of-life management solution. This effort also enables others in the industry to access recyclers for their disposal needs. See Also:  SEIA Factsheet: PV Waste 101: The Solar Industry’s Proactive Plan for Waste Management (PDF)


Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute 
The Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Product Standard guides designers and manufacturers through a continual improvement process that looks at a product through five quality categories: material health, material reutilization, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness.

 


PV Cycle USA
SunPower Corporation is the founder and on the board of directors of PV Cycle. The business has a worldwide program in place to cover the costs for de-installation, collection, reuse and recycling for all purchased and leased systems under the warranty period.

 

Product Stewardship Institute – Solar Panels
The Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) provides technical assistance and monitors and advocates for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) solar panel stewardship legislation, using as models Washington State’s Solar Power Incentive Law and lessons learned from more than a decade of recycling programs in Europe. PSI seeks to educate their members and other stakeholders about the need for new collection and recycling infrastructure. In January 2018 PSI hosted their first webinar.

WASHINGTON’S PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULE STEWARDSHIP AND TAKEBACK PROGRAM

Washington became the first state in the nation to enact a solar stewardship bill (ESSB 5939) in July 2017. One section of the bill, Chapter 70.355 RCW, created the state’s Photovoltaic Module Stewardship and Takeback Program. The Department of Ecology’s process must be fully implemented and stewardship plan guidance completed by July 1, 2019. Manufacturers must prepare and submit a stewardship plan to the department by January 1, 2020, or within thirty days of its first sale of a photovoltaic module in or into the state. Beginning January 1, 2021, no manufacturer may sell or offer for sale a photovoltaic module in or into the state unless the manufacturer has submitted to the department a stewardship plan and received plan approval.