Data PointsUnderstanding the importance of the Power Africa initiative.
WindMitigation strategies for underwater noise when building offshore wind farms.
GeothermalCan geothermal exploration enable the energy storage industry?
p. 34 p. 36 p. 43
Te Solar
IssueTechnology, Policy, Finance and More
JULY/AUGUST 2015VOLUME 18 ISSUE 4
HydroHow it can help rebuild a stronger Nepal.
p. 48
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contents
features
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 1
PROJECT PROFILE
The PV Salvador
Solar Project.
21SOLAR TECHNOLOGY
Ensuring Your Solar Array Doesn’t Get Caught in the Wind
Solar PV racking
manufacturers explain
the design considerations
needed in order to
keep solar arrays from
getting blown away.
Charles W. Thurston
27SOLAR POLICY
Is the Spanish Government Putting the Brakes on Solar PV?
Spain recently auctioned
bids for renewable power
capacity from wind and
biomass, not PV. This
isn’t the first time the
government has turned its
back on the abundant solar
resource leaving some to
believe that darker forces
are at play Ilias Tsagas
30SOLAR FINANCE
Making a Match: How Solar Companies and Banks Hook Up
Solar EPC companies
often partner with a bank
to secure financing for
their projects. Our article
explains how they do it.
Jennifer Runyon
ON THE COVER
Summer sun and solar
go hand-in-hand. Our
issue pays tribute to that
great resource in the sky.
15
46
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On RenewableEnergyWorld.com
departments & columns
features
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 3
RenewableEnergyWorld.com keeps you updated
on news, opinion and technology for the renewable
energy industry. Visit us on the web to:
• Check out our new look! We re-launched
with a sleek new design.
• Read our editor’s picks – popular articles highlighted for you.
• Visit our supplier and product directory
and get your company listed!
• Nominate a Project or Woman of the Year.
• See who will be presenting at Renewable
Energy World Conference.
36WIND
Reducing Construction Noise at Offshore Wind Farms
Building an offshore wind farm can
create quite an underwater racket.
Monitoring and mitigation of noise is
key to keeping marine wildlife safe.
Holly Waterman
43GEOTHERMAL
Energy Storage and Geothermal Markets Team Up for Lithium
Developers explore exciting
opportunities to extract lithium from
geothermal brine. Meg Cichon
48HYDROPOWER
Mini-hydro Making a Big Impact in Nepal
In the wake of the earthquake that hit
Nepal, development of its 83 GW of
hydropower potential may be essential
for the future. David Appleyard
5 Editor’s LetterHere Comes the Sun
6 Regional NewsNews from the Global
Renewable Energy Industry
17 Te Big QuestionCan the US Commercial
Solar Industry Survive
with a 10 Percent ITC?
34 Data PointsThe Power Africa Initiative
46 Project ProfleThe PV Salvador Solar Project
53 Trainings and Educational
Events
54 Calendar
54 Advertiser’s Index
55 Last WordWhy Smarter Grids
Demand Smarter
Communications Networks
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15,000 QUALIFIED ATTENDEES.
600 EXHIBITORS.
100 EDUCATION SESSIONS.
24 HOURS OF DEDICATED
NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES.
1 LOCATION.
Register today at solarpowerinternational.com
Solar Power International is a top 100 trade show (as ranked by Trade Show Executive)
and is the only trade show with the support of leading national solar associations,
Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA).
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A
From the Editor
Jennifer Runyon, Chief Editor
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 5
Ahh summer! Hopefully the longer days and stronger sunshine bring
with them time for you to sit back, relax and read your latest issue of
Renewable Energy World, which sits before you now. In it, we bring
you updates from the solar industry — new technology, policy debates
and financial information that we hope will help you do your job.
There’s more to this issue than just a tribute to solar, however. So
if you are in the wind, energy storage, bioenergy, hydropower or geo-
thermal industries, don’t despair — we have you covered, too. On page
36, you can read about how the offshore wind industry must use noise
mitigation strategies when constructing offshore wind parks. Our fea-
ture on page 43 looks at how the geothermal industry could enable
the energy storage industry to mine more lithium. And remember the
devastating earthquake that hit Nepal in April? We have photos and
an update on how it affected the power sector there. Opportunities for
renewable energy development are far and wide and I hope you’ll put
your knowledge to work bringing power to places in the world where
it is most needed. Our Data Points on page 34, hones in on the Power
Africa initiative.
It’s also time to start making plans to attend Renewable Energy
World Conference that will take place in Las Vegas, December 8-10. At
the show, you can attend our educational sessions to learn more about
all of the topics I just mentioned. Finally, if you have completed a great
project over the past year, don’t forget to nominate it for consideration
as a Project of the Year. You can nominate projects here. ◑
CHIEF EDITOR Jennifer Runyon
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Meg Cichon
SENIOR OPERATIONS MANAGER
Stephanie Kolodziej
EDITORIAL OFFICES
REW Magazine
PennWell Corporation
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PRODUCTION
ART DIRECTOR Kelli Mylchreest
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While every attempt is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this magazine, neither the Publishers nor the authors accept any liability for errors or omissions.
1507REW_5 5 6/25/15 2:30 PM
newsREGIONAL
6 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
NORTH AMERICA
Rail-Free Mounting
System Now
AvailableEcoFasten Solar announced that it
launched a new mounting “Rock-
It System” that it would be display-
ing during Intersolar. Product com-
pliance was determined through
testing per UL Subject 2703, which
reviews integrated grounding and
bonding, fire classification and
mechanical loading.
EcoFasten Solar’s solar roof
mounts and components are
designed, engineered and man-
ufacturered in Morrisville, VT.
Working closely with leading solar
developers, racking system pro-
viders, roofing manufacturers
and commercial installation com-
panies, the company said that
its products are fast and easy to
install and “were designed with the
installer in mind.” ○
Credit: EcoFasten Solar.
Icebreaker Offshore Wind Project To Incorporate Innovative Foundation DesignThe Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation (LEEDCo)
announced that the Icebreaker offshore wind project planned for
the Ohio waters of Lake Erie will use an innovative foundation
design that was developed in Europe. Mono Bucket foundations,
developed by Denmark-based Universal Foundation (UF), will sig-
nificantly reduce installation costs for the pilot project compared
to the modified monopile concept LEEDCo developed in 2013.
The Mono Bucket foundation is an all-in-one steel structure con-
sisting of a monopile shaft attached to a large-diameter bucket.
It is installed with a suction system that requires no pile driving
FIAMM and Northern Power Team Up To Deliver Energy Storage SolutionsNorthern Power Systems is partnering with FIAMM Energy Storage
Solutions to target the growing demand for energy storage systems
(ESS) in the market, especially for North America. A recent Navi-
gant report indicates the global installed energy storage capacity for
the grid is expected to grow from 538.4 megawatts in 2014 to 20.8
gigawatts in 2024.
Northern Power Systems’ FlexPhase power converters comple-
ment FIAMM’s SoNick (sodium nickel chloride) storage technology,
offering control features such as load shifting, low/zero voltage ride
through, voltage and frequency droop control, islanding and seam-
less transition, and black start, and providing extremely low DC bus
ripple. FIAMM SoNick batteries have a track record of safety and
reliability, large energy capacity with a minimal impact on the envi-
ronment due to the absence of toxic materials, and are 100 percent
recyclable, according to the company.
Diego Tebaldi, senior director of global business development at
Northern Power Systems, said that the integration of the company’s
power converter into this particular chemistry opens up access to a
global market with strong potential. ○
1507REW_6 6 6/25/15 2:30 PM
[ cont >]
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 7
EUROPE
or dredging — eliminating noise and soil distur-
bance. A prototype has been supporting a 3-MW
turbine in Denmark since 2002. A second proto-
type has been supporting a met mast at Horns
Rev 2 in Denmark since 2009.
“Universal Foundation’s Mono Bucket founda-
tion recently emerged as one of the most promis-
ing technology developments in the European off-
shore wind industry,” said Lorry Wagner, president
of LEEDCo. According to Wagner, the Mono Bucket
“is lighter than our original concept, requires sig-
nificantly less time on the water during construc-
tion, and can be fabricated locally.”
UF will join LEEDCo’s team to complete the
detailed design of the Mono Bucket foundations for
the Icebreaker project. The team will work closely
with U.S. steel fabricators to ensure the design is
optimized for fabrication in the United States. The
final design will be complete in early 2016.
“This is yet another innovation we are bring-
ing to the U.S. offshore wind industry that will
help meet the U.S. Department of Energy’s cost
of energy targets,” Wagner said. “Not only does it
move Icebreaker forward, it enables the Lake Erie
region to become a central hub of the U.S. off-
shore wind industry.”
In addition to Icebreaker, Mono Buckets are
also being considered for a number of European
projects. ○
For more on eliminating noise during offshore wind
farm construction, see our feature on page 36.
HIWave Concept. Credit: KIC InnoEnergy.
Wave Power Device Receives Further FundingHiWave, a wave-power system developed by Cor-
Power Ocean and nurtured by KIC InnoEnergy’s
Highway Programme, has secured in excess of €2
million in investment from the Swedish Energy
Agency. The funds will be used to run tests in the
Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Scotland.
HiWave has demonstrated promising efficien-
cy rates in wave energy absorption, delivering five
times higher energy density compared with previ-
ously developed technology, and at a third of the
cost. This new investment is in addition to €6 mil-
lion already invested by KIC InnoEnergy and the
Swedish Energy Agency.
KIC InnoEnergy has invested a total of €3 mil-
lion in the technology since its inception in 2009.
The company has also provided support by con-
necting CorPower with Iberdrola Engineering
and WavEC for collaboration, developing its sup-
ply chain, putting forward partnerships with
established drive train and cylinder
1507REW_7 7 6/25/15 2:30 PM
Solar Independence Plan (SIP) For Britain
CREDIT: Solar Trade Association
£1,160M 12.1 GW£1,360M
20.3 GW
Solar capacity in 2020
DECC Strategy SIP Minimum Ambition SIP Higher Ambition
£1,510M
25.3 GW
Total cost in 2020
newsREGIONAL
8 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
manufacturers, and helping to
structure the company’s product
verification methodology.
“CorPower has grown from
a one person company with
a small-scale prototype to a
12-person team with a prov-
en device that can tap into the
under-utilized power of the
ocean,” said Patrik Möller, CEO,
CorPower Ocean.
“The ocean has enough power
to cover more than 10 percent of
the world’s energy demand,” says
Kenneth Johansson, CEO, KIC
InnoEnergy Sweden, adding that
he is proud that “the KIC InnoEn-
ergy innovation model, based on
our international network com-
plementing national funding
agencies, such as the Swedish
Energy Agency, has enabled the
HiWave project and the company
CorPower to get to this point.” ○
UK Solar Could Rival Fossil
Fuel Electricity by 2020
The Solar Trade Association (STA) published its
“Solar Independence Plan for Britain,” setting out
how the new government could steer rooftop solar-
generated electricity to parity with retail electrici-
ty prices and utility-scale solar farms to
parity with new gas CCGT power station
prices, both by 2020.
In the report the STA looks at sever-
al different scenarios, and recommends
the government adopt a scenario with a
target of 25 GW by 2020. If adopted, the
Plan could see 2.1 million solar homes,
24,000 commercial rooftop and commu-
nity schemes, 2,300 good quality solar
farms and almost 57,000 jobs in solar
and its supply chains. Achieving this
breakthrough would in 2020 cost house-
holds around £13 per year. Experts from Imperial
College London have independently verified the STA
modeling behind the plan. The Centre for Econom-
ics and Business Research provided job estimates.
The report outlines six changes to existing poli-
cy that would double the amount of solar-generat-
ed electricity in 2020 — from 10 TWh under DECC’s
Solar PV Strategy to 21 TWh under the STA’s Higher
Ambition scenario. This would bring solar to a total
of 6.9 percent of U.K. electricity demand in 2020 as
opposed to the 3.4 percent as per the government’s
current plan with little extra cost.
The STA’s recommended policy steps include
adjusting the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) in the forthcom-
ing review to allow more growth and gradually
bring tariffs for new installations down to zero by
2020. The STA is also seeking to ensure the Renew-
ables Obligation is safeguarded for big rooftops and
smaller solar farms until March 2017, and that bar-
riers to the grid are addressed decisively.
The Plan also explains the importance of back-
ing the U.K.’s domestic industry today with stable
and predictable policy support rather than waiting
for international module prices to fall, since mod-
ules form an increasingly small fraction of the cost
of installed solar. ○
1507REW_8 8 6/25/15 2:30 PM
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newsREGIONAL
10 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
Latest SE4All Initiative To Encompass BioenergyThe Sustainable Bioenergy High-
Impact Opportunity (HIO) was
launched in May at the 2nd UN
SE4All Forum to facilitate the
development and deployment of
sustainable bioenergy solutions.
At the event, partners for
Euro-African Green Energy (PAN-
GEA) and the Alliance for Rural
Electrification (ARE) presented
a paper with information about
how to implement business mod-
els that utilize bioenergy for elec-
trification and provided policy
recommendations to encourage
the uptake of biomass as part of
decentralized energy production.
Due to the sheer abundance of
biomass often available in devel-
oping countries, the paper aims
to encourage interested stake-
holders from public and private
sectors to work towards devel-
oping bioenergy technologies for
electrification in areas where
there is no conflict with nutri-
tion and other issues. The paper
looks at modern uses for solid
biomass, liquid biofuels and bio-
gas along with practical exam-
ples and best practices of the var-
ious bioenergy-based business
models currently being imple-
mented for rural energy access as
well as opportunities for further
expansion.
“Power from sustainably pro-
duced biomass can contribute in
meaningful ways to increasing
the energy access essential for
rural economic development. The
ARE-PANGEA report highlights
nicely the potential for biopow-
er production in different ecologi-
cal and developmental contexts,”
said Gerard Ostheimer, Global
Lead, Sustainable Bioenergy UN
SE4All Initiative ○
Credit: Masdar.
Solar PV Costs on Par with Fossil Fuels in Emirates
The UAE’s solar energy pricing has now reached
parity with fossil fuel models, making it econom-
ically attractive and commercially viable for the
first time ever in the nation’s history, according to a
recent “REmap 2030” report published by the Inter-
national Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), in con-
junction with Masdar Institute and the UAE Min-
istry of Foreign Affairs’ Directorate of Energy and
Climate Change. Solar PV is on par with gas at pric-
es of US $4.50-8.00 / MBtu, which currently makes
solar PV economically viable in the UAE.
The REmap 2030 puts solar as a critical resource
for the UAE, with different forms of solar energy
accounting for more than 90 percent of renewable
energy use in the region. Additionally, the IRENA
report highlights policy as a key enabling factor for
renewable energy adoption and urges government
1507REW_10 10 6/25/15 2:30 PM
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 11
ASIA PACIFIC
agencies to take holistic, comparative views of ener-
gy costs and act on them.
Solar power, together with other renewable
energy sources, could save the country billions of
dirhams annually while introducing innumera-
ble health and environmental benefits, while also
acting to preserve precious existing fossil fuel
resources.
“We believe that, for the UAE and wider Arabian
Gulf, solar power is perhaps the most promising of
all renewable energy sources — creating jobs while
preserving existing energy reserves,” said Naji El
Haddad, Group Event Director of the annual World
Future Energy Summit (WFES) hosted by Masdar
and part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. In 2016,
the event will launch the “WFES Solar Expo,” a ded-
icated area on the show floor for showcasing solar
technology and innovation. More than 150 exhib-
itors have already confirmed their participation,
with global companies from the wind and solar
industries to take part in the exhibition and discus-
sion proceedings. The World Future Energy Sum-
mit (WFES) 2016 will take place at the Abu Dhabi
National Exhibition Centre 18-21 January 2016. ○
More Solar for Japan with 92-MW Solar Project AnnouncedKyocera, Kyudenko and Century Tokyo Leas-
ing Corporation announced a joint investment in
Kanoya Osaki Solar Hills LLC, a solar power oper-
ating company, to construct and oper-
ate a 92-MW solar power plant on a site
stretching across Kanoya City and Osaki
Town in Kagoshima Prefecture. Once
complete, the project will be one of the
largest solar installations in Japan.
The project, which is sited on a nev-
er-built golf course, will accommodate
340,740 Kyocera solar modules, and is
expected to generate roughly 99,230
MWh annually — enough electricity
to power approximately 30,500 typical
households.
Kanoya Osaki Solar Hills LLC will
operate the site, and a joint venture
established by Kyudenko and Gaia
Power will undertake the design, construction and
maintenance of the solar installation. Kyocera will
supply the modules and Century Tokyo Leasing will
arrange financing for the 35 billion yen (approx. US
$290 million) project.
Construction is set to begin in late 2015 or 2016
and should take about 18 months. ○
Rendering of the Proposed Plant. Credit: Kyocera.
1507REW_11 11 6/25/15 2:30 PM
newsREGIONAL
12 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
LATIN AMERICA
Companies Eye Chilean Renewables MktChile holds significant potential
for renewable energy develop-
ment, with a long-term shortage
of power and industries that con-
sume large amounts of power,
like mining. The wind and solar
resources in Chile are plentiful,
creating many opportunities for
the growth of renewables.
To harness this potential,
renewable energy company
SgurrEnergy formed partnerships
with two South American ener-
gy companies to develop renew-
ables opportunities in the Chil-
ean market. SgurrEnergy, a Wood
Group company, will combine its
global renewable energy exper-
tise with the local knowledge
and experience of new partners,
Coener and Mankuk, to drive for-
ward the renewable energy mar-
ket in Chile.
Coener and Mankuk both pro-
vide engineering solutions to cli-
ents on projects in Chile.
SgurrEnergy has a wealth
of experience working in Chile
including performing the role of
lender’s engineer for an onshore
wind farm, which required that
the company perform an inde-
pendent energy yield forecast,
review of financial models, site
visits and contract reviews. ○
EV Market Set for Big Gains As Asian
Manufacturers Drive Down Li-ion PricesThe electric vehicle opportunity is set to expand, as battery devel-
opers like Panasonic drive down prices of lithium-ion (Li-ion) bat-
tery packs by 35 percent to US $172/kWh in 2025, according to Lux
Research. However, only the best-in-class players will achieve that
cost threshold, while others lag at US $229/kWh.
The estimate is based on a new bottom-up cost model built by
Lux Research in an industry known for being highly secretive about
its costs. The model accounts for differences in battery chemistry,
form factor, production scale, location and other nuances.
“High battery prices have led to some huge missed opportunities
in the electric vehicle market. Now if developers can drive down pric-
es to $200/kWh or less at the pack level, they have a chance of selling
millions of EVs by the mid- to late-2020s, and reap great revenues,”
said Cosmin Laslau, Lux Research Senior Analyst and lead author.
Lux Research analysts used interviews and research to build out
a cost model for Li-ion batteries and evaluate the new opportunities
emerging for developers and OEMs. Among their findings:
• Competitive gap is widening. Technological innovation and scale
are helping leaders like Panasonic, in partnership with Tesla,
widen their competitive advantage. While Panasonic-Tesla and
China’s BYD will achieve $172/kWh and $211/kWh at the pack
levels, respectively, the Nissan-AESC partnership risks falling
behind at $261/kWh unless it changes technologies and produc-
tion strategies.
• Disruptive Li-rich NMC will deliver more gains. In 2025, a dis-
ruptive Li-rich NMC would bring in cost gains of $17/kWh over
conventional NMC/graphite cells. While scale-up efficiencies like
Tesla’s “Gigafactory” remain a key strategy, geographical location
and technology like high-voltage cathodes are also key factors.
• Some benefits will reach stationary storage market, too. Li-ion
cost reduction will positively impact the stationary storage mar-
ket as well. However, it will not address added costs like the power
conditioning system, land, construction and integration. Therefore,
installed stationary systems spanning from residential to grid-
scale will range from $655/kWh to $498/kWh in 2025, respectively.
The report, titled “Crossing the Line: Li-ion Battery Cost Reduc-
tion and Its Effect on Vehicles and Stationary Storage,” is part of the
Lux Research Energy Storage Intelligence service. ○
1507REW_12 12 6/25/15 2:30 PM
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Brazil and Chile To Install More than 15
GW of Renewables by 2017Brazil will spearhead renewable energy additions in
South America to 2017, with the country’s cumula-
tive installed capacity expanding from 19.8 GW in
2013 to over 32.9 GW by 2017 according to Global-
Data. The company’s latest report also states that
Chile will see the fastest increase in renewables
over the forecast period, with cumulative installed
capacity rising from 1.06 GW in 2013 to 5.37 GW by
2017, at an impressive CAGR of 50 percent
GlobalData’s Ankit Mathur said “Brazil is looking
to increase power generation from renewable ener-
gy sources and is aiming for 10 percent of its annu-
al generation to come from these sources by 2020.
In order to achieve this target, the Brazilian gov-
ernment introduced the Program of Incentives for
Alternative Electricity Sources (Programa de Incen-
tivo a Fontes Alternativas de Energia Elétrica; PRO-
INFA) in 2002 to boost renewable energy adoption.
“The first phase awarded auctions for 3.3 GW of
wind, biomass and small and medium-sized hydro-
power plants.”
While biomass accounted for the largest share of
Brazil’s renewable energy mix with 50.1 percent in
2014, wind power capacity is expected to become
the new leading sector with a 41.4 percent share in
2017, up from 27.3 percent in 2014.
Meanwhile, renewables are expected to see the
largest growth in Chile’s overall power sector, with
the country beginning to harness its significant
potential in solar, wind and geothermal power. ○
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The Renewable Energy World Solar Issue
17Our Big Question looks at how the U.S.
commercial solar industry will fare when (and if)
the ITC steps down to 10 percent.
Our Technology feature examines how
the wind impacts solar installations both on the
ground and on the roof and the technology involved
in making sure they stay firmly in place.
Our Policy feature brings us to the Spanish
renewable energy market, which has been plagued
with so many problems that some fear the country
is turning its back on solar PV altogether.
Our Finance feature looks at matchmaking
between solar companies and financial
institutions. How do they get together to help grow
the industry?
21
27
30
Summer is upon us and with it comes lots and lots of
sun. In this issue we pay tribute to that great orb in
the sky and spotlight the industries that it supports.
As always there’s more great news and information about the solar industry
on our website, RenewableEnergyWorld.com. Can’t get enough solar news?
Subscribe to our twice-weekly solar e-newsletter here.
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 15
Image: Sunshine Illustration. Credit Shutterstock.
1507REW_15 15 6/25/15 2:30 PM
For more information, enter 7 at REW.hotims.com
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RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 17
✺✺ The Big QuestionStakeholders weigh in on worldwide renewable energy issues
Can the US Commercial Solar Industry
Survive with a 10 Percent ITC?
The U.S. Investment Tax Credit, which is a 30 percent federal tax credit for solar systems on residential
and commercial properties, remains in effect through December 31, 2016. After that time it
drops to 10 percent for commercial systems and zero for residential systems. For our Big Question
this month, we wanted to hear from bankers, commercial solar installers, developers, fnanciers,
potential hosts and other stakeholders. Read the comments below to gain insight on this issue’s big
question: Can the U.S. commercial solar industry survive with a 10 percent investment tax credit?
Gary LeBer, General Manager, SolarTyme, North Carolina
Unfortunately, I believe that it will substantially reduce the commercial installa-
tions and virtually eliminate the residential side.
Yes, it is still a viable market but we need costs to come down
and we need electricity rates to continue to go up and we need
policies outside of the ITC that don’t impeded our progress. So
if all of that was the way it needs to be then we’re fne but as
we all know there are probably going to be some fghts and
some hurdles.
Some states almost overnight become problematic. I think
the biggest [state hit] in the solar industry will be California
and non-RPS states. Georgia is a good example where without
the 30 percent ITC there is no mechanism in place to make
up any shortfall. Whereas in RPS states that have SRECs that
are fair-market traded and if the compliance payment is high
enough and there is enough delta between where they are currently trading and
that penalty payment then there is at least a mechanism in place to make up
some of the shortfall if the ITC goes away.
Chas Learned, Energy Sales Consultant, PhotonWorks Engineering, Hawaii
I am currently a commercial solar developer in sales in Hawaii. I think we will
sign a lot less deals when it downshifts to 10 percent. The reason being is busi-
ness owners so often have such a short-term view. I have had several clients turn
Scott Wiater
President,
Standard Solar,
Maryland
1507REW_17 17 6/25/15 2:30 PM
18 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
✺✺ The Big Question
18 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
away from the current offering, which often shows approximately a 2-year
return. So many properties are not owned but rather leased, you can forget
about signing them up after the reduction.
It’s really not about effciency improvements. It’s the cost of running busi-
nesses, paying rent, all the many line items in a commercial development.
The cost of panels is just one line item in a few dozen and those few dozen
are not likely to change. It’s similar in the food industry, if the price of grain
drops to zero, little or no change would occur in the price of a box of cereal.
Solar will slow down. My employer told me when there was no federal tax
credit there was nothing happening on the island ...just a slow crawl of solar
integration. And they had in place the 35 percent state tax credit. When the
30 percent federal came on board it took off like a rocket.
Lisa Lee Morgan, President, Calor Energy, North Carolina
By the end of 2016, the low-hanging fruit in solar development will have been
done, at least a large portion of it. If the Feds extend the sunset date, the solar
work will continue. After, solar will fall off, as will most renewable invest-
ments, because of the extremely low natural gas prices here in the U.S. NG
is just over $2/MMBtu; it is about $8 in the EU. That differential is a windfall
for those who can fgure out how to ship Liquefed NG around globe for least
cost. You will fnd energy investment dollars migrating into the LNG sector
and away from solar and wind after the ITC drops. However, solar and wind
will still make good fnancial sense in many situations, and will be an easy
sell especially to corporate industrial facilities as a hedge against future NG
spikes, which of course, are inevitable, too.
I think if it is renewed at 30 percent that would be great.
There is going to be a huge push to get as much done as pos-
sible in the next year or so with the expectation that the ITC
will drop to 10 percent. That activity and the pace at which
these projects are being developed are creating effciencies
in project development and installation. For example, some
developers in NC are projecting to have achieved grid par-
ity by 2016 as a result of drops in hard costs and effciencies
in installation. So what we are going to see across the U.S. in
the next several years is a huge run up in projects and devel-
opment from now until 2016 followed by a cooling off peri-
od in early 2016 should the ITC not be renewed at 30 per-
cent. During this “cooling off” period many believe there will be consolidation
between some of the smaller developers and EPC frms.
Matt Wright
Senior VP, National
Cooperative Bank,
Washington, DC
1507REW_18 18 6/25/15 2:30 PM
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 19
✺✺The Big Question
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 19
However in the long term it will really be benefcial because I think the
desire is still out there for solar energy and consolidation will bring even
more effciencies and scale to the market. Additionally, many states still have
utilities under RPS mandates that they really need to hit. So while there may
be a slowdown, there will be a rebalancing across the industry throughout
the year while people fgure out the new world order. Generally speaking I
don’t see the solar industry going away anytime soon, then again I’m a glass
half-full kind of guy.
Mickey Toro, President C-TEC Solar, Connecticut
As a developer of both residential and commercial PV projects, I feel that
although we have come a long way with sustaining our industry with innova-
tion, cost reductions and product improvements, the commercial development
will suffer greatly without the tax credit remaining at 30 percent. Business
owners view these projects very differently than homeowners and expect
very different returns. When you are in business with budgets and forecasts
and obviously running your business, you will not spend the time, effort or
money on a separate “business opportunity” if it does not at least offer the
same return as your everyday business. When the ITC goes down it will not
offer the same opportunity therefore business owners, municipalities and
fnanciers will not be interested. We need to extend the ITC.
Dr. Jeffery Lee Johnson, President Excelencia Solar, Mexico
Solar globally will still do much better if there is no tax incentive. For exam-
ple, PV hit grid parity in Jordan, UAE and MENA capacity is surging. The
Mexican distributed generation market is growing by 300 percent. Domestic
rates there hit grid parity two years ago and industrial tariffs will make grid
parity by 2016 – 2017.
Steve Kahl, Former Director of Sustainability, Unity College, Maine
I agree that the industry should eventually wean itself off subsidies. But going
from 30 percent ITC to 10 percent overnight in the U.S is a big problem for the
industry in the short-term. Our government should recognize that a phase-out
of the ITC makes more sense. Say, drop it by 5 percent per year until it is gone
by 2022. Now with the GOP in power in Congress, one might think that the ITC
has no chance of being extended, but Google this: in 5 states, the Tea Party has
aligned with the solar industry to support solar incentives because it is good
for employment and the economy. Let’s not give up on Congress extending a
modifed ITC just yet. ◑
1507REW_19 19 6/25/15 2:30 PM
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RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 21
S O L A R
Ensuring Your Solar Array Doesn’t Get Caught in the Wind
Solar PV racking manufacturers explain the design considerations needed in order to
keep solar arrays from getting blown away.
The SunLink Precision-
Modular RMS aluminum
system is available for 60
and 72-cell modules and 10
degree tilt. Credit: SunLink.
CHARLES W. THURSTON
Solar power arrays are often exposed to the worst weather
that the planet can dish out, including hurricane force winds
that can gust up to 200 miles per hour on the U.S. Eastern
seaboard and on islands like Hawaii and Guam. Whether the
solar panels are mounted on the roof, in a stationary ground
array or in moving trackers, calculating wind load is a major
factor in the system design.
Wind is one of the most frequent causes of damage to solar
arrays, said several industry offcials. In Spain, in the mid-
dle of the last decade, several large dual-axis solar trackers
failed as a result of wind, according to Dan Shugar, the CEO of
NEXTracker, based in Fremont, CA. “But horizontal trackers
as a category have been very reliable since then, so the solar
industry converged on the
horizontal track as the best
practical way to get energy
gain, avoiding all the steel it
would take to protect a dual-
axis,” he said.
Designing To Withstand High
Winds
Wind defection on solar
trackers may be the most
complicated design calcula-
tion in crafting the product
since the tracker parts move
in a variety of directions
1507REW_21 21 6/25/15 2:31 PM
22 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
simultaneously. “If you don’t
have a mitigation system, such
as a torsion limiter or dampers,
the wind can make an array
oscillate wildly,” noted John
Williamson, director of engi-
neering at Array Technologies,
based in Albuquerque.
Various designs attempt to
limit wind impact on trackers.
“We have gone to a round tube
unlike most others manufac-
turers that use square or other
shaped steel — so we pick
up 30 percent more torsion-
al strength,” said Shugar. “We
also have gone with a balanced
design,” he said, noting that the
array will return to a stow or
fat position under gravity. “And
our stowing speed is fast —
from full rotation to stow in one
minute,” he said. “Since wind
builds quickly, we want to stow
quickly,” he added.
It’s important to note that
stowing may be a prescribed
response to wind on the edge of a feld, and not be necessary
within the more protected center. In fact, stowing a solar panel
is not necessarily the best solution for a rapid build-up, others
argue. “We’ve never relied on stow for our systems; we design for
no stow. Wind forces on a tracker at a zero degree position still
can have a signifcant load on the array and near-peak torque on
the system,” pointed out Array Technology’s Williamson. “With
our new V3 design, we have come up with a passive stow design
and added a torsion limiting device that allows it to move to a
position where there is less torsion on the array,” he said. “Our
previous generation was typically built to 115 mph, but the worst-
case install was built to handle up to 175 mph. This was prov-
en in the feld at multiple sites including an installation located at
the NREL Wind Technology Center, in Boulder, Colorado. The new
version would be able to handle 135 mph standard, and similar-
ly confgurable to withstand higher speeds,” he said. Wind micro-
bursts, or downbursts, can cause winds up to 175 mph on dry
land, so exposure to the wind is a given regardless of location.
Since wind can affect the outer edges of a solar array feld
much more intensely, outer rows need to be built to be both stiff-
er and stronger. NEXTracker, for example, uses thicker steel on
the outer rows to help design for this effect. Wind, nonetheless,
is diffcult to predict. “What some solar companies assume is
that wind continues to decrease the further that you get into an
array, which is not necessarily the case. Arrays are in a turbulent
layer of the atmosphere, and wind is very random and chaotic in
nature,” said Williamson.
Multiple DuraTrack HZ v3 tracker rows
are connected by a rotary drive shaft and
driven by a single industrial 2 HP, 3-phase
A/C motor. Each v3 motor can drive up to
28 rows of 80 modules each. Credit: Array
Technologies.
1507REW_22 22 6/25/15 2:31 PM
S o l a r
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 23
Testing and Analysis
Crunching the numbers for
such wind variables requires
a set of tools that includes both
computer models and full-scale
models. “Computational fuid
dynamics will calculate wind
load but nothing beats the wind
tunnel from the standpoint that
you are testing a scale model,”
said Shugar.
A host of wind tunnel test-
ing facilities, including govern-
ment labs, in the United States
and Canada, permit the anal-
ysis of a full-scale solar array
to meet certifcation or build-
ing code requirements. Some
companies make extensive use
of them. “We have an industry-
leading 120 mph wind rating
and are the only manufacturer we know of to conduct an in-tun-
nel, full (dual) tracker wind load test. We wanted to demonstrate
to the industry our design strength and commitment to engineer-
ing a tracker that will withstand the elements,” noted Andrew
Savage, the chief strategy offcer for AllEarth Renewables, based
in Williston, VT.
Array Technologies also has conducted extensive wind tunnel
testing, including tests at the Langley Full-Scale Wind Tunnel, in
Hampton, VA, which has since closed. Work there has been taken
up by Old Dominion University’s Frank Batten College of Engi-
neering and Technology, Norfolk, VA.
PV Wind Standards Still Emerging
Not all jurisdictions accept wind tunnel testing as suffcient,
however. Until 2013, the city of Los Angeles, required tradition-
al anchored mounting solutions for rooftops rather than non-
penetrating ballasted designs, because the LA Department of
Building and Safety did not accept wind tunnel data to justi-
fy lower ballast requirements. It was not until PanelClaw became
the frst mounting system company to have its full wind tunnel
data results approved and permitted by LADBS for use in ballast
AllEarth Renewables conducted an
in-tunnel, full (dual) tracker wind load
test. Credit: AllEarth Renewables.
1507REW_23 23 6/25/15 2:31 PM
24 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
S o l a r
designs that the regulation
changed. The North Ando-
ver, MA-based company’s
Polar Bear Gen III ballasted
design will withstand winds
in excess of 120 mph, equal to
a Category 3 hurricane.
The solar industry follows
wind load provisions that are
currently promulgated by the
American Society for Civil
Engineers (ACSE), based in
Reston, VA. The latest stan-
dard is the 2013 ASCE/SEI
7-10. But that standard relates
more to buildings than to
solar arrays, several manu-
facturers complain. In a 2012
statement to Renewable Ener-
gy World, SunLink CEO Chris-
topher Tilley said, “while
there are established snow
and seismic load standards
that can be applied to PV sys-
tems in a fairly straightfor-
ward manner, there is very
little guidance on wind loads.
Engineers and permitting
offcials have therefore been
left with the choice of applying
the building code in ways not
intended or accepting designs
based on wind tunnel testing
without a standard means to
validate the testing approach or
results. Neither method assures
that appropriate wind design
values are used.”
The Underwriters Labora-
tory, based in Northbrook, Ill.,
nominally covered wind load for
PV installations in the 2015 ver-
sion of UL 2703, but is also criticized for falling short. “UL 2703
has been good for the industry but it is not an absolute standard.
Having a true code in place would level the playing feld by weed-
ing out the companies that don’t address important safety and
performance factors, such as wind and snow load testing, corro-
sion testing and fre resistance,” said John Klinkman, VP of engi-
neering at Applied Energy Technologies, in Clinton Township, MI.
The Structural Engineers Association of California
(SEAOC), based in Sacramento, has done much work toward help-
ing to set an industry standard for PV wind loading requirements,
said Rob Ward, the chief structural engineer for SunLink. The
SEAOC PV committee conducts on-going work in development of
code change proposals to the wind design provisions in ASCE. The
group has produced its own guidelines for wind load and solar,
Solar panel modules
displaced by wind forces.
Credit: CASE Foresnics.
Solar panel modules
displaced by wind forces.
Credit: CASE Foresnics.
1507REW_24 24 6/25/15 2:31 PM
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RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 25RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 25
Rutherford & Chekene, based
in San Francisco, Calif. to
develop software that will help
product designers test their
designs against the standards
of ACSE 7-10.
While consistently strong,
heavy winds are a blessing
for wind farm owners, the
same is not be true for PV sys-
tem owners and operators. But
with careful design consider-
ations, increased focused on
standards and technology that
responds well to all wind loads,
PV installation companies can
ensure that their arrays will
not be blown away. ◑
including the most recent SEAOC PV2-2012, Wind Design for Low
Profle Solar Photovoltaic Arrays on fat Roofs.
SunLink began testing its line of PV products in 2006 with the
help of Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory (BLWTL) at the
University of Western Ontario, based in London, ONT. BLWTL
has recently upgraded its facilities with four new wind tunnel
control and data acquisition systems that allow for completely
automated tests capturing data at speeds up to 100,000 samples
per second each.
SunLink ran 70 models and confgurations through more than
1,000 tests at the BLWTL lab, developing a unique database. The
tests included variations in tilt angle, roof height, row spacing,
building height, set-backs from the roof edge, and various defec-
tor/shrouding strategies that are affected by wind. The company
has shared this database with SEAOC, and as a result, the orga-
nization is closer to developing a wind load norm with a broad
industry consensus, Ward said.
SunLink also worked with BLWTL and the engineering frm of
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RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 27
S O L A R P O L I C Y
Is the Spanish Government Putting the Brakes on Solar PV?
Spain recently
auctioned bids
for renewable power
capacity from wind and
biomass, not solar PV.
Are darker forces at play?
ILIAS TSAGAS, Contributor
Spain’s Ministry of Indus-
try, Tourism and Transport
announced this spring that it
would hold an auction for the
installation of 500 MW and 200
MW of new wind and biomass
power capacities, respectively. The date for the auction was
not announced but it is expected that the call for submis-
sions will be published in the State Offcial Bulletin in the
near future. Bids for solar power capacity need not apply.
The Spanish Photovoltaic Union (UNEF) was upset by the
news and is currently working to have solar PV technology,
which it called “the most competitive in the world,” includ-
ed in the auction. “The attempted eradication of the pho-
tovoltaic industry from the government does not have any
explanation,” said Jorge Barredo, President of UNEF, adding
that solar is highly competitive “not only between renewable
energies, but also compared with traditional fossil fuels.”
The exclusion of solar PV from the recent auction
announcement was not the only blow against the solar
PV sector. Pedro Palencia, energy policy director at UNEF
explained that earlier this year Spain’s government
announced an auction for new power
capacity for the Canary Islands that only
sought wind. The Canary Islands complex
is located in the North West Africa and has
the highest solar irradiation in Spain.
Self-Consumption “Sun Tax” In Te Making
There are other concerns regarding
Spain’s current policy framework for the
self-consumption of PV power and the lack
of net-metering. The current self-consump-
tion policy framework is very general and
applies to both on- and off-grid systems.
The government said it would publish the
detailed regulations soon, adding that it is
considering imposing a tariff that UNEF
calls a “sun tax.” Effectively, this would
mean that PV system owners will be taxed
for the power they produce even if it is
solely for their own use and not fed into
Sun Edison project in Caravaca de la Cruz (near Murcia),
Spain. Credit: UNEF.
1507REW_27 27 6/25/15 2:31 PM
S o l a r P o l i c y
28 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
the grid.
UNEF said that a “sun tax”
like that would make solar
uneconomical even for self-
consumption. Net-metering,
a policy found in almost all
other Mediterranean coun-
tries, including Portugal,
Italy, Greece and Cyprus, is
not available in Spain.
Te Flawed Spanish
Energy Market
The Spanish energy sector
faces serious problems stem-
ming from caps on retail elec-
tricity prices, which have
lead to market distortions.
According to David Robin-
son of the Oxford Institute for
Energy Studies, since 2001
the Spanish electricity sys-
tem has accumulated a €30
billion defcit resulting from
inadequate tariffs that were
not high enough to cover
electricity transmission and distribution
costs, renewable and conventional ener-
gy subsidies and other regulated costs. All
Spanish governments have been unwilling to pass the full costs
on to customers, and the current situation has worsened due to
a decrease in energy demand, the high costs of renewable subsi-
dies and more specifcally a terribly wrong remuneration policy
for solar PV systems in 2007 to 2012, said Robinson.
According to Robinson, the accumulated debt, “accounts for
about 55 percent of a typical customer’s electricity cost, with
the remaining 45 percent associated with the wholesale price
of energy.”
UNEF’s Palencia confrms this. “The actual costs covering the
electricity generation in Spain count for less than half of the con-
sumer’s electricity bill and vary according to the power pric-
es. The biggest chunk of the electricity bill covers a huge list of
other costs, non-related to the
fuctuating power prices of the
wholesale market. Such fxed
costs are set by the government,
which aims to increase them
further,” Palencia said. “Under
these circumstances, we [UNEF]
don’t see how self-consump-
tion can become competitive in
Spain,” Palencia remarked. ◑
This article continues online.
Click here to read it.
Solar on a residence in Spain.
Credit: UNEF.
Large solar installation
in Spain. Credit: UNEF.
1507REW_28 28 6/25/15 2:31 PM
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30 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
S O L A R F I N A N C E
Making a Match: How Solar Companies and Banks Hook Up
Solar installation or EPC companies often partner up with a bank to secure fnancing
for their projects. Here’s how they do it.
Finding a match.
Credit Shutterstock.
JENNIFER RUNYON, Chief Editor
The announcements are fairly frequent: SunPower Partners
with Admirals Bank for $200 Million Solar Loan Program,
Deutsche Bank to Lend $1 Billion for Japanese Solar Projects,
Financing Partnerships Drive North Carolina’s Solar Boom.
The reasons for the deals are clear. Solar developers
need money to build projects and rather than going to the
bank again and again with deal after deal, it makes sense
to have a fnancing partner and a set of criteria you need to
meet already in place so that you can be sure the money will
materialize when you need it.
Indeed, as the indus-
try continues to mature and
especially in light of a 10 per-
cent ITC set to go into effect
at the end of 2016 for com-
mercial projects, fnding a
secure, reliable fnancing
partner may just be what
makes or breaks a solar
developer or EPC company.
1507REW_30 30 6/25/15 2:31 PM
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 31
Getting Squeezed
from Both Sides
Scott Wiater, president of
Standard Solar, explained that
in the traditional third-party
ownership model his company
was getting pinched on either
side of their deals. Basically
Standard Solar would develop
a project for a host, such as a
municipality or a corporation,
and then set up fnancing with
another entity. “We would
go to somebody like NRG or
Washington Gas and Electric
and we would basically devel-
op and build the project,” he
said, adding “since we are a
developer and also an EPC we
would [then] package that up
and partner with somebody
like SunEdison who would
fnance the project and then
we would provide the O&M on
the backside.” Wiater believes
there isn’t anything wrong
with this approach and proj-
ects will continue to be struc-
tured like that going forward.
For Standard Solar, how-
ever, problems were start-
ing to arise. “Just being in
the middle of that transaction
we were getting squeezed
both on the customer side —
the host side where we have
to come up with the low PPA
rate — but also on the fnanc-
ing side where the fnancing
companies are putting more
and more of the risk back
down on us as the EPC while
they are enjoying their return with less risk.”
In an effort to fx this issue, Standard Solar went out and
sought project fnance partners. “We decided that to create
more shareholder value we should develop our own fund in
house and that is what brought us to where we are today.”
In early July, Standard Solar announced a brand new $250 mil-
lion fund comprised of construction debt, term debt, tax equity and
sponsor equity. The fund is the frst of its kind in the C&I (commer-
cial and industrial) space and will enable Standard Solar to close
projects more quickly, effciently and with lower costs. “We brought
in the whole capital stack so we have a debt provider that provides
the construction debt which then fips to long-term debt when we
place it in service and we have a tax-equity investor that provides
all the tax equity,” Wiater explained. What’s more, because there
are three partners involved, Standard has more fexibility going for-
ward. “Because we control so much of the deal, we have several
levers we can pull to be very competitive: whether that is our asset
management fee, our O&M fee, our EPC fee, we have many pieces of
the pie that we can get aggressive on,” he said.
Courtship and Marriage
Matt Wright is senior vice president at National Cooperative Bank
(NCB) and oversees the bank’s renewable energy group. NCB has
The 865-kW solar project on the Knorr Brake Corporation
manufacturing facility in Westminster, Maryland developed by Standard
Solar. Credit Standard Solar.
1507REW_31 31 6/25/15 2:31 PM
S o l a r F i n a n c e
32 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
been lending money into the
solar industry since before
the crash of 2008 and is on
track to lend upwards of $400
million into the solar space
by the end of this year. He
explained that for NCB, the
commercial solar space offers
attractive, stable returns.
After the 2008 crash, Wright
said the market was “lumpy”
and his group didn’t put any
money into the market, but
once the crisis was over that
changed. “When we came
back, we looked at all of our
businesses and said ‘you
know, the solar line of business has been rock solid. It’s been
great.’ So we just started making a renewed commitment to it,”
he said.
Wright said he primarily fnds companies to work with
through word of mouth and that once he fnds a reliable part-
ner, he tries to do repeat deals. “We try to fnd a couple of devel-
opers a year that we can work with and try to achieve scale,” he
said. NCB has been working with Strata Solar to build projects
in North Carolina with Duke as the offtaker. To date they have
done about 30 deals together, he said. “We have a great relation-
ship with them,” he added. “Those are the kinds of things we try
to duplicate.”
Wright meets potential partners at shows or through word of
mouth. “Chances are you would meet me at a conference or you
would hear me speak,” he said.
While it isn’t as simple as Match.com, Wiater likens fnd-
ing a fnancing partner, especially for a huge deal like the one
The 6.4-MW Arndt solar farm
developed by Strata Solar.
Credit: Strata Solar.
1507REW_32 32 6/25/15 2:31 PM
S o l a r F i n a n c e
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 33
Standard Solar just announced, to courting. “There’s a dating
period where everybody gets to know each other and then [if]
the chemistry is there, we decide to go to the next step and get
engaged,” he said. It’s during the engagement that all of the due
diligence takes place, which is a very long, very costly process.
“We think it’s going to cost just in legal expenses somewhere in
the neighborhood of $800,000,” he explained.
Robert Banaski, chief administrative offcer with Admirals
Bank, which provides fnancing for residential solar projects
agrees that large deals take a long time to execute. For exam-
ple, in 2014, the bank announced a $200 million fnancing com-
mitment that would be available for SunPower’s residential solar
customers. The deal was the product of “a series of meetings to
investigate SunPower’s needs and couple them with a fnancing
product,” he explained.
According to Banaski most solar installers are able to offer
Admirals fnancing to their customers. Further, Admirals
has a channel program that allows pre-qualifed solar install-
ers to offer its Fast Track Loan Program to potential custom-
ers much in the same way car dealerships offer fnancing to car
buyers. Installation companies that may not ft the criteria for
the fast track program can still offer their customers fnanc-
ing through the FHA Title I program. “What is nice about our
loan programs is we have a wide array of product offerings that
meet the many needs of our customers throughout the country,”
Banaksi said.
On partnering, Banaski
said a conversaton might take
place between the bank and
the dealer on the bank’s prod-
uct suite, to determine which
one would ft with the dealer
and its customer base. With
Admirals there is a nation-
al business development
team that seeks potential
solar companies to do busi-
ness with. “We have a large
account team both inside, and
outside, the organization that
develops new business oppor-
tunities,” he said.
Banaski, Standard Solar’s
Wiater and NCB’s Wright
all agree that attending
conferences and network-
ing are extremely impor-
tant for making connections
in the solar industry. They
also agree that solar growth
won’t be throttled anytime
soon. Wright explains, “you
know we’re just excited about
this [the solar industry] as a
bank.” Once other banks or
large insurance companies
who might want to purchase
loans from NCB get over their
initial concerns about solar,
“they realize that once it’s up
an running, there is very lit-
tle risk,” he said, adding, “if
it was engineered proper-
ly and you are working with
reputable developers, install-
ers and managers, these
things are just built to work.
And long term.” ◑
The 5-MW solar project at the
Washington Suburban Sanitary
Commission developed by Standard
Solar. Credit Standard Solar.
1507REW_33 33 6/25/15 2:31 PM
CREDIT: AEEP Status Report 2014
PERCENTAGE
OF POPULATION WITH
ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY
BY COUNTRY
SWAZILAND35.2%
LESOTHO17.0%
MALAWI8.7%
UGANDA14.6%
RWANDA10.8%
BURUNDI5.3%
DJIBOUTI49.7%
ERITREA32.5%
CENTRALAFRICAN REPUBLIC
9.5%
SÃO TOMÉ & PRÍNCIPE56.9%
CAPEVERDE67.0%
MAURITIUS100%
Réunion(Fr.)
SENEGAL56.5%
THE GAMBIA31.0%
GUINEA-BISSAU57.0%
GUINEA20.2%
SIERRA LEONE12.1%
LIBERIA4.1%
CÔTED’ IVOIRE58.9%
BENIN27.9%
COMOROS48.3%
Mayotte(Fr.)
BURKINA FASO13.1%
GHANA60.5%
WesternSahara
(under UNmandate)
SEYCHELLES29.2%
SOUTH SUDAN1.5%
Cabinda(Ang.)
ANGOLA34.6%
SOUTHAFRICA82.7%
ETHIOPIA23.0%
SUDAN29.0%CHAD
3.5%
NIGER9.3%
MALI16.6%
ALGERIA99.3% LIBYA
100% EGYPT99.6%
NIGERIA48.0%
MADAGASCAR14.3%
BOTSWANA43.1%
ZIMBABWE36.9%
ZAMBIA18.5%
TANZANIA14.8%
KENYA19.2%
DEMOCRATICREPUBLIC OF
CONGO15.2%
GABON81.6%
NAMIBIA43.7%
CAMEROON53.7%
TUNISIA99.5%
MOROCCO98.9%
MAURITANIA18.2%
SOMALIA29.2%
TOGO27.9%
EQUATORIAL GUINEA29.2%
REPUBLIC OF CONGO(BRAZZAVILLE)
37.1%
MOZAMBIQUE15.0%
Percent of populationwith access to electricity, 2010
60.0 – 100%
40.0 – 59.9%
20.0 – 39.9%
10.0 – 19.9%
Less than 10%
POWERING THE VAST
AFRICANCONTINENT
34 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
pointsidat
a
1507REW_34 34 6/25/15 2:31 PM
CREDIT: The Shift Project
ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN EACH AFRICAN COUNTRY
IN TERAWATT-HOURS (TWH) BY SOURCE
Comoros0.005
Equatorial Guinea0.007
Cape Verde0.007
Equatorial Guinea0.007
Sao Tomeand Principe
0.011
Burkina Faso0.086
Sierra Leone0.107
Togo0.111
Mauritania0.139
Rwanda0.139
Benin0.146
Central AfricanRepublic
0.160
Burundi0.160
Swaziland0.160
Eritrea0.317
Mali0.320
Botswana0.350
Guinea0.554
Mauritius0.584
Madagascar0.736
Lesotho0.746
Réunion0.923
Congo1.307
Uganda1.536
Namibia1.687
Gabon1.755
Malawi1.929
Senegal2.818
United Republicof Tanzania
5.286
Ethiopia5.442
Angola5.774
Côte d'Ivoire5.986
Cameroon6.145
Sudan7.334
Zimbabwe7.456
Kenya7.909
Democratic Republicof the Congo
8.310
Ghana11.401
Zambia12.047
Tunisia16.022
Mozambique17.762
Nigeria26.065
Morocco26.101
Libyan ArabJamahiriya
27.908
Algeria53.795
Egypt152.914
South Africa239.166
Solar tide wave
Geothermal
Biomass and waste
Wind
Nuclear
Oil
Hydroelectric
Gas
Coal
in December. Click here for more information.
has multiple banks and organizations in place to help the private sector develop power projects in every African country.
There will be a session about the Power Africa Initiative at Renewable Energy World Conference
that make up this region is extraordinarily low as outlined in the map.
Both the U.S. and the EU have announced huge initiatives aimed at doubling energy generation and access in Africa by 2020, and each
The difference between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is no starker than the comparison between access to energy in the developed world and the developing world. The percentage of the population with access to energy in the countries
http://www.theshiftproject.orgCCRRREEEDDDIT:: TTThe Shhiftt PProjecct
http://www.renewableenergyworld-events.com/conference/renewables-in-the-developing-world-track.htmbbeeeeeeerrrr.r. CCCCCCCCClllliiiccccckkkkkkkk hhhhhhheeeeeeerrrrrreeeeeee
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 35
1507REW_35 35 6/25/15 2:31 PM
36 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE 36 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
W I N D P OW E R
Did You Hear That? Reducing Construction Noise at Offshore Wind Farms
Building an ofshore wind farm can create quite an underwater racket as monopiles are driven into the seafoor. Monitoring and
mitigation of noise is important in order to adhere to environmental regulations that are designed to keep marine wildlife safe.
HOLLY WATERMAN, Baker Consultants
Marine mammal monitoring and underwater noise mitiga-
tion is an integral part of the development of offshore wind
farms, which, along with many other developments, generate
underwater noise that can negatively impact marine mam-
mals. For instance, servicing vessels used during construction
and operation can generate continuous noise at low frequen-
cies, which overlap with the communication signals of many
marine mammals, such as baleen whales. In fact, each oper-
ation in the development of offshore wind farms has its own
acoustic signature that must be identified and quantified in
order to assess its impacts on species present in the area.
The introduction of noise into the marine environment
is a major concern, given that numerous marine species
including dolphins and porpoises rely on sound as their
principal means of communication and navigation. Noise
can be particularly disruptive in the marine environment
because sound travels great distances through water. Fur-
ther, although some of the impacts of underwater noise on
marine mammals and fish have been quantified into specific
thresholds that cause hear-
ing loss, either permanent-
ly or temporarily, and noise
thresholds set according-
ly, the thresholds that lead
to changes in behaviour and
wider population impacts are
still largely unknown.
Regulation
The EU Marine Strategy
Framework Directive (MSFD)
1507REW_36 36 6/25/15 2:31 PM
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 37RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 37
The pectoral fin of a Humpback
whale (Megaptera novaeangliae).
Credit: Shutterstock.
requires member states to achieve Good Environmental Status
of their seas by 2020 and part of it includes a criterion specifying
that underwater noise such as what is generated during offshore
wind farm installation, should be at levels that do not adversely
affect the marine environment.
Two recent offshore wind farms — Borkum Riffgrund 1,
which just begun exporting power, and Gode Wind 1 and 2,
which is currently under construction and has marine mammal
monitoring and underwater noise mitigation in place — are
based in German waters in the North Sea. The German govern-
ment’s BSH (Bundesamt FÜr Seeschifffahrt und hydrographie)
maritime agency has established strict noise thresholds for
Sound Exposure Level (SEL),
which must not be exceeded
during piling activities.
Consequently, an SEL limit of
160 dB re 1 µPa2 s outside a
750-meter radius for pile-
driving operations appears in
the licence conditions for
offshore wind farms.
In order for the govern-
ment to approve monopile
foundations for offshore wind
1507REW_37 37 6/25/15 2:31 PM
38 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
farms, evidence that under-
water noise has remained
below this threshold must be
given at set intervals during
installation before approval
is given for any future instal-
lations. In the case of Borkum
Riffgrund 1, the licence initial-
ly only allowed the installation
of the first 12 monopiles, with
consent for additional mono-
piles subject to the outcome of
noise measurements.
How It Works
These two large offshore
wind farm projects in the
North Sea, with 77 and 97
turbines respectively, needed
evidence that noise thresholds
were met and required mon-
itoring of marine mammal
activity (harbour porpoises in
W i n d P oW e r
Noise Mitigation at the Borkum Riffgrund 1 Offshore Wind
Farm. Credit: DONG Energy, KIRBI A/S and Wommian
Demant Invest A/S.
both instances) via passive acoustic record-
ers during wind turbine foundation instal-
lation. It was also necessary to assess the
effciency of the noise mitigation strate-
gy which in both cases, used the IHC Noise
Mitigation System.
For Borkum Riffgrund 1, a methods state-
ment for the monitoring campaign was
drafted and approved by the German gov-
ernment in the early phases of the project.
After that the installation company (GeoSea),
the piling company (IHC Hydrohammer) and
the consent managers at DONG Energy were
monitored to ensure mitigation protocols
were followed and given advice on optimiz-
ing the piling strategy to minimize noise.
The weather played a role in the project.
Servicing of acoustic recorders in the North
Sea is challenging when a specific sched-
ule must be adhered to, particularly in winter, as the instruments
used are very sensitive. To ensure safe working conditions and
avoid accidents, servicing must usually be carried out in sea state
2 or lower, which meant that most servicing had to be completed
before weather conditions changed, whilst simultaneously fitting
Construction of the Borkum Riffgrund 1 Offshore Wind Farm. Credit:
DONG Energy, KIRBI A/S and Wommian Demant Invest A/S.
1507REW_38 38 6/25/15 2:31 PM
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award is given each year to a woman who has, through hard work, vision,
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For Eligibility and Entry Requirements, please visit www.power-eng.com.
Submit your Nominations by August 31, 2015
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40 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
W i n d P oW e r
around the piling schedule to
ensure no data was lost.
Acoustic Monitoring and
Mitigation Strategy
At Borkum Riffgrund 1, Pas-
sive Acoustic Monitoring
(PAM) devices were installed
at set distances from each
monopile and rotated on a
regular basis, following the
BSH guidance. PAM devic-
es measure noise and record
porpoise activity in the area.
A part of the acoustic mon-
itoring included an innova-
tive method for monitoring
porpoise activity using full-spectrum recorders instead of click
detectors. This allowed investigation of the data waveforms to
minimize uncertainty in the results. Specialist bioacousticians
designed automatic classifiers to detect the porpoise clicks more
efficiently and the results were manually inspected and verified
by experienced observers.
The aim of the mitigation strategy was to reduce the underwa-
ter noise and keep harbor porpoises outside of the piling zone.
Overarching guidance on noise mitigation traditionally follows
three separate lines of approach: material noise control mea-
sures along the propagation path, at the receiver and at the noise
source location; and modification of operational procedures.
In the cases of Borkum Riffgrund 1 and Gode Wind (and other
similar projects), the vast area of the underwater environment
affected by localized, noise-producing activities negates the option
of using the first noise mitigation strategy, as this would not
meet best practicable means (BPM). Therefore, material control
Pingers like these are used for
marine mammal deterrence.
Credit: Baker Consultants.
1507REW_40 40 6/25/15 2:31 PM
EVERGLADESUNIVERSITY.EDU
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W i n d P oW e r
Baker Consultants at work performing
passive acoustic monitoring for noise.
Credit: Baker Consultants.
measures were adopted at the source of noise and involved the use
of the IHC Noise Mitigation System, which is a double walled cyl-
inder filled with a bubble layer, to ensure that the right trade-off
between piling energy and
blow count was attained.
Operation procedures, too,
were modified through the
adoption of a “ramp-up” pro-
cedure. This procedure was
used as a mitigation measure
(along with the acoustic deter-
rent devices) to warn marine
mammals about the upcom-
ing anthropogenic activity and
encourage them to leave.
Costs
Monitoring underwater noise
can be extremely challenging
and the costs of these survey
[continued on page 53]
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1507REW_41 41 6/25/15 2:31 PM
Renewable Energy World Conference & Exhibition North America 2015
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1507REW_42 42 6/25/15 2:31 PM
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 43
GEOTHERMAL
Energy Storage and Geothermal Markets Look To Team Up in the Hunt for Lithium
As the lithium-ion battery market heats up, developers are seeing exciting opportunities to extract sought-
after lithium from spent geothermal brine.
MEG CICHON, Associate Editor
In today’s fast-paced tech envi-
ronment, no one can make a
splash quite like Elon Musk. So
when he decided to enter the
energy storage game in 2014,
he did it with gusto. Musk is
now in the process of building what he coined a “gigafacto-
ry,” which is a lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant in
Nevada. Of course, the plant is being built at such an eff-
cient pace that its ahead of schedule and is now set to start
production in 2016.
Since the gigafactory plans were revealed, Musk has
continued to wow the industry with
announcements like the unveiling of
Powerwall, a residential storage system
that pairs with rooftop solar, which can
be fnanced and installed by his other
company that you may have already
heard of, SolarCity.
Musk has certainly shined a light on
the lithium-ion battery, and analysts
expect the industry grow at an exor-
bitant clip within the next few years
alone. However, big growth like this
does not come without its challenges,
and in this case, some industry insid-
ers have begun murmuring about
resource concerns.
“If you take a look at [lithium] sup-
ply and demand dynamics over the
next few years, [in] 2015, you’re already
looking at a possible supply of 300,000
tons and possible demand of 480,000 The Salton Sea. Credit: Shutterstock.
1507REW_43 43 6/25/15 2:35 PM
Turbine
Geothermal power plant
Generator
Productionwell
Injectionwell
Geothermal zone
Coolingtower
Steam Brine
H2O
H2O
CO2Product conversion
Packaging
Separation
Return
Steam
CO2
Water
Brine
Geothermal
44 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
tons,” according to Alix Steel
of Bloomberg. “We are seeing
a 7-10 percent annual growth
for demand, so we would not
have enough lithium as proj-
ects stand right now.”
However, Steel also said
that there are more than
13 million tons of lithium
reserves — plenty to satisfy
our growing need — but the
problem is extraction: it takes
lots of time and, in some
cases, lots of money.
Lithium is commonly
extracted from either hard
rock via an energy-intensive
roasting and leeching pro-
cess, or from salty brines.
The brine is laid out in pools
where it evaporates, leav-
ing behind lithium and other
minerals. Though it is relatively low-cost, the evaporation pro-
cess can take up to two years and it is diffcult to get most of the
lithium out of the brine.
In order to avoid this process, some developers have turned to
the Salton Sea in Imperial Valley, California, which sits on a mas-
sive geothermal resource. If developed, it could potentially unlock
nearly 3 gigawatts (GW) of capacity. Developers have taken notice,
and the Imperial Irrigation District has created a plan to develop
1.7 GW by 2032 — if they can get some fnancial backing. While it
sounds like a no-brainer, the project faces several hurdles, includ-
ing a lack of transmission and long permitting processes.
What does this have to do with lithium? While the Salton Sea
has huge geothermal potential, it’s also considered one of the
world’s most mineral-rich environments, and developers have
taken notice. To pair these two resources, several companies
around the world have created a
lithium extraction process from
geothermal brine. This technol-
ogy allows companies to bypass
the traditional evaporation pro-
cess, because once a geothermal
plant uses up hot brine to pro-
duce energy, rather than pump-
ing it back into the ground, this
new technology snaps it up.
Then, using a series of flters
and absorption techniques, it
separates materials, and even-
tually extracts lithium.
One company that has caused
quite a stir in the U.S. is Simbol
Materials, which has demon-
strated this technology’s viabil-
ity at one of the lone geothermal
plants located in the Salton Sea
area. In 2012, Simbol established a demonstration plant at the
49.9-MW John L. Featherstone geothermal plant, which was a
2012 winner of the Renewable Energy World Project of the Year
Awards partly due to this innovative technology.
“The Salton Sea geothermal feld is among the world’s larg-
est and highest temperature resources because it lies directly
inside an active plate tectonic boundary,” said ACORE’s Dennis
Graphic: Simbol Materials lithium extraction process. Credit: Simbol
Materials.
1507REW_44 44 6/25/15 2:35 PM
Geothermal
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 45
McGinn during a press call. “In addition to generating thermal
power, Salton Sea geothermal brines are well-known for their
exceptionally high concentrations of minerals. These minerals
include lithium, manganese and zinc, which are important to
battery and energy storage technology, and are truly a national
strategic asset.”
Simbol has since produced the world’s frst battery grade
Li2Co3 lithium from geothermal brine. The company said that it
is currently able to process 6 gallons of brine per minute, but it
believes it can increase to 6,000 gallons per minute to produce
more than 15,000 tons of battery-grade lithium per year.
Salton Sea initiative supporters are hoping that this extrac-
tion technology coupled with the growing demand for lithium
in nearby Nevada, and Musk’s desire to only use materials pro-
duced in the U.S. will bring an extra incentive to develop more
geothermal plants, and ultimately boost the local economy and
protect the environment.
In fact, Simbol was reportedly planning to build a commer-
cial-scale plant that would create to up to 150 permanent jobs in
an employment-weary area, according to The Desert Sun. How-
ever, it couldn’t happen soon enough and in early 2015, the com-
pany laid off the majority of its employees citing fnancial diff-
culties, leaving its bright future in question.
Meanwhile, other regions
are investigating the viabili-
ty of this technology, includ-
ing geothermal-rich New
Zealand. The Ministry of
Business, Innovation and
Employment commissioned a
two-year study to determine
if and how mineral extraction
could succeed. The April 2015
report stated that though “the
composition and volume of
geothermal fuids in New Zea-
land also offers considerable
potential for the extraction of
various metals and minerals,”
the report questions the tech-
nology’s economic viability.
“While extracting prod-
ucts from geothermal fuids is
technically feasible, positive
economics is the key driver
for commercial success.” ◑
The John L. Featherstone Plant in California. Credit: Geothermal Resources Council.
1507REW_45 45 6/25/15 2:35 PM
the
heproject Profling Stand-out
Renewable Energy
Projects Worldwide
46 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
Located near Diego de Almagro
in Chile, the PV Salvador project
delivers energy to the Siste-
ma Interconectado Central grid,
where it is sold on the spot mar-
ket in direct competition with
traditional sources of electricity
without government subsidies.
Salvador is jointly owned
by Etrion, Total and Solventus
Energías Renovables; the major-
ity fnancing was done through
non-recourse project debt from
the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC); and it was
built by SunPower on approxi-
mately 328 acres leased from the
Chilean government.
The PV Salvador Solar Project
By the Numbers
70mw160,000
300
solar
power
capacity
SunPower modules
jobs created
during
construction
Credit: @Total – Laurent Zylberman.
Credit: @Total – Laurent Zylberman.
1507REW_46 46 6/25/15 2:35 PM
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48 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
HYDROPOWER
Mini-hydro Making A Big Impact on Nepalese Power
In the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit Nepal in April, development of its 83
GW of hydropower potential has emerged as a key opportunity for rebuilding a country that was already struggling to meet its electricity demand.
The earthquake that struck Nepal
in April 2015 left Kathmandu city
in ruins. Credit: My Good Images /
Shutterstock.com.
DAVID APPLEYARD, Contributor
Renowned for its vast hydropower resources, the Himalayan
nation of Nepal has nonetheless long struggled to meet its
growing power demand. Now though, the devastating earth-
quake that struck the country in April 2015 is placing even
more emphasis on the development of hydropower at a range
of scales.
The quake not only killed an estimated 8,000 people and
destroyed parts of the country, it also had a profound effect
on the national infrastructure. As one of the world’s poorest
developing nations, even
before the magnitude 7.9
earthquake hit, Nepal was
subject to signifcant load
shedding, with rolling black-
outs right across the country
for some 12 or more hours a
day. With a number of exist-
ing hydropower projects dam-
aged in the seismic event,
1507REW_48 48 6/25/15 2:35 PM
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 49
capacity margins have fallen
still further.
Putting this in context, the
latest available fgures from
the Nepal Electricity Author-
ity (NEA) — from its 2014
annual report — reveal a
peak power demand estimat-
ed at 1201 MW, which refect-
ed a growth of almost 10 per-
cent over the previous year.
However, the peak generating
capacity was just 791 MW,
leaving a 410 MW estimated
shortfall — something over
20 percent. [See sidebar for
more information on electrici-
ty in Nepal today.]
Raghuveer Sharma, Chief
Investment Offcer of IFC,
explained that a sizeable por-
tion of the current installed
capacity of Nepal consists of
small hydropower projects
and with the earthquake hav-
ing damaged larger hydro-
power projects, the coun-
try has set further focus on
small and micro-hydropower development. “As many as 2000
MW capacity worth new power purchase agreements (PPAs) have
been signed, which goes to show the potential and promise of
small hydropower projects,” he said.
For example, last May the World Bank Group signed off on
$84.6 million in fnancing for the Kabeli-A Hydroelectric Project
— a peaking run-of-river hydroelectric plant with an installed
capacity of 37.6 MW. It will be built in Panchthar district in the
east of Nepal together with the Kabeli Corridor Transmission
Line, a separate project under construction that also has World
Bank fnancing.
Key to the development of Nepal’s hydropower potential is
the issue of fnance. But this is not insurmountable, said Shar-
ma. “Attracting fnance for hydropower projects is not depen-
dent on size of the project whether small, medium or large. Rath-
er, it is the bankability of the project that determines fnancing.
The bankability criteria include techno-economic, environmen-
tal, social, legal and commercial aspects. Each of these has risks
inherent in them, and it is how the risks are assessed and miti-
gated that determines bankability.”
Sharma said that access to transmission is also key: “If small
hydropower projects are near a transmission line, they become
more viable,” he said, adding that needing to build out transmis-
sion could mean that capital costs “render the projects unviable.”
Small and Smaller Still
Micro- and pico-hydro plants of a few tens of kW upwards are
also attracting interest where transmission system connection is
One of the many
rivers in Nepal.
Credit: Shutterstock.
1507REW_49 49 6/25/15 2:35 PM
Hydropower
50 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
Electricity in Nepal Today
Nepal has an annual energy demand estimated at 5910 GWh, of
which only 4632 GWh could be supplied. Nevertheless, Nepal
continued to export power to India last year. NEA fgures give
2013-2014 sales to India as 3.32 GWh, down from the 3.6 GWh
exported in the previous year.
While this may seem paradoxical, power sales represent
a valuable — if not vital — source of revenue for the national
treasury coffers. In fact, just two weeks prior to the earthquake
— Nepal’s investment board cleared China Three Gorges Corp to
build a new $1.6 billion 750-MW hydropower project on the West
Seti River.
Of the available generating capacity actually supplied, 436.4
MW came from NEA-owned hydropower plants, 22 MW from
state-owned thermal capacity and 216.4 MW was generated by
hydropower from independent power producers. The rest was
imported from neighboring India, which supplied something on the
order of 20 percent of Nepal’s total power demand over the year.
According to the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre of
Nepal, about 85 percent of the total energy consumption in
Nepal is met through traditional biomass. The rest is met through
imported commercial sources such as petroleum and diesel.
Out of the total biomass, frewood contributes about 89 percent,
animal waste 7 percent and the remaining 4 percent from
agricultural residues. ◑
unlikely even in the longer term. With an inclusive communi-
ty-driven model, micro-hydro initiatives in Nepal are meeting
the energy needs of rural communities and powering econom-
ic development.
To date, the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) has
facilitated the construction of more than 1,000 micro-hydro
plants in 52 districts under the auspices of the National Rural
and Renewable Energy Programme (NRREP) launched in 2012.
A consortium of fve governments, two multilateral banks and
three intergovernmental organizations support the US $184
million budget to execute this
fve-year program that aims
install close to 7,000 kW of
micro-hydro capacity.
Among the micro and pico-
hydro fnancing projects
administered by AEPC are
the Micro Hydro Debt Fund
(MHDF), which is support-
ed by GIZ, the German devel-
opment bank. Initially bud-
geted at EU €500,000 and
later increased by €42,000,
the fund envisages more than
400 kW of additional capaci-
ty to bring electricity to about
19,000 individuals.
Further, in 2012 AEPC —
with the support from United
Nations Capital Development
Fund (UNCDF) and UNDP —
launched its Clean Start pro-
gram. The program plans to
invest US $1.3 million over
a period of four years (2012-
2015) to develop business
models for scaling up microf-
nance. By the end of the pro-
gram, more than 150,000
low-income households will
have access to energy.
Similarly, a program called
Scaling up Renewable Ener-
gy Program in Low Income
Countries (SREP) aims to
provide electricity access to
250,000 households through
30 MW of mini/micro hydro-
power. Further, the Micro
Hydro Village Electrifcation
Program (MHVEP) is anoth-
er joint initiative of AEPC and
1507REW_50 50 6/25/15 2:35 PM
Hydropower
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 51
the World Bank and fund-
ed by the Power Development
Fund (PDF).
During 2012-2013, the lat-
est year for which fgures are
available, some 133 pico- and
micro-hydro projects with
a total capacity of 3.2 MW
were supported. Further-
more, an additional 125 proj-
ects are under construction
with a combined capacity of
4.3 MW.
There are around 42 small
hydropower projects current-
ly operating in Nepal with a
combined capacity of some
16.3 MW. These projects are
joined by around 1300 micro-
hydro plants with a combined
output of more than 24 MW
and some 1600 pico hydro-
power plants generating 3.7
MW, collectively.
However, the NEA noted that hydro alone “is not suffcient
to minimize load shedding,” and added “other probable sourc-
es of renewable energy, including solar power will [need to] be
connected to the national grid.” In December the World Bank
approved a US $130 million credit for the Nepal Grid Solar and
Energy Effciency Project. The project aims to increase electricity
supply to the national grid through grid-connected solar, which
should reduce distribution losses. It includes the design, sup-
ply, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance of
grid-connected solar, with a total capacity of 25 MWp.
As Johannes Zutt, the World Bank country director for Nepal,
had previously observed: “Nepal will need rapid and sustained
growth to continue reducing extreme poverty and increase the
incomes of the bottom 40 percent [of the population]. This will
require the country to boost investment and narrow a mas-
sive infrastructure gap, which is the single most important con-
straint to growth.”
It seems clear that while Nepal’s massive hydro resources do
offer an attractive route to lift much of the population beyond
energy poverty and reliance on bioenergy for domestic heating
and lighting, the needs of this developing country are such that
other renewable energy technologies will also experience a sig-
nifcant uptick in growth in the coming years. The key, as ever, is
in achieving a market for attractive and sustainable fnance. ◑
Rice fields around the Nepalese village
of Shivalaya. Only some 5 percent of
Nepal’s rural population has access to
grid electricity. Credit: Shutterstock.
1507REW_51 51 6/25/15 2:35 PM
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RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 53RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 53
Renewable Energy
Tra ining Event s
For more information, enter 20 at REW.hotims.com
Forecasting & Modeling the
Future Energy MixGreen Power ConferencesLondon, UK20-24 July 2015
Solar PV Mastery TrainingKaplan Clean Tech EducationArlington, TX, USA20-25 July
Renewable Energy and Communication
Tower Technician ProgramAirstreams Renewables Tehachapi, CA, USA3 August – 11 September
Introduction to Wind SystemsMidwest Renewable Energy AssociationOnline27 July – 23 August
Design & Install Grid Connect
Photovoltaic SystemsGlobal Sustainable Energy SolutionsSydney, Australia22-24 July
Solar PV Mastery ComboeverblueLos Angeles, California3-7 August(Other US locations and dates available)
Wind PowerThe European Energy CentreEdinburgh Napier University29-30 July
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[continued from page 41]
techniques have to be balanced with the added
value of gathering this information. However, in
recent years, the technology available for mon-
itoring underwater noise and marine mam-
mal presence has improved dramatically, with
several affordable and good quality instru-
ments now readily available. This means there
are now multiple ways in which surveys can
be conducted, depending on individual needs.
Most importantly, instruments are now avail-
able that allow the monitoring of sound under-
water both short and long term, autonomously
or from a boat, and allow real-time data trans-
mission to a remote location.
As Passive Acoustic Monitoring requires
minimal human intervention and can be used
when weather conditions are highly adverse, it
therefore reduces time and costs over more tra-
ditional methods. ◑
Holly Waterman is a communications manag-
er with Baker Consultants, based in the UK.
1507REW_53 53 6/25/15 2:35 PM
54 JULY/AUGUST 2015 RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE
The Adveritser’s Index is published as a service. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.
Renewable Energy Wor ld Calendar 2015
Adver t iser ’s Index For more information on the products and services found in this issue click here.
Distributech 2015…41
Ecofasten Solar…52
Everglades University…41
Nexans…14
Northern States Metal…25
Nuscale Power…9
Power-Gen Middle East 2015…29
Projects of the Year/Woman of the Year 2015…39
REW North America 2015…42
REW Asia…26
Shoals Technologies…20
Siemens…2
Smarter Shows…53
Socomec…52
Solar Energy Trade Shows…4
Spice Solar…16
Surrette Battery Co. …13, 52
Trojan Battery…CV2
UK AD & Biogas Exhibition
1 - 2 July 2015
Birmingham, United Kingdom
W: http://adbioresources.
org/uk-ad-biogas-2015
Energy Storage USA 2015
7 - 8 July 2015
San Diego, CA, USA
W: www.energystorageupdate.com/usa/
Intersolar North America
14 - 16 July 2015
San Francisco, CA, USA
W:www.intersolar.us/
HydroVision International
14 - 17 July 2015
Portland, OR, USA
www.hydroevent.com
POWER-GEN Africa
15 - 17 July 2015
Cape Town, Republic of South Africa
W:www.powergenafrica.com
Wind Power Central America
15 - 17 July 2015
Panama City, Panama
W: http://www.
greenpowerconferences.com/
Green Building Brasil
11 - 13 August 2015
Sao Paulo, Brasil
W: http://www.expogbcbrasil.
org.br/2015/en/
Guangzhou International Solar
Photovoltaic Exhibition
18 - 20 August 2015
Guangzhou, China
W: www.chinaexhibition.com
MED GREEN FORUM
26 - 28 August 2015
Florence, Italy
W: www.wrenuk.co.uk/congresses
Renewable Energy World Asia
1 - 3 September 2015
Bangkok, Thailand
W: www.renewableenergyworld-
asia.com
POWER-GEN Asia
1 - 3 September 2015
Bangkok, Thailand
W: www.powergenasia.com
POWER-GEN Asia Financial Forum
1 - 3 September 2015
Bangkok, Thailand
W: www.powergenasiafinance.com
Intersolar South America
1 - 3 September 2015
Sao Paulo, Brasil
W: www.intersolar.net.br/en/
Solar Power International
14 - 17 September 2015
Anaheim, CA, USA
W: www.solarpowerinternational.com
Husum WindEnergy
15 - 18 September 2015
Husum, Germany
W: www.husumwind.com
Selected multi-day conferences, expos and events for the Renewable Energy Industry
1507REW_C3 3 6/25/15 2:37 PM
LastWO R D
the
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2015 55
Why Smarter Grids Demand Smarter Communications Networks
Historically, utility networks and com-
munications networks have had little
in common. These two types of net-
works have intersected, of course —
utilities have relied on communica-
tions networks for decades to support
a variety of critical capabilities, which
have generally run on equipment
leased from telecommunications car-
riers. Similarly, these carriers relied
on power grids to power to their com-
munications networks. However, these
intersections were few, and the two
types of networks were built, managed
and operated in very different ways.
The world has changed since most
grids were built. Today utilities face
challenges that aging infrastruc-
ture cannot support. In fact, the car-
rier networks that utilities have relied
on for remote monitoring, control and
grid automation will soon be shut
down in favor of IP-based networks.
Meanwhile, the need to man-
age renewable energy resources,
such as wind and solar, have intro-
duced additional demands. Notably,
this renewable component typically
involves small-scale, distributed ener-
gy resources that tend to be connected
to the least automated part of the grid
— the medium-voltage and especial-
ly the low-voltage parts of the distribu-
tion network. Utilities need to modern-
ize their grids to make them smarter.
Part of this transformation is the tran-
sition to a more modern and reliable
communications network.
This transition is similar to the shift
that is taking place in communica-
tions networks. IP and Multiprotocol
Label Switching (IP/MPLS) technolo-
gy was developed to serve as the foun-
dation for next-gen communications
networks. Carriers have used IP/MPLS
networks to consolidate a variety of
services and applications — voice,
data, video — onto a single, converged
infrastructure, making it possible to
deliver a variety of services to cus-
tomers. Not surprisingly, IP/MPLS has
emerged as the chosen path for T&D
utilities globally to connect substa-
tions, operation centers, data centers
and remote grid devices. This is due
to its deterministic performance, effi-
cient support of packet-based traffic
and ability to support legacy traffic. IP/
MPLS enables utilities to support mul-
tiple application-specific operation-
al networks on a single network while
optimizing the performance of the
growing number of real time IP-based
smart grid applications.
All of the capabilities carriers and
utilities must support — from movie
streaming to linking sensors for sub-
station automation — can be served
using a dynamic, secure, and mission-
critical communications network. ◑
Mark Madden
is the Regional
Vice President for
Utility Markets in
Alcatel-Lucent’s
North American
Region where he
is responsible for
Alcatel-Lucent’s utility
market strategy,
strategic partnerships,
and business
development. Mark
joined Alcatel-Lucent
in 1996 and has
more than 30 years
of experience with
leading companies in
the Information and
Communications
Technologies industry,
with the last 10 years
directly engaged
with power utility
communications.
1507REW_C4 4 6/25/15 2:39 PM