Subic Bay Aeta community to host solar-wind power plant

The solar and wind power plant worth P8.94 billion, to be constructed inside Aeta ancestral domain at Subic Bay Freeport Zone, will soon be reality after the project's signing of agreement last week.

Signing of MOA for the combine solar-wind power project in Subic with the Aeta community. (source: SubicNewsLink)

Once completed, the renewable plant is expected to provide 150 megawatts of combine solar and wind power.

On December 12, Aeta tribal chieftain Conrado Frenilla, and community elder Bonifacio Florentino lead the Aeta community in signing the memorandum of agreement with local firm Jobin SQM Inc. and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

The project, which will prove that nature and technology can co-exist, will be put up inside the Pastolan Aeta's ancestral domain.

The project will "accelerate the exploration and development of renewable energy sources, increase utilization of such and promote their efficient and cost-effective commercial application," according to SBMA chairman Roberto Garcia.

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Who Else Wants to Invest in the Philippines?

           http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmechtley/2110083185

The title of this post reflects what came into my mind when I read the news from Sun Star. These 10 companies will be great addition to others who started investing on renewable energy here in the Philippines specifically solar energy. This will be a big help in the realization of Philippine government's dream to fully energize the rest of the country, particularly in the remote areas.

The report said that 10 German companies are set to visit the Philippines soon to consider the renewable energy sources of the country as an investment opportunity. Let’s hope that this will be happen.

Here's the whole story.

"ABOUT 10 German companies are set to visit the Philippines soon to study the potential investment opportunities in the country for renewable energy, specifically on photovoltaic solar power generation, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday.

Citing reports from the Philippine embassy in Berlin, the DFA said that a special program has been organized by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) for German companies to familiarize themselves on the country’s investment potential.

Philippine Ambassador to Germany Maria Cleofe Natividad reported that German firms have “renewed confidence” on the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.

In a workshop on solar energy technologies organized in Berlin by the GIZ and the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology(BMWi), Natividad told German executives that “the Philippines aims to provide electricity to 90 percent of all households by 2017,” which she added can “only be made possible by harnessing solar energy that can reach the most remote communities.”

Regular and traditional transmission systems can no longer work in remote communities as these systems are only viable in high-density populated areas.

She added that while in 2010, the installed solar power capacity of the Philippines was only 0.01 percent or one-ten thousandth of the total installed capacity nationwide and may appear to be negligible.

 This, however, means that there is still a big potential for development and expansion, Natividad stressed."

source: Sun Star 

The Truth About Solar Panel Manufacturing Competition

                                      http://www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/4845067066
                                          Ancient Greece Vase


The collapse of Solyndra and Evergreen, both US based solar companies may have triggered other renewable energy companies specifically solar manufacturing companies to defend whats left on them especially that China are heavily subsidizing its own solar companies to efficiently compete in the international market. Report from Bloomberg states that solar manufacturers are preparing a U.S. trade complaint against China.

"Solar manufacturers including a unit of SolarWorld AG (SWV) are preparing a U.S. trade complaint against China, as they seek to counter low-cost, subsidized imports, according to people familiar with the matter.

The case, which would be filed at the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, would be one of the largest targeting China, with political implications as both nations race to develop clean- energy technologies.

The companies say that China’s subsidies to solar companies violate global trade rules and provide those manufacturers with an unfair advantage, according to the people, who spoke yesterday on condition of anonymity because no complaint has yet been filed.

“We are actively conversing with our federal contacts in seeking help on how to prevent China from decimating another U.S. industry,” Ben Santarris, a spokesman for SolarWorld Industries America Inc. in Hillsboro, Oregon, said in an interview. He declined to discuss a possible filing.

In the first seven months of this year, China shipped $1.4 billion of solar panels to the U.S., more than the $1.2 billion of panels it sent in all of 2010, according to U.S. International Trade Commission data. Imports from South Korea, the Philippines and India also jumped."

(Please click here for full report)

One thing sure about this thing is that the price of solar panels must go down to become accessible to everybody. Those who could give the most value at the lowest cost will ultimately win and China is leading on this race.


source: bloomberg

Who Else Wants to Follow Energy Logistics Way

                                http://www.flickr.com/photos/22352749@N07/5733901983

                                            WIND FLOWER

Amidst many issues hounding the renewable energy industry particularly the effect of feed-in-tariff (FIT) on the power consumers let us be thankful that more and more energy companies are willing to invest and start the development of this projects. One of this which is worth emulating is the Energy Logics of the Delgado Group which has wind and solar power on their project portfolio.

Energy Logics is eager in pursuing its 670-megawatt wind and solar projects. Here's the full report.

Energy Logics of the Delgado Group remained keen on pursuing its planned 670-megawatt wind and solar power portfolio, despite the troubles hounding the renewable energy industry.

“We at Energy Logics believe that we must continue to pave the way for renewable energy. We are custodians of our planet for future generations and we must make immediate changes to preserve our resources,” said company managing director Marco Prieto Delgado in an interview.

Delgado told the Inquirer that the company remained optimistic on and still viewed renewable energy as a bright investment spot in the country.

“The Philippines is one of the countries that have subscribed to renewable energy ahead of others as early as the 1970s through geothermal and hydro. We are also one of the first to pass a renewable energy law. Our country is blessed with abundant natural resources that can be harnessed to generate enough power to be self-sufficient and cost-effective, but we have to keep going,” Delgado said.

Over the next seven years, Energy Logics plans to put up wind farms that can generate a total 420 MW, and a solar power portfolio that can produce more than 250 MW in additional capacity.

Energy Logics’ proposed projects, which may require $1.8 billion in investments over the next seven years, are currently being held back due to delays in the issuance of feed-in-tariff rates for renewable energy sources.

Delgado said that because of these delays, the timelines of the company’s projects had been pushed back by at least six months. The financial closing for its projects, particularly the 120-MW Pasuquin East in Ilocos Norte, can be completed only after the feed-in-tariff rates are finalized and announced, he said.

 Delgado also said the delays were also giving “foreign investors another reason to doubt the competitiveness of the Philippines as an investment site.”

source: inquirer 

Montalban, Rizal Electric Blessings

         http://www.flickr.com/photos/theregeneration/2897211172


The 30-megawatt solar project of ATN Philippines Solar Energy Group Inc in Montalban, Rizal could be the second solar power plant in the Philippines next to CEPALCO 1-MW Photovoltaic Power Plant located in Cagayan de Oro – there could have been another solar power plant on some parts of the archipelago.  This is also the second renewable energy generation plant in Montalban, the first one is the Montalban Methane Power Corp. – a waste-to-energy plant.


Very few province or cities or municipalities here in the Philippines can have these opportunities. It’s like a double bladed sword. One blade to eased and help people by providing them electricity and the second blade is help conserve what was left of our precious environment.


ATN stated that it is targeting to serve Metro Manila, particularly the peak demand of malls in the high growth business districts of Quezon City. Although a bit smaller compared to the solar plants from Germany, Spain, Italy and US, this project will set as an example that we Filipinos can do it also and not just the big player.


Phil-star.com  stated that “one of the great things about the project is that, although it is electricity generation using solar energy, it can also sell electricity directly to end users under the Wholesale Electricity Sport Market (WESM) set-up. It may also negotiate with the National Power Corp. as primary off-take customers that will distribute power through the Transeco.”


The plant is located on a 324 hectares of land.

Philippines and Solar Photovoltaic Emerging Market

                                 http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/2102790208


While news is spreading that our beloved Philippines including Israel, Canada and South Africa will be the next emerging market for solar photovoltaics (PV) market, Italy is set to beome the largest in the world. It has already installed three times the volume of the current global leader, Germany in the first half of the year.


In 2010, it was Germany which has the biggest market in the world which is approximately 50% of the global market last year due to the installed power of almost eight gigawatts of new solar PV power.


Countries included in the top ten were Czech Republic (1,151,000 kW of Solar PV power installed in 2010), Japan (990,979 kW), the US (918,000 kW), France (719,000 kW), China (400,000 kW), Spain (392,000 kW), Australia (383,300 kW) and Belgium (357,860 kW).


The above ranking however will change specially when when the government is reducing the amount of financial incentives available for solar PV power and renewable energy developments, example of which is the Czech Republic. Japan however may inch up due to the Fukushima disaster earlier this year.


The Philippines also has a big chance of getting on in the top 10 due to massive government support on renewable energy development. Actually we need to be faster as China and India are also set to become major players. India has introduced National Solar Mission and China recently announced its own feed-in tariff system.

What Every Solar Company Should Know

        http://www.flickr.com/photos/27889738@N07/3625411004


This past days as you may have notice, all of my posts were all related to solar energy. It's because it is developing at a faster rate compared to other renewable energy sources.


Solar energy for me is the most convenient and the easiest way to install and operate compared to say wind energy and hydro-energy . Because of this, several companies manufacturing solar panels and solar cells emerged in the past few years. Others (electronics and semiconductor manufacturing companies) as of the moment were also catching up and starting to build there own solar cell and solar cell related products.


This scenario has resulted to very tight and fierce competition on who could deliver the most efficient and cheaper products.


Then came the Chinese manufacturer which could manufacture the same product at a lower price compared to any competitor out there. This is the reason why one of the great American companies, Evergreen Solar Inc., once a darling of the U.S. solar industry, according to Wall Street Journal,  filed for bankruptcy protection this week, saying it couldn't compete with Chinese competitors without a reorganization—a sign of the difficulty in creating "green" U.S. manufacturing jobs amid bruising competition across the globe.


The market for solar panels is expanding world-wide. But the key thing driving demand is increasingly lower prices, which is forcing U.S. firms into a cutthroat cost-cutting war with rivals in China and elsewhere.


In all of this competition, it couldn't be denied that China is on the rise in terms of economy and to be specific - its manufacturing power which could deliver solar products at a lower price that holds the reasons why many companies resorted to stiff cost cutting measures just to survive. However, solar companies should not forget that it is the consumers that would ultimately define and dictate their future survival.

The World's Top Ten Most Important Solar Companies

        http://www.flickr.com/photos/pnnl/4296222988/


I'm dreaming that someday the Philippines could have its own solar company or should I say solar companies. Those that would manufacture our own solar photo-voltaic cells which can be use by Filipinos, with a much lower cost than the current solar cell, particularly by people living on far flung areas. Maybe that would take a long time from now, less than thirty years I hope.


We'll its just a dream of mine but for now I just want to share the top 10 publicly listed solar companies based on market capitalization.


Market capitalization (often called market cap) is a measurement of the size of a business enterprise (corporation) equal to the share price times the number of shares that have been authorized, issued, and purchased by investors (shares outstanding) of a publicly traded company.

	Company name	Market capitalization
1	First Solar Inc.	$10,786,926,395.00
2	GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd.	$8,384,340,527.22
3	SMA Solar Technology AG	$3,366,597,470.00
4	Renewable Energy Corporation (REC)	$2,018,125,961.28
5	Motech Industries Inc.	$1,942,051,560.00
6	GT Solar International Inc.	$1,911,070,920.00
7	Trina Solar Ltd.	$1,503,836,000.00
8	Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd.	$1,343,904,080.00
9	SolarWorld AG	$1,328,764,164.00
10	SunPower Corp.	$1,282,664,820.00

Market capitalization of this companies shows that solar energy and renewable energy as a whole are on the rise and will replace most of the conventional energy sources that we are utilizing today sooner than we think. 




source: solarplaza.com

Solar Energy Demand Grows Despite High Cost of Power Generation

                   http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason-samfield/4510113909


Demand is significantly growing for solar energy as consumers from both residential and corporate/industries are now more aware of implementing energy efficiency although power generation from this type of energy source is four times more expensive than the traditional sources.


According to Energy Smart Program chairman Al Santos, the establishment of more solar energy source in the Philippines is still on the experimental stage, and the availability of land remains an issue because of cost concerns. More commercial buildings and households have installed solar energy facilities on their rooftops. A good model that should be followed by more companies, and even by residential users.


Philippine government should strongly implement effective incentive strategies to power producers in setting up plants for renewable energy to achieve in the fastest way possible its plan of tripling the country’s dependence on renewable energy to 15,000 megawatts in the next 20 years.


By increasing our dependency on renewable energy we may also achieve the Kyoto Protocol requirement wherein it requires all member states of the United Nations to reduce their carbon emissions and mitigate the worsening changes in the world’s climate.

An Inside Look on PS10 Solar Power Plant

        http://www.flickr.com/photos/langalex/3546825418


The video below is an inside look of PS10 solar thermal power station located in Seville, Andalucia, Spain. This type of solar power station is known as solar tower. A very massive type of solar energy sources due to the area occupied by lenses called heliostats that directs sunlight on a single tower.


The tower is where the water is converted into steam by sunlight heat to power a turbine. Newer designs uses liquid sodium and molten salts (40% potassium nitrate, 60% sodium nitrate) as the working fluids. These working fluids have high heat capacity, which can be used to store the energy before using it to boil water to drive turbines. These designs allow power to be generated even when there is no sun unlike conventional solar panels which are operational only when there is sunlight.


PS10 Solar Power Plant


I think this is the future of solar energy generation especially for large industrial consumption. Countries surrounding the equator like the Philippines should start exploring possibilities in order to have this kind of renewable energy sources. Its a common knowledge that this type of energy is inexhaustible and doesn't produce toxic substance and therefore is the major focus of future energy development.


The number of projects will be the driving force on the lowering of power prices for this type of energy sources. The more energy generating plants of this type are develop the lower the electricity cost will be.

More Than Any Energy

          http://www.flickr.com/photos/bombeador/4238718222


Renewable energy comes in different form, the most abundant of them all is solar energy. Then there's wind, hydro energy, geothermal and so on. Certainly life on earth wouldn't exist without the sun.  With this several sources of energy, it is the sun that allows most other types of energy to exist, it is impossible to live without the sun. It is the center of our solar system giving off heat, light, and radiation. The sun is actually a ball of glowing gases. It is hotter than anything we can imagine. It is so hot that we can feel its heat even though we are 93 million miles away from it.


For example, the sun allows plants to make food in a process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis allows for almost all other living organism to survive.


Looking inside the sun, you would see four different layers: the core, the radiative zone, the convective zone, and the photosphere. More than that in the outer layer it is also composed of chromosphere, corona, sunspot, granules and on the outermost part the prominence.


The sun produces heat, light, and radiation through the process of fusion. Fusion occurs when a substance is so hot that atoms gain and lose particles, actually changing from one type of element to another.


Our sun is about 5 billion years old. It is nearly half way through its life. Five billion years from now the sun will run out of hydrogen gas. When that happens the sun will grow about one hundred times bigger than it is right now. And then it will start to become a white dwarf. Our sun will become a glowing hot ember, about the size of Earth and will eventually cool down.


source: iptv.org

Planned First Solar Power Plant in the Country Will be Build in Cavite

         http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/4196773347


I just read an interesting article from Manila Bulletin stating that a South Korean company is planning to put up a solar energy plant in Cavite, this is according to their provincial officials.


This multi-billion dollar solar plant, the first in the Philippines will be operational in the next few years. Negotiation of this expensive project is ongoing between Cavite's provincial administration and officials of Geomyung Solar Co. Ltd., one of the biggest manufacturers of solar-powered facilities in South Korea.


"The solar energy plant planned in Cavite is expensive, but it is very much beneficial for the province and the people in the long run." Stated by one of the provincial officials.


This is a huge renewable energy project coming from a country which has extensively invest here in the Philippines plus this will be a source of additional jobs. The fact that our economy are steadily developing and the constant increase of power needs makes this clean renewable energy a timely development.

World's Largest Solar Powered Ship Visit Manila

        planetsolar.org


A solar powered ship is currently in Manila to promote renewable energy. The ship is known as M/S Tûranor Planet Solar.


According to Inquirer, M/S Tûranor Planet Solar "is not only showcasing the potential of environmentally responsible mobility concepts, but also largely demonstrating the immense potential of solar energy, among other renewable energy sources, as a sustainable resource that can power the future".



This German-built vessel measures 31 by 15 meters and tips the scales at 85 tons. It has over 537 square meters of photovoltaic solar panels providing up to 127 horsepower – enough to keep the craft moving at a constant speed of 14 kilometers per hour.


One of the great thing about this ship is that it is exclusively powered by 38,000 high-efficiency solar cells which are all produced in the Philippines at the manufacturing facilities of SunPower Corp.


According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), this ship has won two accolades – the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a solar-powered vessel and the longest distance covered by a solar-powered electric vehicle.


The ship which was designed based on the catamaran concept now targets to be the first solar-powered boat to circumnavigate the world. Traveling over 55,000 kilometers westward across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, It has set sail from Monaco in southern France on September 27, 2010 and has just arrived in Manila from Australia.


source: Inquirer