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Solarcon India 2010 kicks off in Hyderabad!
Honourable Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr Farooq Abdullah, along with Honourable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, K. Rosaiah, and Honourable Union Minister for Urban Development, Jaipal Reddy, inaugurating Solarcon India 2010.
Solarcon India 2010, the second edition of India’s largest solar-energy-focused event organized by SEMI India, the premier trade body of the Indian solar/PV industry, kicked off at HICC, Hyderabad today.
Honourable Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr Farooq Abdullah, inaugurated the three day exposition and conference. Honourable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, K. Rosaiah presided over the event. Honourable Union Minister for Urban Development, Jaipal Reddy, was the Guest of Honour.
The conference keynote was delivered by Dr Winfried Hoffmann, President, European Photovoltaic Industry Association.
India’s first solar industry directory, published by SEMI India was released on the occasion.
More details later… am still at the conference! 😉
Unique solution required for grid-tie inverters in India!
He was speaking during a workshop on solar inverters, organized by the India Semiconductor Association (ISA) on 23 July, 2010, in Kolkata, India.
Further, the inverters (solar/otherwise) are still designed with chips designed for motor control application. There is a need for inverter specific solution input PFC, battery monitoring/algorithms, charge current/mains sense, power device drivers, etc).
As and when these challenges be met, which should happen, hopefully, in the long run, the Indian opportunity is immense! For instance, the goal of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JN-NSM) is already well known — to set up a capacity of solar power generation of 20,000 MW by 2022 in India.
Solar should be seen as a long term solution to solving India’s power deficit situation. The total capital outlay at today’s prices for adding 20,000MW capacity is estimated at Rs. 4 lakh crores ($90 billion)! Further, the share of electronics (balance of system) alone will likely be Rs 80,000 crores ($20 billion). Read more…
Need to overcome solar inverter challenges and issues in India
According to Dr. J. N. Roy, vice president (R&D/Engineering), Solar Semiconductor Pvt Ltd, while Indian made inverters could be mostly installed indoors, the foreign ones could be deployed both indoors and outdoors. In terms of durability, Indian inverters are expected to last at least 20 years, while foreign inverters had already proved that they can last this distance!
These limitations or challenges facing Indian made inverters were highlighted by Dr. Roy during a workshop on solar inverters, organized by the India Semiconductor Association (ISA) on 23 July, 2010, in Kolkata, India.
In terms of control, Indian inverters did not support wireless features as yet, while it is already available on foreign inverters. In terms of design and support, while Indian inverters were generally custom made, the foreign inverters were standardized and had simulation support. As for efficiency, while Indian inverters had efficiency less than 94 percent, their foreign counterparts boast efficiency higher than 97 percent — a telling differentiator.
In terms of battery voltage, Indian made inverters were available supporting 24V, 48V, 96V, 120V and 240V, respectively. Foreign made inverters support 24V and 48V as fixed. They are light and compact, as compared to large and heavy for locally made inverters. While Indian inverters are generally EC and TUV approved, the foreign inverters are EC and TUV approved and UL listed, respectively.
Dr. Roy also highlighted the challenges faced by power control units (PCUs) in India and touched upon the desired features of inverters.
Roy said that inverters today have a mean time between failure (MTBF) of less than 10 years. The computed MTBF above 100 years has already been achieved in recent modular solar inverters. Incidentally, solar PV panels easily meet the 25 years life requirement.
He provided case studies, such as off-grid DC couple system, off-grid AC couple system, and off-grid pump systems. In the off-grid pump systems, there were no batteries/grid as buffer. Power consumption can be matched with power generation by controlling speed of the pump. He advised making power generation as close as possible to maximum power.
Dr. Roy provided several examples of inverters. While multi string inverter and central inverter were examples of classification based on installations, solar inverters with and without transformer were examples of classification based on topology. Read more…
Round-up 2009: Best of solar photovoltaics
Part III in the series ‘Round-up 2009’ features the top posts in solar photovoltaics during the year gone by. Some friends and readers have spent hours searching for blog posts. Hope this list will help them to easily find the blog post they are looking for. Here you go!
SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAICS
Dramatic price forecast to reshape PV industry: iSuppli
Opportunities in India’s solar/PV landscape: SEMI India
More mature PV industry likely post solar downturn: iSuppli
How is PV industry reacting to oversupply conditions?
Dr. Robert Castellano on how to make solar a ‘hot’ sector again – 1
Dr. Robert Castellano on how to make solar a ‘hot’ sector again – 2
Consolidation likely in solar cell manufacturing to control oversupply, and, lessons for India!
Top-10 solar cell suppliers in 2009: iSuppli — This was also a top read article during 2009!
Solar PV industry scenario in India!
Rising opportunities in India’s solar PV space
Highest efficiency Si solar cells realised with n-Si — Prof. Weber, Fraunhofer ISE
Solar Semiconductor’s Hari Surapaneni on why solar is good for India!
India major destination for solar/PV investments!
Dynamics of the global PV industry
Prof. Eicke R. Weber, Fraunhofer Institute on future of PV
Solar PV and Utility 2.0: Making the grid smarter!
Union Cabinet approves National Solar Mission; 20 GW by 2022 (not 2020)! — The day and event everyone’s waited so very patiently for long in the Indian solar/PV industry!
Indian government unveils National Solar Mission Plan document!
What’s next in PV equipment?
Again, it is extremely difficult for me to list the Top 10. If you can decide, that’ll be great.
Best wishes to my dear friends, well-wishers and everyone for a happy and prosperous 2010!
Wlhat's next in PV equipment?
Thanks to David Jourdan at Yole Développement, Lyon, France, I recently participated in a presentation made by Arnaud Duteil, market analyst, photovoltaic technologies, Yole, titled: PV Equipment – What’s Next? According to Yole’s analyst:
• Until the end of 2008, optimistic demand has pushed industrials to expand their fabsquickly and has thus disconnected capacity from the real market.
• Low average utilization rates are affecting cash flow of numerous players. Initial expansion plans are delayed and cell/module makers are focusing on selling stocks.
• Equipment market has been growing very fast and is now being impacted by this industry slow down. The market will be pushed again in 2010 by a strong restart of PV installations
• Equipment makers have been running after the market for several years. 2009 being a difficult period, they have turn the slowdown into an opportunity to increase their customer support and strengthen their knowledge directly on site.
• The focus is now on process optimization and innovation to continuously drive production costs down.
What’s the current situation?
There has been strong demand in 2007 and 2008, which triggered several fab extensions projects. Also, there were large investment plans across all the value chain — polysilicon, ingot and wafer, cell and module. As a result, at the end of 2008, the industry was big enough to supply:
– 12GWp of solar modules,
– 11GWp of wafers,
– 9 GWP of polysilicon
The equipment market reached 2.7 billion Euros in 2008 and will be down by 30 percent at 1.9 billion Euros. However, two key events changed the market in 2008 — the capping of Spanish incentive program and the global financial crisis.
Yole expects that module demand will reach 6.5GWp at the end of this year and about 5GWp of connected installations assuming 7gr of polysilicon per Wpand 14,5 percent efficiency at the module level.
In 2008, the policy forecast and market reality were not quite matching. There was also strong interest into FIT (feed-in tariffs) and a sturdy demand from the Spanish market led to high module prices. A flat growth has been expected in 2009 mainly because of the 500MW cap on Spanish installations, as well as due to the strong price adjustment.
Strong price elasticity is likely during 2010-11. Strong investments in silicon and cell production capacities will be operational. Also, prices will continue to drop while opening up new markets. In the optimistic scenario, Italy and California could reach grid parity by 2010.
Demand will likely take off in 2012-13. Large raw material availability and factory over-capacities will again force value chain players to lower their cost and reduce margins. Grid parity will be reached in several countries and unmatched demand will emerge.
However, Duteil cautioned that technical bottlenecks are expected on systems storage and electric grid adaptability.
PV equipment market
As for the equipment market, Yole believes that the gap between capacity and demand will negatively impact the equipment market for the next two years.
Assessing the equipment market from 2007 to 2013, in 2007-08, there was strong demand for thin film solution due to expensive polysilicon. It was important for growth of equipment market to match with demand.
In the period 2008-10, there is likely to be strong over-capacity, and low utilization rates are limiting new investments in fab extensions. However companies with proprietary design continue to increase their capacity, such as First Solar. Other examples of companies investing in turnkey solutions: Best Solar, Genesis Energy, KSK Surya PV, Signet Solar, Top Green Energy, etc. From 2011-13, demand for PV installations will trigger new capacities and boost the equipment market.
If turnkey and non-turnkey fabs are compared — a-Si and a-Si/μ-Si new capacity in 2009 — the TF turnkey lines market share is bigger than its C-Si counterpart. This is mainly because the turnkey providers lower technical barriers and thus help in diffusing the technology. Non-turnkey type production capacities will grow, thanks to key companies like First Solar, Solyndra or Abound Solar.
Yole, founded in 1998, is a market research, technology evaluation and strategy consulting company. Forty of its business is in the EU countries, while Asia and North America account for 30 percent each, respectively. Yole is and involved in the following fields:
* MEMS, including microfluidics.
* Photovoltaic, from equipment and materials to cell business.
* Compound semiconductor business (SiC, GaN, AlN, ZnO) –power devices, RF devices, LED, HB LED.
* Advanced packaging (3D IC, TSV, SoC, WLP).
* Nanomaterials.
Solar Semiconductor's Hari Surapaneni on why solar is good for India!
Hari Surapaneni, founder, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer, Solar Semiconductor, is among the speakers at the Solarcon India 2009 event in Hyderabad next week. It was a pleasure to chat up with him recently.
Hari Surapaneni, founder, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer, Solar Semiconductor.
Solar Semiconductor is a well known systems integration company specializing in promoting, designing, building and maintaining solar PV power plants in the US and rest of the world.
Solar/PV market drivers in India
According to Surapaneni the current market drivers for solar photovoltaics in India include:
* Rising energy demand: Electricity consumption in India is projected to rise from 660 kWh per capita currently to over 2000 kWh by 2032 along with economic growth.
* Energy security for sustainable economic growth: To reduce reliance on fossil fuel for sustainable economic growth. This will help reduce risk on depending on a few nations for supply of fossil fuels and reduce the export bill for the country.
* Significant power deficit situation: India is still a power deficit country with average power shortage of ~9 percent and peak power shortage of ~15 percent.
* Government goals to supply electricity to all.
On potential of thermal and CIGS solar
Surapaneni believes there is a case for thermal solar. He said: “Solar thermal technology does have a potential in India. With today’s prices of PV and continued reduction of the same coupled with lower operating expenses of PV, the penetration of solar thermal becomes a challenge in India.”
There has been some talk about CIGS (Copper indium gallium (di) selenide) solar. Does this technology have potential in the Indian context?
Surapaneni added: “CIGS is a very promising technology as it provides higher panel efficiency with low cost. However, it is still not a proven technology at commercial scale and some time off from commercialization.”
And what about BIPV?
On the same note, it’d be interesting to get his thoughts on the potential for BIPV (building integrated photovoltaics) in the Indian context.
According to Surapaneni, building integrated PV and roof integrated PV (solar tiles, etc.) are primarily urban applications.
“Rapid development in cities (high rises/apartment complexes/office buildings), coupled with high solar irradiation of 4-7 kwh per day, per square meter and 300 sunny days annually, BIPV has significant theoretical potential.
“These building currently have polluting diesel back-ups. However, to realize this potential, specific government encouragement through incentives and mandates is necessary.”
India advantage
In the global context, consolidation in solar cell manufacturing to control oversupply has been happening.
Surapaneni said that in the current scenario — where the global capacity is approximately 1.5x to 2x times the demand — there is bound to be consolidation among the solar cell manufacturers, including potential mergers and acquisitions.
“This is however is a dynamic phenomenon and as grid parity is achieved in developed markets, and with a turnaround in global economy, demand can potentially outpace the consolidated supply also.
“Regardless of the dynamics of the market place, India offers significant opportunity. India can offer highest quality products at the lowest cost. Solar Semiconductor has already demonstrated this capability/value proposition and has benefited consequently in this demand constrained (over supply) environment.”
Highest efficiency Si solar cells realised with n-Si — Prof. Weber, Fraunhofer ISE
Prof. Eicke R. Weber, director, Fraunhofer ISE, Germany, will be delivering the opening keynote at the inauguration of the SOLARCON India 2009 and India Semiconductor Association (ISA) PV Conclave next Monday in Hyderabad.
Thanks to ISA’s help, I was able to get into a conversation with him, where he elaborated on the capabilities of n-type solar cells, how the solar PV industry is dealing with recession, and well, lessons to learn for India.
Why n-type is better than p-type solar cells?
Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have developed new methods and cell concepts for the manufacture of n-type silicon solar cells. What are the capabilities of n-type silicon solar cells that makes them better than p-type?
Prof. Weber said: “The main challenge in the operation of a solar cell is to collect the minority carriers created by sun illumination. Silicon solar cells are commonly made from p-type silicon, mainly because the carrier mobility of the minority carriers, electrons for p-Si, is higher than that of holes, the minority carriers in n-type Si.
“However, if contamination plays a role, which is especially the case for highest-efficiency cells, n-type silicon has distinct advantages because metal atoms like to form electrically active pairs with acceptor dopants that degrade performance.
In n-type silicon are donor dopants instead of the acceptor dopants in p-Si, so that carrier lifetime is better than in p-type Si. This can more than compensate the disadvantage of lower minority carrier mobility. Therefore, highest efficiency Si solar cells are usually realised with n-Si.”
Fraunhofer CSE has also opened a new PV module lab for research, development, testing and evaluation of new materials and production processes for photovoltaic solar modules with the aim to increase module energy yield, reduce cost, and extend module durability.
There is a Fraunhofer CSE in Boston and a Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg. At the CSE in Boston, it is just starting with the process to establish such a new testing facility. However, this facility is already in place at the Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg.
How can solar makers turn around?
Solar manufacturers are said to be already losing money this year and the capacity utilization is 27.9 percent. Also, the days of inventory are currently 122, up from 71 days in 2008. If they continue to add new capacity, things will only worsen, exasperating the recession, it can get difficult for them to turn this around.
Prof. Weber said that right now, there is already again a shortage in the module market.
“In Germany, we will see in 2010 at least a 10 percent decrease of the feed-in rate for new systems, so that after the substantial price drops in the first half of 2009 the second half of 2009 offered an unusually lucrative opportunity for the installation of PV systems.
“It remains to be seen whether this market pull will be carried into 2010. On the two-three year time scale the key question will be when the US market really starts, at best by offering in selected staters a lucrative feed-in rate.
“I am convinced, if this demonstrates quick market penetration as we experienced in Germany it will quickly spread throughout the USA, generating a PV market much larger than the German market as the US enjoys many high-sunshine regions in the South.
Lessons for India
Obviously, there are lessons to learn for the Indian solar/PV industry.
As per Prof. Eicke Weber, the key issue for increasing the PV market is to create attractive options for investors.
“In grid-connected systems this can be best done by attractive feed-in rates that have to be tailored for the respective region, and should offer 8-12 percent annual return from the produced PV electricity.”
In off-grid systems, the state might offer investment or tax incentives to allow the creation of lucrative investment opportunities, he added. Read more…
Rising opportunities in India’s solar PV space
SEMI India, in association with Intersolar India and partner organizations India Semiconductor Association (ISA) and Fab City, organizing SOLARCON India 2009, today held an interactive panel discussion titled, ”Rising opportunities for Solar/PV in India”.
The participants were: Sathya Prasad, president, SEMI India, BP Acharya, CMD APIIC, Sankar Rao, MD, Titan Energy Systems, SSN Prasad, VP, Solar Semiconductors, and Seshagiri Rao, India Sales Head, Oerlikon.
Abundant solar radiation in India!
According to Sathya Prasad, president, SEMI India, India is abundantly endowed with solar radiation — > 300 sunny days a year and 5 trillion kWh of solar energy per year available across the land mass. “Even 0.5 percent of India’s land mass generating solar electricity can meet the entire power needs of the country in the year 2030,” he said.
India PV end market – opportunities
Several opportunities exist in the India PV end market, such as:
* Basic lighting and electrification of rural homes.
* Irrigation pump sets.
* Power backup for cellular base stations.
* Urban applications.
* Solar power plants
Indian PV manufacturing background
India has a long history of solar/PV activity. CEL and BHEL have been around from the 1970s. Pioneering R&D work has also been done. The Indian space program was one of the early drivers. A few private companies have been in operation for ~two decades.
There has been a rising production capacity in India. This is extending from module to cell manufacturing. Also, the industry is now getting into downstream opportunities.
India PV end market – opportunities in urban applications.
Today, most of the output is in exports (~70 percent).
India solar capacity targets
* Satisfy large solar local market (generation capacity)
— A few hundred MW Today
— 1000 MW by 2013
— 6000 – 7000 MW by 2017
— 20,000 MW by 2020
— 100,000 / 200,000 by 2030/2050, respectively
* Solar manufacturing capacity targets
— A few hundred MW Today
— 1000MW-1500 MW by 2012 / 2013
— 4000MW-5000 MW by 2017
Why is local solar/PV manufacturing important?
* Benefits of manufacturing locally in India
— Ability to scale production to meet end-demand
— Cost reduction
— Quality/reliability enhancements for local conditions
— Customization of end solutions targeted for India market
* Build competitive advantage in the long-term
* Employment creation (~100,000 over next 10 yrs)
Solar/PV manufacturing in India
* Govt recognition of potential of solar/PV
— Targets of 20,000 MW by 2020
* State government initiatives: Example: FabCity initiative
* Rising interest from Industry for solar/PV
— Integrated PV/solar manufacturing park
* India can provide a competitive manufacturing base for PV (cells, modules and solutions)
— Well established industrial base
— Industrial manpower available (PV training needed)
Solar farms, India an emerging leader Read more…
Semi Solar caters to requirements of semicon, solar industries!
One of the ‘guilty’ pleasures of blogging is that I’ve managed to make a whole lot of friends from all over the world. It is amazing to see how much of interest folks have on India, and especially on the Indian semiconductor and the Indian solar/PV industry.
Well, one such gentleman, who I recently got acquainted with over cyberspace is Mohan Chandra, president, Semi Solar Technologies, from Merrimack, NH, USA.
Mohan’s first query to me was: “Saw your blog, which came through my Linkedin messages. How does India plan to get onto 20 GW of solar power by 2020 without support from the silicon materials industry (viz. polysilicon through to wafers)?”
Interesting! As far as I’m aware, efforts are on to build an ecosystem here in India, so this bit would surely get addressed, if it already hasn’t!
Now, being in India, it is not easy for me to get in touch with companies based in the US, especially those in the solar photovoltaics field. Therefore, I also asked Mohan to brief me a bit about Semi Solar Technologies.
According to Mohan, he started Semi Solar technologies as a consulting company to cater to the requirements around the world in the semiconductor regime, as well as the photovoltaic industry.
“The idea was to see how best to push new and better technology through to different companies operating around the world rather than to build plants, equipment, run turnkey operations or to take up manufacturing ourselves. Things have changed considerably since we first started (which was just a little over two years ago!!
“Since the requirement of our clients have been to lean on us to put up plants and to design and build equipment. In the photovoltaic industry, we have the technology to take it from metallurgical grade silicon to silicon solar cells and modules for our clients.
“This will mean the technology to manufacture hyper pure raw material, polysilicon and then to take it through crystal growing, wafering and cell manufacture. We therefore advise how to build integrated plants or just parts of the PV plant. Very few such teams are available around the world.”
Semi Solar tries to get out in the field and if a company already exists, it attempts to see how best to introduce technology to improve the production and lower the product cost, or if it a new plant, then it would implement as many new technologies as possible to get out low cost material.
As per Mohan, Semi Solar has now put together a team of physicists, chemists, chemical, electrical, electronic, software and controls engineers. Within the team, it has more than 25 patents with many in the works mostly in the silicon area.
He added: “The coming years, we will see many of this kind of activities because of the large PV projection. So, it is one that will be slowly be taken out of the hands of the few controlling manufacturers and will become more or less a small to medium business operation with severe competition.” An interesting observation, that!
Solar PV industry scenario in India!
It is well known that India already has the advantage of being a well established, low cost producer and assembler of solar PV cells and modules.
It is also very likely that grid connected power would emerge as the major segment in India over the next few years, according to B.V. Naidu, chairman, India Semiconductor Association. He was speaking at the recently held 3rd Global Demand Conference in Hamburg, Germany.
India currently has an installed manufacturing capacity of solar cells and modules of 400 MW and 700 MW, respectively, as per the ISA chairman.
Giving an overview of the industry during 2007-08, Naidu added that India produced:
* 110 MW of solar cells and 140 MW of modules.
* Solar PV industry turnover was over $1.0 billion.
* Ninety percent of the manufacturing capacity is currently exported.
* The current grid connected capacity is less than 2 MW.
Policy initiatives from the government
The government of India has announced several incentives for manufacturing.
Manufacturing: 20-25 percent of incentive for solar PV.
Incentives for grid connected applications:
* Generation based incentives (GBI): $0.30 per unit.
* Limited upto 50 MW from the government of India.
* State governments are independently announcing their incentive programs.
Incentives are also available for off-grid applications such as home lighting systems, street lighting systems and roof top systems. Next, there is an agenda to develop 60 cities as Solar Cities, aimed at reducing the energy consumption by 10 percent through energy lighting conservation and renewable energy.
Also, the National Solar Mission aims at achieving a target of 20 GW of solar power by the year 2020.
Market opportunities in India
All of these lead to the question: what are the kinds of market opportunities that exist in India?
According to Naidu of ISA, India is already well established as a low cost producer and assembler of solar PV cells and modules. Also, it is a large market for DDG (Decentralised Distributed Generation) applications.
Next, grid connected power would emerge the major segment, as India achieves grid parity. Also, the country boasts of a large pool of talented manpower, which can serve a good resource to develop applications suited to Indian market.
The benefits that will arise by the adoption of solar photovoltaics for India are immense. One, solar energy will help the country meet its energy security requirements, reduce dependence on exhaustible fossil fuel reserves and reduce the carbon footprint.
It will also help in providing remote/rural villages faster access to electricity. Finallly, it will create several thousands of jobs — both, direct and indirect — in manufacturing, applications and R&D.
ISA’s role
Highlighting the role of the India Semiconductor Association (ISA) in demand promotion, Naidu added that it acts as an umbrella industry association for the solar PV companies in India.
Also, the ISA enjoys a strong and credible working relationship with the key concerned ministries in the government of India, and advises it on policy initiatives for demand growth.
Further, the ISA has also made some bold recommendations on demand promotion in its comprehensive report on the sector carried out with government support, which have served as a useful reference for the government in policy formation. The ISA organises industry events and delegation visits as well.
Folks, this is probably just the time to enter the Indian solar/PV market!
Pradeep Chakraborty 