Meanwhile: African Nations To Build More Than 100 New Coal Power Plants
Germany’s SolarWorld, once Europe’s biggest solar power equipment group, said on Wednesday it would file for insolvency, overwhelmed by Chinese rivals who had long been a thorn in the side of founder and CEO Frank Asbeck, once known as “the Sun King”. A renewed wave of cheap Chinese exports, caused by reduced ambitions in China to expand solar power generation, was too much to bear for the group, which made its last net profit in 2014. —Reuters, 11 May 2017
The company once hailed as Europe’s largest solar panel producer filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, blaming cheap Chinese panels for flooding the market. SolarWorld is only the latest bankrupt solar company to blame the Chinese. U.S.-based Suniva Inc. filed for bankruptcy in April, also citing stiff competition from Chinese solar panel makers. The solar industry’s biggest problem is likely the very mechanism that led to its rise: lucrative subsidies. European subsidies, mostly in Germany, led to a massive expansion of the companies green energy industry, but eventually subsidies became their undoing as cheaper solar panels from China began to win out. –Michael Bastasch, The Daily Caller, 11 May 2017
More than 100 coal power plants are in various stages of planning or development in 11 African countries outside of South Africa — more than eight times the region’s existing coal capacity. Africa’s embrace of coal is in part the result of its acute shortage of power. –Jonathan W. Rosen, National Geographic, 10 May 2017
h/t to The GWPF
The provable fallacy of “Renewables”, so obvious in the lack of any discernible ROI related to Wind powered Electrical Generation, exists solely because of Government Subsidies. Once Subsidies are removed, no Solar or Wind related “Green Energy” solutions were ever profitable. In addition, these attempted renewables always ended up moving pollution to “other countries”. The “Not in My Backyard” arguments have stymied the growth of far more efficient coal and petroleum based operations, yet the same people think nothing of installing giant bird choppers and low frequency noise generators right next to populated areas. Without Federal Tax Dollars, the ROI on Wind generators is astoundingly negative! The average per generator installation is approximately one Million Dollars and over the expected lifetime of a typical generator, the maintenance bill will almost equal the initial investment. That might approach break-even IF such an installation operated 24/7/365, but as we all know, 45% operation is a goal achievable by only a select few installations. Either the wind is too slow or ridiculously, too fast! There are obvious locations where winds in excess of 35 MPH are the norm, yet such operational speeds are “Beyond?” current technology? And Solar is even worse, with 10% to 20% efficiencies in daily operations currently the “Gold Standard” even in Desert Locations!
It’s not just subsidies that support renewables; mandates to power suppliers to provide a certain percentage of renewable-derived power do the same, and hide the cause of the resulting cost increase from consumers.
Obama – done in by his own African brethren. Somehow, I don’t think we will hear sharp criticism about African energy plans from our most racially biased President since Abe Lincoln.
Comparing earlier coal fired electricity generating plant with the latest technologies is an eyeopener.
http://www.power-technology.com/features/featurelean-and-clean-why-modern-coal-fired-power-plants-are-better-by-design-4892873/
http://cornerstonemag.net/setting-the-benchmark-the-worlds-most-efficient-coal-fired-power-plants/
Here is a 2014 assessment of Chinese coal fired power stations by the International Energy Agency.
The final sentence reads:
China’s experiences showcase the benefits of improving coal-fired power plant efficiency for a global audience.
https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/PartnerCountrySeriesEmissionsReductionthroughUpgradeofCoalFiredPowerPlants.pdf
TenKSolar, a Minnesota solar panel company, announced yesterday that it was discontinuing operations. This after getting a $25 million investment from Goldman Sachs.
From Green Tech Media …
Sources: TenKsolar Winding Down Operations After a Series of Field Failures
TenKsolar, an American builder of integrated high-efficiency solar panels, is winding down its operations, according to sources close to the firm.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/sources-ten-k-solar-winding-down-operations-after-a-series-of-field-failure
dummies think they can compete against chinese manufacturing. even without subsidies the chinese would kick their ass.
Any culture that can basically use slave labor will out compete you for a while.
Right up to the point where the slaves refuse to be slaves.
It seems that all the solar panel companies that go out of business all blame Chinese exports. I’m left wondering if the Chinese exports are really the reason or if it’s just a convenient excuse. Much like the left blaming Russia for Clinton losing the election.
Bankruptcy is an essential pillar to capitalism. It liquidates assets of unprofitable companies and allows those funds to be invested in profitable enterprises.
The free-market is screaming at the top of its lungs that wind and solar are absolutely terrible investments, because their output commodity (electricity @ur momisugly $0.30/kWh) is 5 TIMES more expensive than their completion (coal and natural gas) @ur momisugly $0.06/kWh…
No business model can make that absurd reality profitable. Feckless government hacks try to subsidize wind and solar industries, but that’s just unsustainable political window dressing that doesn’t address the core issue of inherent uncompetitiveness…
All wind and solar subsidies must end immediately. Hopefully, Trump will eliminate all Federal wind and solar subsidies. If states want to waste taxpayer money these stupid wind/solar boondoggles, let them, but hopefully state subsidies will be too small to keep these unsustainable industries afloat, and they’ll eventually go bankrupt.
I’m sick of this irrational and detrimental political behavior. It’s severely hurting our economy.
5 TIMES more expensive than their completion (coal and natural gas) @ur momisugly $0.06/kWh
==================
actually the average US wholesale price of electricity is half that, around $0.03/kWh.
if conventional power plants cannot produce for less than this, they go out of business. there is no hope that renewables can compete at this price. thus, a carbon tax is required, to raise the production cost of conventional power plants, to price them out of the market.
when only renewables are left, they can charge whatever they want, and thus become profitable. however, by that time the economy will be in hyper-inflation from the crushing debt load incurred along the way.
quite simply, you cannot retire overnight the trillions of dollars in investments meant to last 60 years. The effect is no different that terrorists bombing all the US conventional power plants.
Globalization, Save the World, full steam ahead to the world’s biggest train wreck ever imagined brought to you by the Marx brothers. Not to worry though…. they have a plan to save us all if we’ll only pay heed to their exhortations.
and what *did* happen to all the import tariff money they collected? Where are all the ‘protected’ jobs?
This whole fandango has done nothing but ramp up prices for almost everything in the RE world and what are folks left with?
I ask because I follow a renewable energy forum here in UK and they are always raving about solar panels that have gone wrong and need repair, but the installer/manufacturer is long long gone.
So they’re landed with something that any other installer won’t touch with a barge pole (because of the rules & conditions imposed on these installations) and is probably more toxic and expensive to remove than nuclear asbestos would be. And if their house ever caches fire, everyone will just stand and watch it burn for fear of getting an electric shock.
What A Total Mess
Griff, Griff, wherefore art thou Griff?
speak not of the devil, lest he hear and approach
Grift is probably working up some rationalization – or waiting for a press release that does it for him.
I was thinking more of Beetlejuice.
Nah – His mommy just called him up from the basement, to collect the garbage and recyclable wastes and ferry them to the curb for tomorrows’ pick-up!!!
//SARC??????
I seem to remember one of the supposed benefits to countries/regions which became early adopters of alternative energy was that they would become leaders in those markets.
Loss leaders, it turns out.
The importance of this article on solar resides in the link added at the end of the article.
The link is:
National Geographic, 10 May 2017
Please click on the link to go to the National Geographic.
Scroll down to the video.
Listen to the video.
This woman in India knows a few things!
Poor Solarworld founder and CEO Frank Asbeck will probably keep his mansions – I am not familiar with German bankruptcy laws.
From https://www.solarworld-usa.com/newsroom/news-releases/news/2007/live-earth-broadcast:
“The concert initiated by the former US Vice President Al Gore is an excellent opportunity to raise worldwide attention for the need of global climate protection.”, says Dipl.-Ing. Frank H. Asbeck, Chairman and CEO of SolarWorld AG.” Is there a delayed Gore effect?
Well, it sure appears China is winning with their subsidized state control of solar panels globally. They are producing cheap product both for export and for local installation in their own country. The quality is a lot lower, with a life time efficiency of 10 -15 years or less. After 15 years, the output efficiency will be half of original name plate installation. Which is already low at 15%-20% for a new panel in a reasonable good solar siting. So at 10% of daily electron production capacity per solar watts/m2, how does anyone make money at that? You don’t, but the original company getting the contract pays themselves huge bonuses. And so on.
There will be huge opportunity in 5-10 years or sooner, on shorting the stocks of these companies who heavily exposed to solar electricity production, especially companies using Chinese product. It always amazes me that respectable companies will pay good money for garbage from China, the subsidy being the only thing of value. When subsidies scale back, this whole sector will slowly be strangled and eventually be bankrupt. I doubt there will be much an appetite for solar in year 4 of Trump unless each state pays.
Just watch the bankruptcies start on all the solar farms globally with the Chinese produced panels because when the electrical efficiency drops off, in most jurisdictions the subsidies will fall off too because subsidies are generally paid per Mw/hr of production. At least the German solar panels were a somewhat better product, albeit in an industry that is doomed to fail when they are not profitable without a subsidy.
China is still the net beneficiary of all this because they are the ones left standing in this market. Plus they don’t have to submit to any GHG reduction under the Paris Agreement and in fact get some of the Parisite subsidy from the 11 OCED countries that have to pay, the USA paying the largest part of that annual 100 Billion pork barrel. Plus China makes the investment in African coal generation, with the pay back being access to most of Africa’s resources. China wins again!
Obama’s failed policies will be felt for a long time, but I doubt he will leave much of a legacy. And it appears that Trump will soon be a lame duck president with USA re-litigating the election until the mid terms, at which time Trump will lose the Senate and probably Congress too. And then he is mortally wounded politically.
If you are going to do anything Donald, do it Now!
There’s almost no chance of Trump losing the Senate. Most of the seats up for re-election are Democrat. There are 7 Democrats running in traditionally Republican states, and no Republicans running Democrat states.
We know from the past that, if anything, the generic ballot tends to move against the party in power in the year running up to the midterms. So just talking about the fundamentals, the environment may actually get a lot worse for Republicans especially if Trump/Republican poll numbers keep falling. All Donald has to do is waffle on the Parisite Agreement, and you will see a lot of Republicans not bothering to show up on election day. Still a lot of unknowns, but mid terms are always dicey for sitting parties, especially when they control both houses. Just look at history of such and you will probably find your answer there.
Where is the evident for lower panel lifetimes? I’d like to see that.
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/51664.pdf
My Chinese made solar panels are reducing at at a rate of about 3%-4% per year. With some outright failure. Much higher than well manufactured PV, which has a tested rate of about .5% annual degradation. Of course, 1%-2% of nothin is still nothin… Talking Chinese Junk here.
That’s more of a literature review from the past 40 years. I suppose there was a need for that but NREL can do better.
PS: You can’t relitigate an election in the US.
The Democrats may be screaming about impeaching Trump, but it will never happen. Just click bait for the myrmidons that infest left wing swamps.
MarkW…all the noise you hear IS the re-litigation of the Nov/16 election. Democrats will never give up what they thought they had in the bag. And then the election was stolen from Hillary by the bloody FBI, for in part, which was why Trump just fired him. That will be his say so when push comes to shove. I know that makes no sense since Comey re-opening the Hillary investigation had more to do with the election timing (win) than anything else. The Deep State is now out for blood on Trump, and just watch the hyper leaks now. Probably see more of Donald’s tax returns with Russian investments with Trump International just for a start. You don’t think that the FBI has Trump’s tax returns, and they don’t like him? Just wait a few weeks…
The taxpayers of selected states had to fork over money for recounts with no evidence for the need but for the symbolism of the losers calling for it. The same applies to litigation.
+1 And probably the reason he’ll be elected for a second term. Get use to it if you don’t think the average American hasn’t taken back control of the government.
“Get use to it if you don’t think the average American hasn’t taken back control of the government.”
It’s ludicrous to think that the average American has taken back control of their government. Trump’s so called reform of the ACA is nothing more than a tax cut for the wealthy, combined with kicking 14M Americans off their health care plan.
SolarWorld in Oregon….
circa 2013
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2013/01/solarworld_shares_plunge_28_pe.html
SolarWorld was lured to Oregon in 2007 with promises of $100 million in state and local tax incentives.
“Our financials are stronger than almost any other company” in solar manufacturing, Santarris said. “Our technology is more advanced than other companies, and it’s becoming more advanced this year.”
“Probably they’re going to file for insolvency and look for a fire sale of some sort,” Toor said of SolarWorld’s managers. The fate of the Hillsboro plant, she said, depends who buys the business.
“Our financials are stronger than almost any other company”
Mighty low bar there.
It’s the VW management style.
…And with affordable power comes an opportunity for the third world to “trade up” to affluence and decreased birth rates (if the leaders don’t pervert it somehow).
…D’OH !!
Somehow, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory does not agree that coal power is the solution for Africa.
In “The Economic Case for Wind and Solar Energy in Africa” Berkeley Lab study finds that renewable energy could be a cost-effective option to meet Africa’s energy demands
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2017/03/27/economic-case-wind-solar-energy-africa/
From the news release:
“To meet skyrocketing demand for electricity, African countries may have to triple their energy output by 2030. While hydropower and fossil fuel power plants are favored approaches in some quarters, a new assessment by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has found that wind and solar can be economically and environmentally competitive options and can contribute significantly to the rising demand.
“Wind and solar have historically been dismissed as too expensive and temporally variable, but one of our key findings is that there are plentiful wind and solar resources in Africa that are both low-impact and cost-effective,” said Ranjit Deshmukh, one of the lead researchers of the study. “Another important finding is that with strategic siting of the renewable energy resource and with more energy trade and grid interconnections between countries, the total system cost can be lower than it would be if countries were to develop their resource in isolation without strategic siting.
“The research appeared online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in an article titled, “Strategic siting and regional grid interconnections key to low-carbon futures in African countries.” The lead authors are Deshmukh and Grace C. Wu, both Berkeley Lab researchers in the Energy Technologies Area.”
link to “Strategic Siting article:
http://www.pnas.org/content/114/15/E3004.abstract
LBL is hedging their position: “renewable energy could be a cost-effective option to meet Africa’s energy demands”. Could be. Should it not be, you can’t fault LBL. LBL is always right.
They’re feeding you drivel Roger unless you believe the continent of Africa is different to Australia wind wise-
http://anero.id/energy/wind-energy/2017/may
Their oft quoted average output of 30% hides a multitude of sins as blind freddy can see from that graph. Wind like solar simply engages in a pure form of State subsidised and mandated dumping relying on thermal generators to insure them and not paying thermals their just insurance premia.
Power is an essential service and can you imagine your political overlords proudly announcing they have privatised the fire brigade and accepted an amazingly competitive tender on our behalf. Just that the fine print states the fireys won’t be in attendance at night or when there’s no wind or it’s blowing too hard.
Observa, perhaps the California renewable experience is just a mirage, then. Electricity prices have decreased since the march toward wind and solar began. Grid reliability is as high as it has ever been. Solar production at grid-scale in CA reaches almost 40 percent of instantaneous load, and almost 8 percent on an annual basis. Wind output in CA is approximately one-half that of solar.
It’s not a matter of the technology being mature, the grid being able to handle it, it’s simply a matter of will.
Africa’s political problems are responsible for the lack of electricity over the past many decades. Everyone knew how to make power from coal, or oil, or natural gas, or even nuclear. The proof is in the more than 100 countries world-wide that do have stable, reliable, affordable grid power.
Study up on California, Texas, Iowa, Kansas, and other states with substantial wind and solar resources that are already installed and operating safely, reliably, and economically. .
“Observa, perhaps the California renewable experience is just a mirage, then.”
So you’re telling me California’s wind and solar isn’t being dumped on its grid system and local or interstate thermals aren’t picking up their insurance tab at present? I don’t know California’s power situation but I’ll bet London to a brick California is just like my State of South Australia if you’ve got significant unreliables and that means bludging off interconnectors to reliable thermal generators elsewhere.
“So you’re telling me California’s wind and solar isn’t being dumped on its grid system and local or interstate thermals aren’t picking up their insurance tab at present?” 25% of California’s power comes from out of state. Mainly large hydro. About 15% supposedly comes from photo voltaic and wind but you can’t get an honest answer. About 1/2 from gas.
And that’s the point markl. These unreliables are always tacked on to reliable thermal (or existing hydro in this case) and never have to start out from scratch paying their true cost including storage to make them fit for purpose. That’s where South Australia is about to show the world the truth behind all this false advertising and obfuscation.
Sure I can go free camping in my Jayco wind-up with an extra battery and solar panel that runs a few LED lights a sink pump and a few digital electronics and the 3 way fridge runs off the car alternator while I’m driving but at 10.4 Amps draw it runs on portable LPG if I’m not plugged into 240V AC or to carry a generator. After 3 or 4 days of boiling the kettle and sponge baths, etc we’re looking for pumped hot and cold running water and 240V generally. These pampered pooch inner city urban elites ought to get out and about a bit more.
Who says you can’t get an honest answer? CA has a Renewable Portfolio Standard, RPS, that requires accounting for and annual reporting of all eligible renewable power generation plus imports from out of state. Note that large hydroelectric power plants are not included in the RPS calculations.
see http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/RPS_Homepage/
and follow the various links available there.
It is also a fact that the CA grid is stable, and reliable with these amounts of wind and solar power. Furthermore, electricity prices have not increased, in fact, our power prices barely keep up with inflation.
see http://sowellslawblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/california-electricity-rates.html
BS. Different California and outside agencies report different numbers. Wind and solar numbers are pulled from where the sun don’t shine and when you try to pin them down obfuscation sets in. What is produced and what is actually used don’t match. Roof top solar is touted yet they are unable to account for it on the grid. Renewable nameplate and actual device outputs are conflated and never reconciled to the public. Electricity prices haven’t gone up much because CA taxes businesses for ‘carbon’ and gives the proceeds to the people and falsely claims they are ‘rebates’ for clean energy. California’s environmental actions to clean the air have been successful and they are trying to hitchhike on those efforts to “protect the world from climate Armageddon”. They sent a larger contingency to the Paris talks than most countries for nothing more than propaganda about their climate virtue. California is an environmentalist’s dream with other peoples’ and businesses’ (for now) unlimited resources to pull from. You’re drinking the Kool Aid.
Further to the California renewable energy program, its progress and impacts:
Status of RPS Procurement (note, IOU is Investor Owned Utilities)
The RPS procurement target for 2015 is 23.3% of retail sales. On September 1, 2016 the large
IOUs forecasted that they collectively served 27.6% of their retail electric load with RPS- eligible generation during 2015, exceeding the 2015 RPS procurement target.
The second RPS compliance period (2014–2016) procurement requirement is approximately
23.3% of retail sales.4 The IOUs procured approximately 26% of retail sales in 2014, and
anticipate procuring approximately 28% in 2015 and 31% across the three years of the
second compliance period.
Since 2003, 15,565 MW of renewable capacity achieved commercial operation under the
RPS program. In 2016, 2,973 MW of renewable capacity has reached commercial operation. An additional 1,045 MW of renewable capacity is forecasted to achieve commercial
operation in 2017. — taken from 4Q 2016 RPS report.
And it must be noted that even with 15,565 MW of renewable capacity installed and operating since 2003, CA grid reliability is not reduced, and consumer prices have not increased.
The proof is there for all to see. Renewables work, they don’t compromise reliability, and they do not increase prices.
You must have different wind in California compared to Australia Roger-
http://anero.id/energy/wind-energy/2017/may
and from that and the loss of thermal reserve I predict rolling blackouts in South Australia over the next 12 months as we are known as the driest State in the driest continent and so much for any salvation from hydro.
You cannot run a modern economy on wind power that varies from virtually zero to 65% of its installed capacity. We desperately need lemon laws and prosecutions for false and misleading advertising for peddling this rubbish.
Not to worry 911 skeleton staff will be on hand on cloudy wet days to take your details and pass them on when the fireys get back 😉
Icarus Inc.
This is as much about Chinese economic strategy as the use of solar power. Mr.Trump has just set up an agreement with China which allows US producers to sell beef in that country. The Chinese in return can sell other types of meat to the US such as processed meat and chicken.
Who do you think will benefit? I’ll give you a clue, it won’t be US meat producers.
China due to it’s far right political system which strictly controls production and work rights will always produce goods such as solar panels much more cheaply than can we in the West. Large economies like the US and EU can sometimes challenge such practises, but not smaller isolated countries.
Take note Mrs. May.
Well if a bunch of watermelon crony capitalists are into dumping big time with electricity why on earth wouldn’t a commune of Maoists figure they should get in on the act too?
@ur momisugly Samaual C
“or lack of oxygen, ….. in the water, …… which prevented most all microbial decaying processes”
Please tell me you only have a high school education. Before earth had an oxygen atmosphere, there was anaerobic bacteria. Decaying biomass is broken down so that plants can use the mineral to make protein. Also produced is nitrogen gas (N2), nitrous oxide, and methane.
While CAGW focuses on the carbon cycle, equal attention should be paid to the nitrogen cycle. Renewable energy from biomass makes a lot more sense than wind and solar.
“So the troll believes government subsidies are just “long term investing”.”
Yes, MarkW we do. Some examples would be Hoover Dam, Grand Coulee, TVA, BPA, US Corp of Engineers, and initial prototype nuclear plants.
Should I go on? Okay then wood waste plants from the 70s. Turned out to be a good investment for making electricity and improve air quality.
I can also point out government investments that poorly thought out if not out right disasters. Teton Dam comes to mind.
As a liberal Republican, I have no problem with government promoting things. When 30 years later, subsidized projects are tax paying part of society, they become conservative ideas. We then get labeled neocons by ‘jump off the cliff’ liberials.
I am betting anti-government types like MarkW have ever attended a public for the purpose of commenting or read a piece of legislation.
this will upset the chinese http://www.newcastle.edu.au/newsroom/featured-news/the-clever-electronic-inks-rewriting-our-energy-future