Market for MW-scale PV-related activities to surpass 133 GW worldwide by end-2015

According to GTM's latest report released recently, Megawatt-Scale PV O&M and Asset Management 2015-2020, the total market for megawatt-scale Operation & Maintenance (O&M) and Asset Management (AM) is expected to surpass 133 GW worldwide by the end of 2015.

Megawatt-scale PV refers to installations/activities in access of 1 MW which means residential solar PV and other smaller solar farms are excluded.

The research firm further stated that total market will more than triple by 2020 to exceed 488 GW worldwide, driven predominantly by China, the U.S., India and Japan.


Major vendors. Source: Periodical e-mail updates from GreentechMedia

The research finding provides global and country-specific competitive landscape analysis, market sizing and forecasts, current and emerging trends and strategies, as well as service scope and price levels for a variety of plant sizes.

It also provides profile of 57 vendors in the O&M and Asset Management space including services offered, in/out-sourcing policies and fleet size by key country.

Comprehensive geographical coverage 

With every major markets being covered in the research, there's a fair chance that you would get an informed decision in your renewable energy projects, in particular solar PV. The report is available for a fee but for the industry players, this should be considered as small cost to doing business. As for the rest of us readers, we'll have to be contented with just the bits and pieces of information released by GTM later (probably, with no time frame).

Markets covered includes Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, and United States.

The Green Mechanics: If I were to be a member of the management team of SEDA Malaysia, I would strongly recommend that we get a copy of the report.

Source: GTM

My wish is to become a smart phone

Received this and I tought I should share it for this generation and for the generation to come. Read and see what you make of it. Nothing was changed from the original text.

Sad but true

A teacher after the dinner she started checking homework done by the students. Her husband is strolling around with a smart phone playing his favourite game 'Candy Crush Saga'.

When reading the last note, the wife starts crying with silent tears.

Her husband saw this and asked, 'Why are you crying dear?

What happened?'

Wife: 'Yesterday I gave homework to my 1st Standard students, to write something on topic -My Wish-.

'Husband: 'OK, but why are you crying?

'Wife: 'Today while checking the last note, it makes me cry.

'Husband curiously: 'What's written in the note that makes you cry?

'Wife: 'Listen'

My wish is to become a smart phone.

My parents love smart phone very much.

They care for smart phone so much that sometimes they forget to care for me.When my father comes from office tired, he has time for smart phone but not for me.

When my parents are doing some important work and smart phone is ringing, within single ring they attend to the phone, but not me even...even if I am crying.

They play games on their smart phones not with me.When they are talking to someone on their smart phone, they never listen to me even if I am telling something important.

So, My wish is to become a smart phone.

After listening the note husband got emotional and asked the wife, 'who wrote this?'.

Wife: 'Our son'.

Gadgets are beneficial, but they are for our ease not to cease the love amongst family and loved ones.

Children see and feel everything what happens with & around them. Things get imprinted on their mind with an everlasting effect. Let's take due care, so that they do not grow with any false impressions.

Source: anonymous 

Germany to continue with the Residential Energy Storage Subsidies

In November, the German government decided to end a 30% credit for energy storage systems by the end of this year. But the subsidy will now continue in some form. Currently, state assistance also includes low-interest loans, in addition to the credit.

Planned cuts to energy storage subsidies in Germany have been reversed, for now. Illustration by Powerwise-energy. 

The subsidy has been instrumental in fueling uptake of battery storage, from almost nothing two years ago, to as many as an estimated 13,000 units in total by the end of this year.

The subsidy, which is provided by the federal government via the German state-owned development bank KfW, was originally created in May 2013 to encourage the uptake of solar-plus-storage.

According to the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, that goal had been met. The subsidy was so successful, argued the ministry, that it was no longer needed. 

Why the sudden change of heart

Some motivational factors behind the reversal of decision:

• After  a final rush to install systems at the end of the year, growth in the home storage market would diminish by 13% in 2016. It was predicted that the market would worsen in 2017.


• The negative impact on the domestic solar industry. Feed-in tariffs for new installations have already been slashed, making the home-consumption model of storing excess solar electricity a more attractive model for new solar adopters. 


• Without the 30% credit and cheap loans, customers may think twice before investing in any form of solar.

Although still a minor factor in the overall storage picture in Germany, domestic units have large aggregate potential.

"If all suitable households get a solar system and a battery, the storage capacity will exceed the capacity of all existing pumped storage power plants in Germany."  - Dr. Volker Quaschning,  University of Applied Sciences for Engineering and Economics, Berlin.

Obstacles for large-scale storage in Germany

Currently, just under 14% of all new PV installations include storage.

Grid-scale storage is considered a consumer of electricity, meaning that both the storage operator and the subsequent consumer have to pay the country's EEG-Umlage, a renewable energy surcharge. In effect, the energy gets taxed twice!

The Green Mechanics:
Energy storage is no big deal in our country, or at least not yet a significant topic to talk about during energy meetings. But, the notion that we are about to discontinue the Feed-in Tariff mechanism for solar PV - possibly in a year's time - shows that we are not a contender for RE front runners in SEA region.

- Reference: GreenTechMedia