China Kicks off Renewable Energy Drive with Wind Farms 20 comments
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China has been rolling out policy to support renewable energy industry in the last 12 months. The nation set target of 17% of electricity in 2017 needs to be generated from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. The wind energy is reportedly to reach 3% by 2017.
China also set up feed-in tariff for solar farm projects, and will cover 50% of the development cost of any solar farms. So far, the domestic companies such as Renesola (SOL), Suntech (STP), Yingli Green (YGE) and solarfun (SOLF) will benefit from the policy. U.S. competitors such as First solar (FSLR) and Sunpower (SPWRA) are not eligible for the moment, although the government may extend the support to overseas companies. On the other hand, U.S. commercial rooftop BIPV demand picked up in recently months, company like Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) are ramping up production and tied knot with Johns Manville (JM), a leading global manufacturer of an extensive line of energy-efficient building products, to deliver PV system to commercial rooftops. It is believed that First Solar also entering rooftop BIPV market either by an acquisition or developing its own technology.
China is apparently the fastest to act in these days. On the weekend, China kicks off its green movement with a 10GW wind farm in western Gansu province. The farm will be developed by 20 developers and will be completed by 2010, local companies such as A-power (APWR) and Jinfeng Hi-tech, a Shanghai listed local wind turbine companies are part of the projects, GE (GE) is believed to be a big player through its joint venture with A-power, which reportedly has over 2GW capacity annually. The follow-up projects in Gansu could reach 40GW according to the reuters report.
Also according to the government-run media People's Daily report on Monday, Inner Mongolia, Hebei province, northeast China, northwest China and east China coastal regions are focused regions for wind power base construction. China is planning to build seven 10-gW wind farms.
Disclosure: Author is long FSLR SOL YGE ENER GE APWR SPWRA
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One of them was a Harvard grad and works for KPMG. He pointed the biggest difference between the way Chinese think and Americans think.
When you talk about "long term", it means 5 to 10 years for Americans. It means 50 years for Chinese.
China will be the leader for clean and renewable energy. It won't happen overnight. However, that is a strategic goal and they will stick to it for decades.
In what sense is a wind turbine consuming steel, concrete, aluminum and copper "renewable." In what sense is it "cutting edge?" The Dutch used windpower centuries ago.
Free market decisions based on profit produce the most efficient and clean energy choices. Government mandates that "17 percent of electricity needs to be generated by..."
How long before we are hearing that the far-sighted Chinese are leading the world towards the goal of reducing global warming?
Maybe the short-sighted T. Boone can find a way to off-load a lot of turbines to the Chinese.
Oil and fossil fuels are a finite resource.
More people are being added to the earth and more people are using more energy.
Solar energy (harnessed through solar PV/thermal and wind) and geothermal energy are finite resources...but when those sources run out in 7 billion years we won't be around.
The Chinese are crafty and tenacious. They are now producing more efficient photovoltaics cheaper than what can be done by the "industry leader" FSLR...or at least they have forced FSLR to drive their prices down.
Chinese solar and wind companies will do well.
They can build cheaper than elsewhere as they are now the biggest maker of steel etc and can get economies of volume.
A big reason though is that they have not got access to vast reserves of natural gas in the same way that America has, and so the relative economics are better.
By 2020 they plan to have around as many nuclear reactors as the US, and will have trained teams of workers and factories set up to vastly expand the fleet.
Westinghouse and CANDU build reactors there on time and to cost.
The US will end up far, far, behind if it doesn't realise that the ludicrous costs they have allowed to get into building reactors is unacceptable, and that an industrial nation just can't allow the cost of a product to be 3 or 4 times that of a competitor for nuclear plants just as much as for cars.
The first task is the reform of the nuclear regulatory authority so that it is focussed on facilitating the building and running of safe reactors, instead of hindering and adding to costs at every stage.
The second step is to stop treating nuclear waste as a problem, and see it as a resource by developing new reactors to use it as fuel.
The HK stock ticker is 750.hk.
www.zhsye.com/en/index...
They will own the BIPV market in China.
APWR is getting ready to land a capacity contract that will book the entire capacity of the plant (900 MW's ) for the year to the Chinese government.......its time to load up on APWR and especially given the unnannounced aquisition of Japan thin film solar maker Eva_Tech by APWR and landing its first major customer for this thin film curtain wall solar application Yuanda
If anyone wants to continue a buy and hold stock purchase policy, then renewable energy ETF are one easy way to do so.
You are, as usual, misinformed. There is no evidence that "U.S. commercial rooftop BIPV demand picked up in recently months." And, obviously, you are not aware of any such evidence.
The statement that companies "like Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) are ramping up production" is also false, as ENER is actually shutting down production, and suffering from massive unsold inventory buildup.
ecdfan.blogspot.com/20...
Also, the statement that ENER "tied knot with Johns Manville (JM), a leading global manufacturer of an extensive line of energy-efficient building products, to deliver PV system to commercial rooftops" is misleading as the JM's brochure talks of crystalline as well as thin-film alternatives (and ENER makes only thin-film)
www.specjm.com/files/p...
You can learn more about the "knot" here:
ecdfan.blogspot.com/20...
Finally, your statement about "First Solar also entering rooftop BIPV market either by an acquisition or developing its own technology" reveals your absolute ignorance about First Solar's business. They do not need acquisitions or new developments to dominate the rooftop and or BIPV business at this point (all they need is to reduce their gross margins) - they have announced a rooftop installed cost of $3.50 per Watt (see SCE's 250MW commercial rooftop project). Compare to Unisolar's $6.50 per Watt:
ecdfan.blogspot.com/20...
How much of FSLR's $3.50 per watt cost comes from tellurium?
It's my understanding that they are desperate to lock up as much tellurium supply as possible right now while prices are relatively depressed.
With the Chinese locking up tellurium production in most of the world, won't FSLR be dependent on the graciousness of the ChiComs?
By the way, 17% wind and solar by 2017 sounds fruitcake to the leading academic energy economist in the world, my good self, but even so I will mention it in my new energy book because it sounds... good.
seekingalpha.com/insta...
"Dear Mr. Lifton: Your article is factually incorrect. In the March 2009 quarter, First Solar produced 220MWs (and shipped just 196MWs) worth of solar product, thus, their annual capacity is already over 880MWs (45% more than your concocted "608MW in 2010").
See:
ecdfan.blogspot.com/20...
First Solar uses very little Te per Watt. Using your "68 tons per 1GW," even at the inflated price of $200 per kg, results in just 1c per Watt. First Solar's manufacturing costs in the March 2009 quarter were 93c per Watt, thus they can grow with their CdTe technology quite a bit and still bankrupt every other high-cost PV producer in the process!
So why do you continue to spread misinformation about things you don't understand?"
So, here you go. Tellurium is about $0.01 per Watt out of $3.50 per Watt. Your understanding appears incorrect.
On Aug 12 09:25 AM yellowhoard wrote:
> ECD,
>
> How much of FSLR's $3.50 per watt cost comes from tellurium?
>
> It's my understanding that they are desperate to lock up as much
> tellurium supply as possible right now while prices are relatively
> depressed.
>
> With the Chinese locking up tellurium production in most of the world,
> won't FSLR be dependent on the graciousness of the ChiComs?
This is a very important point about culture differences between the US and China. Many naysayers of solar and wind say that these sources of energy are not big enough to greatly reduce use of oil and/or coal. This is true if you think in terms of 5 to 10 years. But, it is not true if you think in terms of 50 years. The multi-trillion dollar oil and coal infrastructure of the US took over 100 years to build. It’s not going to be replaced by anything in 5 to 10 years. It will take many decades. But, luckily we have several decades of oil, coal, and natural gas left to smooth the transition.
China is following the ancient Chinese proverb, “A Journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step”. They are setting a long term goal and taking step-by-step action to accomplish that goal. In the US we have difficulty following that proverb because we are so short sighted. We wouldn’t bother starting the journey, or we would get distracted shortly after starting and start moving toward a different destination. It seems that the only way we could get to that original distant destination is if the proverb read, “A Journey of a thousand miles, begins with purchasing an airplane ticket online”. We always want instant results, the “silver bullet” solution.
I would suggest you move to another planet if the progress China is making could upset you. Seriously, you need to open up your mind.
On Aug 11 08:10 PM Tony Petroski wrote:
> This story warms my heart. I knew it was only a matter of time before
> the Chinese elites bought the "renewable" energy stew and started
> serving it up.
>
> In what sense is a wind turbine consuming steel, concrete, aluminum
> and copper "renewable." In what sense is it "cutting edge?" The Dutch
> used windpower centuries ago.
>
> Free market decisions based on profit produce the most efficient
> and clean energy choices. Government mandates that "17 percent of
> electricity needs to be generated by..."
>
> How long before we are hearing that the far-sighted Chinese are leading
> the world towards the goal of reducing global warming?
> Maybe the short-sighted T. Boone can find a way to off-load a lot
> of turbines to the Chinese.
wonder HOW that guy's SHORT worked out for him on APWR after his ""ROADBLOCK"' article and he sold APWR at $8
On Aug 11 07:53 PM johnqh wrote:
> I am in Shanghai right now. Went to an expat coffee meeting. Had
> some good conversation with expats who lived in SH for years.
>
> One of them was a Harvard grad and works for KPMG. He pointed the
> biggest difference between the way Chinese think and Americans think.
>
>
> When you talk about "long term", it means 5 to 10 years for Americans.
> It means 50 years for Chinese.
>
> China will be the leader for clean and renewable energy. It won't
> happen overnight. However, that is a strategic goal and they will
> stick to it for decades.
Hey Kevin, U may want to """GOOGLE""" up the Shenyang Power Alliance cause the SPA is about to kick your short APWR position up to $15
One BEAUTY of the INTERNET is that it lets HISTORY explain WHO was WRONG and WHO was right!
Your ""Roadblock'' article is classic
On Aug 12 08:25 AM wind4me wrote:
> (APWR) with the Shenyang Power Alliance is going to be a huge China
> wind company and with the Chinese government INVESTING into the Shenyang
> Power alliance, who do you think that the government will award the
> Wind contracts of the future to???
>
> APWR is getting ready to land a capacity contract that will book
> the entire capacity of the plant (900 MW's ) for the year to the
> Chinese government.......its time to load up on APWR and especially
> given the unnannounced aquisition of Japan thin film solar maker
> Eva_Tech by APWR and landing its first major customer for this thin
> film curtain wall solar application Yuanda