Thai VI

http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-mus ... sla-2014-6

The firm unveiled plans to build one of the world's largest high-efficiency solar panel plants, using technology from Fremont-based Silevo, which they also said they'd acquired.




"We expect to have to install 10 gigawatts [of high-efficiency panels] a year," Chairman Elon Musk said on a conference call announcing the move. "If you look at the current capacity in the world, we're not able to do that right now."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-mus ... z36fzececs

Elon Musk’s gigafactory
Assault on batteries
http://www.economist.com/news/business/ ... -batteries

The gigafactory, which will eventually turn out batteries for 500,000 vehicles, should cut their cost by another 30%, according to Tesla (see chart). Mr Musk reckons that two-thirds of that saving will come from scale alone—the new factory will double the world’s lithium-battery output—with the rest down to improved manufacturing technology. If Tesla makes good on its promise, electric motoring could finally take off. Sanford C. Bernstein, a research firm, reckons that when costs drop below $200 a kWh, battery-powered cars start to become competitive with conventional ones without subsidies. The gigafactory could bring Tesla close to that.

http://cleantechnica.com/2014/02/19/goo ... hallenges/
Almost a year ago, Google took a 100% ownership position in Makani, an airborne wind energy company. It had previously held a $15 million position in the company, but after the tragic death of one of its founders, Makani’s future was less certain. Now it has deep pockets in Google X, the division devoted to breakthrough technologies

The theory is that with better performance at low wind speeds, as well as far less need for materials, they can meet their goal of building utility-scale power generation at less than half the levelized cost of current wind turbine technologies ($35/MWh). While conventional economic wind energy resources cover just 25% of U.S. landmass, Makani’s technology theoretically opens up far more possibilities on shore and offshore. Currently, they are working on a 600 kW carbon fiber prototype (which requires a 450-meter tether), having just finished a successful 30 kW prototype nearly a year ago. BERC members were excited to visit Makani Power, especially after inviting one of its co-founders, Saul Griffith, to keynote our annual energy conference on campus late last year.

Types of Solar Cells
http://www.nanalyze.com/2013/08/a-simpl ... lar-cells/
Solar cells, 80% of which are produced from crystalline silicon wafers, convert the energy of light into electricity through a process known as photovoltaics. There are many types of solar cells as seen below:

Solar Cell Efficiency

The ability of a cell to convert the maximum amount of light into electricity is known as the cell’s efficiency. Each of the above cell types has a peak efficiency as seen in the below example:

Ferment - This is the when a product or industry is completely new. A dominant design has not been recognized and competition to create the dominant design is fierce.
Takeoff - If a dominant design has been determined and the innovation crosses the chasm of death you will see a rapid period of growth as the innovation moves towards full market acceptance.
Maturity - The product or industry has become a completely accepted by the general public and has matured. It is at this point that only a few large players exist and the markets are clearly defined. This is also the point when products become completely standardized and the products are less and less unique.
Discontinuity - Once a product has reached maturity it runs that risk of being discontinued by newer technologies a great example of this was the transition from film cameras to digital cameras
- See more at: http://innovajourney.blogspot.com/2012/ ... Ifuwr.dpuf

Market Share Forecast By Region

http://solarcellcentral.com/markets_page.html


Germany has over whelmingly dominated the worldwide solar markets the last few years. However, Germany has made the decision to "gradually" reduce their feed-in-tariffs (FITs) until the market price equals "grid parity". See the chart to the left. This is causing a "redistribution", but not a reduction in the total annual newly installed PV solar market. Italy also is reducing their FIT, but the rest of the EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) is taking up the slack.

China, Japan, and the US are seeing dramatic growth. China produces more than half the world's supply of solar modules, so it intends to install a lot of solar locally. Japan has been hard hit by their nuclear disaster. Japan, like Germany, intends to phase out nuclear and replace it with renewable sources. As India becomes more modernized, it appears to be easier to install a lot of local solar rather than build fossil fuel plants with a lot of transmission lines. Solar prices in India are already close to grid parity. Most analysts expect 2014 will be a record year. After 2014, the long term growth estimates are expected to normalize and range from 20% to 25%.

US PV Market Growth

In 2014 the US market is expected to be about 6,000 MW, a 25% increase. The previous 7 year average annual growth rate from 2006 to 2013 was 73%.

Most analysts believe solar cell and module capacity will be reasonably in line during 2014, but the polysilicon glut may take several years to work off. As a result of falling prices while unit shipments increased, almost all the companies in the solar industry were unprofitable from 2011 to 2013.

...
However, prices of some components like polysilicon, wafers and solar cells have been edging up since the beginning of 2013. 2014 is expected to be a very profitable year for the companies that survived the 2011 and 2012 glut of product.

US Electricity Prices - 2011
Residential 11.7¢/Kwh
Commercial 10.2¢/Kwh
Industrial 6.8¢/Kwh
Overall Average 9.9¢/Kwh

Hawaii (31.6¢ per kWh)
Connecticut (16.4¢ per kWh)
Alaska (16.1¢ per kWh)

Those with the lowest average prices in 2011 were:

Idaho (6.4¢ per kWh)
Wyoming (6.6¢ per kWh)
Washington (6.8¢ per kWh)

Low Capacity Factors of Solar and Wind

In contrast typical renewable energy plants currently do not have capacity factors determined by market forces. Their main determinants are when the sun shines and when the wind blows. Solar panels have capacity factors below 10% in cloudy Germany, whereas they are 20% in the more suitable Arizona. Average solar radiation in Arizona is 22% of its maximum, therefore a capacity factor of around 20% should be viewed as a physical upper limit to capacity factors in Arizona. The difference between peak output and average can be significant, last year peak output (22 GW) was seven times higher than average output (3.2 GW) in Germany.
http://theenergycollective.com/robertwi ... transition

http://www.weforum.org/news/health-and- ... 014-agenda
Health and Environment Prominent on Davos 2014 Agenda
..

The current global economy results in massive waste.
Adapting to a circular economy has the potential
to valorize 100 million tonnes of material waste within five years.

By 2035 so-called EVs may remove 1 million to 2 million barrels a day of oil demand from the market -- in the range of the production cut OPEC and its allies agreed this week in order to end a three-year crude surplus.

For 2016, the IEA Oil Market Report forecasts worldwide average demand of nearly 96 million barrels of oil and liquid fuels per day