10/11 Spring
CSP sets the pace Molten salt in power towers for 24/7 electricity California’s 400MW landmark development Alice Springs – ahead in solar
ISSN: 0729-6436
The Official Journal of the Australian Solar Energy Society
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THE FUTURE OF SOLAR TECHNOLOGY
John Grimes
Bill Parker Our first issue of the re-born Solar Progress was well received and we look forward to any feedback you may have about this edition. Our focus in this edition is on ‘big solar’ – said by some to be the suite of technologies that will change the energy supply landscape. There is no doubt that these plants change the physical landscape because of their size and remarkable appearance from the air. We have been fortunate to attract some comprehensive reportage and overviews of developments both in Australia and the USA. Not least we have the definitive answer to that perennial question about solar energy – ‘what happens after sunset’. Can there be doubt any longer that our electricity generation, steam supply for industry and chemical conversions are made possible by solar energy and taking their place on the industrial landscape? We are reminded by one of the world’s recognised leaders in the field of big thermal plant research and development – Wes Stein – that Australia needs to defend its competitive edge. AuSES was founded around a core of solar thermal specialists, and their legacy is present today. The challenge for us is to sell the story so consistently and persistently. From that, government has to play its role and we are not there yet. The major difference between Australia and the USA is the funding model. For many years now, projects in the US have been eligible for Loan Guarantees and it is these that have made large projects like Ivanpah a reality. Australia has yet to see the benefits of this sort of legislation. Solar 2011 is just around the corner and is shaping up to be a ‘do not miss’ conference. Our annual gathering is now in its 49th year and this year’s event is being held at the Australian Technology Park just south of the Sydney CBD. Difficult though it might be to visualise what the conference was like in 1962, one thing is for sure, Solar 2011 will be the place to get the full spectrum of solar energy endeavours from basic research to product installation, and more – it is always a friendly gathering of delegates. We look forward to seeing you there.
SOLAR POISED FOR GREATNESS The solar industry is today in a ‘solar recession’, but my prediction is that this is not going to be the case for long. That’s because the economics of power supply will be pivotal in shaping community behaviour. Let’s take a closer look at the bigger picture. Over the past two years 418,000 homes have had solar PV installed, providing a combined capacity of over 1.1GW of new solar generation. This is the real meaning of ‘people power’, people taking their own power needs into their own hands. While in isolation a 2kW solar installation is not world-changing, enough small systems combined can literally change the way we make and use power. In two short years the people of Australia have together built the ‘People’s Power Plant’, the most significant investment in electricity generation nationally for the past 30 years. Importantly it has been a private investment into a resource that provides a community benefit. This unprecedented demand for solar has led to employment, economic growth and economies of scale previously unattainable in the solar supply chain. Combined with a strong dollar and international factors, solar is more affordable today than it has ever been in its history. At the same time we are seeing an inexorable rise in electricity prices. While short term politics have brought electricity prices into sharp focus, the reality is that increased costs are unavoidable. The grid is reaching ‘block obsolesce’, and no amount of political posturing is going to upgrade poles and wires. Taken together this all means the trend towards solar is here to stay. How fast, and how significant the swing to solar is going to be is largely up to us. Now is the time for all of us to be talking about the economic benefits of solar (personally and to the community). Solar has taken its first big steps. Now let’s make sure it keeps putting one foot in front of the other.
John Grimes AuSES CEO
Cover Image: CSIRO’s new solar Brayton Cycle project at Newcastle – a solar tower and field that
Bill Parker
generates electricity from just the air and sun. The heliostats have a lightweight steel frame with a unique, simple design, specially created for mass
Editor
production for the commercial market. The units are smaller than many heliostats currently being used around the world, but just as efficient, more cost effective and much easier to install.
2 | SPRING 2011
Contents
12
8 30
20
40
36
Solar society
Special features
Industry comment
Welcome: Solar Progress Editor Bill Parker and AuSES CEO John Grimes ...2 Solar 2011 Conference ...20 AuSES State Branch reports ...26
Big scale delivery: Ivanpah’s mighty 400MW plant takes shape ...8 CSP in all its forms By Wes Stein of CSIRO Newcastle ...12 No town like Alice A Solar City forging a powerful presence ...30 Spanish trailblazers: Molten salt in power towers for 24/7 electricity ...40
Surviving solar-itis: Nigel Morris reflects on community driven changes ...18 Looking toward a powerful solar future Ric Brazzale and John Susa ...24 To be or not to be solar. Debate rages over architectural sustainability ...36
Technical talk Earthing PV Module Frames by Glen Morris PV connectors: beware of counterfeits
...38 ...44
News Carbon tax and the developing world of solar energy
...4
Resources & links AuSES corporate membership list Solar associations Key solar events
...46 ...46 ...47
Printed using FSCÂŽ mixed source certified fibre by Printgraphics Pty Ltd under ISO 14001 Environmental Certification.
Making news
Paying the price for carbon
SOLAR PROGRESS Published by CommStrat for Australian Solar Energy Society Ltd. EDITOR Dr Bill Parker, AuSES Phone: 0403 583 676 editor@auses.org.au CONTRIBUTORS: Garry Baverstock, Andrew Dyer, Sasha Ivanovich, Glen Morris, Nigel Morris and Wes Stein CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Nicola Card MANAGING EDITOR Simon Sharwood NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Brian Rault Phone: 03 8534 5014 brian.rault@commstrat.com.au GENERAL MANAGER COMMSTRAT ASSOCIATION SERVICES Simon Davis simon.davis@commstrat.com.au PRODUCTION MANAGER Russell Montgomery CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tim Hartridge GRAPHIC DESIGNER Monica Lawrie COMMSTRAT MELBOURNE Level 8, 574 St Kilda Rd MELBOURNE Vic 3004 Phone: 03 8534 5000 COMMSTRAT SYDNEY Level 12, 99 Walker St NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2060 Phone: 02 8923 8000
Milestones on the recent political agenda: Introduction of GST (July 2000); We say sorry to the Stolen Generations (February 2008); Replacement of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (June 2010). And now … the imminent introduction of a carbon pricing scheme. November 2011 could well mark Australia’s next significant political event. Wednesday October 12 was the day the nation advanced a step closer to D day for clean energy, albeit by the narrowest of margins. Stating “Australia has a responsibility to respect the science of climate change and to respond with an environmentally effective, economically efficient and socially equitable policy” Climate Change Minister Greg Combet describes the 19 bills comprising the Clean Energy legislation and the Steel Transformation Plan Bill as one of the most important environmental and economic reforms in the nation’s history. He anticipates this will encourage further investment in clean energy and low emissions technologies. Set to cover about 60% of Australia’s emissions, the scheme will be the most broadbased in the world, with about 500 of the
biggest carbon-emitting companies paying a price per tonne of carbon. By the time the ink has dried on this page, it is expected the Senate will have passed the legislation. “Just a formality compared to the Lower House,” said Nigel Morris of Solar Business Services who was one of thousands at the All-Energy Conference in Melbourne where word spread quickly of the Government vote 74 to 72 in favour of reform. In the words of Clean Economy Services Director Wayne Smith: “This is a very historic day for the renewable energy industry. A step forward to a clean energy future.” Indeed, the word ‘historic’ was heard repeatedly throughout the day. And the next. AuSES was swift to issue a statement welcoming the package, with John Grimes declaring the Society “supports actions which foster the generation of renewable energy [and this] will help Australia transition to a sustainable, low carbon economy.” More from Nigel Morris who forecasts a mood swing of a positive kind, believing “A carbon tax will change the solar industry substantially as consumer sentiment will shift toward clean energy.”
Power and water
AUSTRALIAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY LTD CEO John Grimes PO Box 148, Frenchs Forest NSW 1640 www.auses.org.au ABN 32 006 824 148 The Australian Solar Energy Society is a not– for–profit association that was founded in 1954. It is the Australian branch of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) based in Freiburg, Germany www.ises.org CommStrat ABN 31 008 434 802 www.commstrat.com.au Solar Progress was first published in 1980. The magazine aims to provide readers with an in–depth review of technologies, policies and progress towards a society which sources energy from the sun rather than fossil fuels. Except where specifically stated, the opinions and material published in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher or AuSES. While every effort is made to check the authenticity and accuracy of articles, neither AuSES nor the editors are responsible for any inaccuracy. Solar Progress is published in July, October, January and April.
4 | SPRING 2011
In late August news broke of Australia’s first larger-than-large solar power project. To be known as the Greenough River Solar Farm, the utility-scale venture will spread over 80 hectares south of Geraldton, WA and be up and running by mid 2012. Producing 10 Megawatts it will eclipse the output of like plants in Australia tenfold, displacing 25,000 tonnes annually of greenhouse gas emissions. Or in old currency: remove the equivalent of 5000 cars from the roads. The solar farm venture involves three parties with First Solar providing 150,000 advanced thin film PV modules plus engineering services, and WA government’s Verve Energy and GE Energy
Financial Services each owning 50% of the farm. Significantly, this is GE Energy’s first foray into Australia’s renewable energy sector. To gain an idea of the appearance of the Greenough River Solar Farm, Solar Progress was supplied with an image (above) of a similar – and we have to add impressively large – solar facility developed in New Mexico. Australia’s solar radiation resource is certainly equivalent. The entire output of the farm will be used to power the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant at Binningup further down the WA coast. The WA Water Corporation says the desal plant will provide close to 50 gigalitres of potable water annually.
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Making news
Yippee for YEPOON
Solar Electricity CONSUMER GUIDE Review by Bill Parker
From left: MP Paul Hoolihan, Viv McLaughlin (secretary), Rhodes Watson of Watt Else, Queensland Energy Minister Stephen Robertson and home owners Liz and Jim Goodsell.
Yeppoon resident and Watt Else co-founder Rhodes Watson has brought the cost of solar power systems within reach of more homeowners through a bulk buying PV program. Watson launched the project back in 2009 and two years later launched Watt Else. Two community groups jumped on the bandwagon: the CapCoast Solar Bulk Buying Group and the Envirolink Bulk Buying Group. With 260 rooftops now putting energy from the sun into the Queensland power grid and another 100 awaiting installation, Watt Else is hoping to spread the solar bulk buying idea throughout the state and across the nation. “Even with reduced Federal Government subsidies the effect of bulk buying makes our prices much lower than the individual solar power systems currently available,” says Watson.
Power in numbers Applicants are asked how much power they use and are presented with suggestion of how usage can be cut, then Watson sources the appropriate sized solar system at an affordable price for individuals which in turn helps reduce 6 | SPRING 2011
– or best case eliminate – their power bill. Watson and Watt Else co-founder Martin Carlin have been supported through a Social Enterprise Fellowship from RMIT SEEDS – a program that helps students develop sustainable social enterprises. Martin Carlin told Solar Progress that in recent weeks “Lots of expressions of interest in PV systems have been received from the community and now that we have a critical mass on a waiting list we’ll scale up on suppliers. “Initially we had just one PV supplier, Con Energy, that was sourced through SolarEquip. The dollar was not as strong then as it is now and prices are down, so we have a tender out this time.” He added that Watt Else anticipates supplying everyone in this, their third group, before Christmas. The home-grown solar success story supported by RMIT University sparked the interest of Queensland Energy Minister Stephen Robertson who in September inspected the 1.5kW system installed by the CapCoast Solar Bulk Buying Group.
When you buy an expensive item for the household the purchase is usually made after consulting friends, neighbours, the Consumer’s Association website or Choice magazine and more. Over years of a product’s presence in the market, reputations are earned and gradually we become aware of what to look for what to avoid and what things cost. We can easily get the information we need. With PV systems, we are in the early phase of a new industry and there is little information generally available, even in the most obvious places. Not anymore. Which Energy’s Solar Electricity Consumer Guide is about as complete a source as anyone could wish for. The guide was written by an expert – Trevor Berrill – who has been involved in the development of PV and spent decades training installers, as an advisor to government, and living a low-energy life. The Solar Electricity Consumer Guide is eighty-six pages of plain language about PV systems, what they do, what they do not do and how they work and much more. Everything I could think of asking is answered. When you invest in PV, you will be making a large investment. As an early pioneer with roof top PV I wish I had read this guide before I signed the cheque. Here is the starting point; get yourself a copy of this guide and be better informed. Just visit www.whichenergy.com.au/auses When you make your purchase, 25% of the profits go to the AuSES Renewable Energy promotion Fund.
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Big solar
Delivering
on solar energy’s promise BrightSource Energy Director Andrew Dyer takes us on a virtual tour of the world’s largest solar plant that will transform the desert landscape described by Arnold Schwarzenegger as ‘miles of gold mine’. Sort of apposite, given Ivanpah’s origins as a silver mine. 8 | SPRING 2011
Deep in California’s sun-drenched Mojave Desert, more than 700 workers are constructing the world’s largest solar plant. Called the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS), the 392 megawatt project is setting the bar for utility-scale solar power plants and is offering an example of how thoughtful policy coupled with world-class technology can deliver significant environmental and economic benefits to local communities, while providing clean, cost-effective and reliable power to global consumers of electricity. The project, located on 3600 acres of land managed by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) includes three distinct power plants that will all come online by the end of 2013. When completed, the project will provide enough electricity to power 140,000 homes and will nearly double the total amount of solar thermal energy produced in the U.S. today. Construction on Ivanpah began in October 2010, following a star-studded groundbreaking ceremony, which included California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and US Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, among many other business, community and policy leaders. During the ceremony, the then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said, “Some people look out into the desert and see miles and miles of emptiness. I see miles and miles of gold mine.” The project, now approximately 15 percent complete, is being built by a consortium of world-class partners. BrightSource Energy, a leading global solar thermal technology company based in Oakland, California served as the project developer and technology provider.
From concept to fruition BrightSource’s LPT solar thermal technology produces electricity the same way as traditional power plants – by creating high temperature steam to turn a turbine. However, instead of using fossil fuels or nuclear power to create the steam, BrightSource uses proprietary software to control thousands of mirrors to reflect sunlight onto a boiler filled with water that sits atop a tower. When the sunlight hits the boiler, the water inside is heated and creates high temperature and pressure steam. The steam is then piped to a conventional turbine which generates electricity. The ability to reach high temperature and pressure steam levels allows for higher efficiencies and lower costs than competing solar technologies. BrightSource’s LPT technology can also be coupled with a molten-salt based storage solution or be hybridised with a fossil fuel, extending the solar day to critical peak generating hours while offering the same reliability characteristics found in conventional power plants.
The extension of power production also improves asset utilisation, translating to reductions in the overall cost of electricity. In addition to providing cost-effective and reliable power, BrightSource’s technology is setting the bar in terms of protecting the environment. The Ivanpah project will avoid nearly 13 million tons of CO2 over its 30-year plant life. It also employs a low-impact design, which reduces the need for significant grading and concrete pads found in competing technologies. By placing poles directly into the ground, the technology avoids areas of sensitive habitat while allowing for vegetation to co-exist within the solar field. The technology also uses a closed-loop dry-cooling system, which significantly reduces water use – an essential approach in desert environments around the world. At Ivanpah, the use of dry-cooling instead of wetcooling means that the project is using 90 percent less water than competing technologies with wet cooling. And while the company believes that this is the right thing to do for the environment, it’s also a competitive advantage. The LPT’s ability to produce high temperature steam allows for more efficient and cost-effective use of dry-cooling than competing solar thermal technologies.
“What is needed in Australia are predictable policies that provide developers, technology providers and investors alike with the certainty to plan and invest in utility-scale solar projects that require significant capital and lengthy development horizons.”
Job creation, construction and consortiums The Ivanpah project is also benefitting California’s local economy. The project already has hired nearly 700 workers ranging from craft labor to engineers. At the height of construction, more than 1400 men and women will be working on the Ivanpah project. The project will also generate nearly $300 million in state and local tax revenues over the 30-year life of the project. During that same period, the project will generate more than $650 million in wages. Bechtel, one of the world’s largest engineering, procurement and construction companies, is building the project. “Ivanpah is a landmark project and the innovative engineering and construction used to build it will help shape the future of the solar power industry,” said Ian Copeland, president of Bechtel‘s Renewable Power division. The project’s investors and owners include Google, which invested US$168 million in the project, and NRG – a Fortune 250 wholesale power generation company – which invested US$300 million in Ivanpah. “We‘re excited to be making our largest clean energy investment to date. With this investment, we‘re helping to deploy the first commercial plant of a potentially transformative solar technology able to deliver clean
SolarProgress | 9
Big solar
deliver additional clean energy to our customers, create jobs for Californians and help advance the state’s renewable energy and economic development goals,” said Fong Wan, Senior Vice President of Energy Procurement, Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Marc Ulrich, Southern California Edison vice president, Renewable and Alternative Power added “We rely on this kind of innovative technology to help us reach California’s renewable energy goals.”
This desert tortoise (the Mojave desert variety of Gopherus agassizii) has been protected during the Ivanpah project, and now Brightsource employs 100 specialists to ensure the tortoises (especially juveniles) are treated properly.
Interest and investment
“At Ivanpah, the use of dry-cooling instead of wet-cooling means that the project is using 90% less water than competing technologies with wet cooling.” energy at scale,” said Rick Needham, Director of Green Business Operations at Google. “Ivanpah will be the largest solar power tower project in the world, capable of producing clean electricity at the highest efficiency of any solar thermal plant. We hope it can serve as a proof point and spur further investment in this exciting technology.” The project also received a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program, which provides debt to energy projects using innovative technologies. “The DOE‘s decision to support Ivanpah with a loan guarantee is proof that large scale solar projects are moving to the forefront of our nation‘s clean energy alternatives,” said David Crane, President and CEO, NRG Energy. “Ivanpah is a glowing example of truly sustainable energy—a project that all at once will ensure cleaner air, help in the fight against climate change, drive down the cost of large scale concentrating solar technology and take California one giant step closer toward its goal of producing 33% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.” The project’s customers include California’s two largest utilities: Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Southern California Edison. “We‘re pleased to be a part of this project, which will 10 | SPRING 2011
Clear and thoughtful federal and state policies are attracting the level of investment required to create these environmental and economic benefits in California. In addition to providing debt through the US Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program, solar projects like Ivanpah are incentivised by the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which provides eligible investors with a tax credit up to 30 percent of the total project cost. The ITC is eligible for all US projects through the end of 2016. At the state level, projects are being driven by a Renewable Portfolio Standard mandate for utilities to produce 33 percent of their generation with qualifying renewable resources by 2020. It’s clear that cost-effective, reliable and clean solar technologies – like the one being deployed at Ivanpah – exist to help reach our global environmental and economic goals. There are leading global private companies who are eager to invest and build these types of projects.
On home turf What is needed in Australia are predictable policies that provide developers, technology providers and investors alike with the certainty to plan and invest in utility-scale solar projects that require significant capital and lengthy development horizons. BrightSource Energy Director Andrew Dyer is based in Sydney and is currently on the board of AuSES. Further information: www.ivanpahsolar.com
What’s in a name? The Californian desert silver-mining town of Ivanpah – believed to mean ‘clear water’ in an American Indian language – was founded in 1869 but within two decades was all but deserted. Ivanpah was never a major settlement; at its peak the township featured 15 adobe buildings that included several small houses, headquarters of the Piute Mining Company, one hotel and two stores.
Big solar
Concentrating solar power – the
big picture Wes Stein believes it is feasible that within four decades, a quarter of Australia’s total electricity needs could be met by solar energy.
How things change. Back in the ‘70s a greenhouse was a glass structure at the end of the garden visited once a week to water the veggies and tropical plants. And admire their growth. Today the use of the word ‘greenhouse’ carries menacing overtones, with efforts aimed at stemming, not propagating, development. Unlike yesterday’s greenhouse, the challenge is not confined to our own backyard; it is of a global magnitude. The fact is, if greenhouse gas reduction targets are to be met, technologies capable of rapid and deep cuts will be required the world over. The move to lower emissions will occur in an energy environment that is dominated by fossil fuels and thus technologies that can assist the transition in all respects – maintenance or growth of jobs, security of supply, building on Australia’s existing and considerable energy knowhow and infrastructure – all will be crucial. Numerous zero or low greenhouse gas technologies are available,
12 | SPRING 2011
and all have a role to play. One technology in particular that seems to have a natural fit in Australia is concentrating solar power (CSP). Significantly, nearly all of the world’s electricity is generated by first heating a fluid. This applies to electricity from coal, gas, biomass and, overseas, nuclear power and geothermal. The only significant sources of electricity that don’t involve a heated fluid are hydro and wind, with photovoltaics now a growing source. Concentrating solar power provides an alternative and clean way to create a hot fluid, whether steam, gases or fuels, which is then used downstream in conventional steam or gas turbines, or for chemical processes. Herein lies one of the advantages of CSP – it can fit neatly with much of the power generation knowledge, techniques and equipment residing in industry today, but, importantly, it will continue to benefit from advances in power generation technology coming from outside the solar industry. Though there are several ways of concentrating the sun to make useful energy, CSP is best known for the trough technology with >1,000MW installed, mainly in Spain and the USA.
This trough technology uses oil as the heat transfer fluid, heated to 390°C, and used to generate steam for a steam turbine. The technology was first installed as nine units totalling 384MWe in Southern California from 1985 to 1981. The majority of these plants – more than 2 million m2 of mirror – are still working commercially today proving the capability of CSP to work in a desert environment over long periods of time. Some have recently been purchased by utilities as part of their energy portfolio.
Trough technology on offer The trough technology is the incumbent CSP technology of today, with more than 95% of current world installations based on this method of concentration. There are now several large energy companies offering trough technology with the major variation between them being the design (and claimed cost and optical efficiency) of the trough structure itself. Typically however, they are large structures, with the final layout based on a number of factors including optimisation of heat transfer fluid pumping power. Ground area required is around 2Ha for every 1MWe. At these relatively low steam temperatures, steam turbines have an efficiency of around 38%. Including the solar field collection efficiency, total solar to electrical efficiency is typically around 18%, and annual average 14%. The trough developers and researchers have for some time been looking at ways to improve their cost-effectiveness in addition to economies of scale and mass production. One option is direct steam generation (DSG) where steam is used as the heat transfer fluid and piped directly to the turbine, overcoming the temperature limitation of oil but presenting the complexity of steam control. The other option for troughs is to use molten salt as the heat transfer fluid itself, rather than only as the storage medium, eliminating oil and raising the available temperature from troughs to over 450°C. The first 5MW demonstration plant has recently been commissioned in Italy.
SolarProgress | 13
Big solar
Power in towers Power towers, also known as central receiver technology, use heliostats that track the sun and reflect light to a central point on a tower. This provides much higher concentrations of energy (solar flux) and thus the option of higher temperatures. Again, a heat transfer fluid is usually needed to take the heat from the receiver on the tower to the turbine or
More recently, two strong streams of commercial activity have emerged – towers using salt as the heat transfer fluid and storage medium (for downstream steam generation), and towers using much higher direct steam generation temperatures. The first stage of a 392MW tower project generating 550°C steam is nearing completion in California. The use of salt at temperatures close to its thermal limit (560°C for the conventional nitrate salt mixture) means much lower thermal storage costs than with troughs (up to half the salt inventory, smaller tanks, less pumping), and the higher cycle efficiency means the additional mirror area needed to charge the storage (on top of the mirrors needed to power the turbine) is also less. A recently commissioned project (Gemasolar in Spain – see story on page 40) has demonstrated 24 hr operation based on stored solar energy in molten salt and others are under construction. In Australia, tower technology has been championed by CSIRO with more recent developments such as Graphite Energy’s Lake Cargellico project. Studies suggest an attractive future for tower technology due not only to fundamentally low costs but also the potential for low cost storage and other applications. Nearly 25% of planned CSP projects globally are based on towers, compared to less than 5% in operation now, a tremendous growth rate.
Focus on dish concentrators
“Australia’s total electricity needs would require the equivalent area of just one sheep station (or something the size of Adelaide) to provide the necessary quantities of solar power.” process on the ground, though the higher concentrations do afford additional options. To date, 5, 10 and 20MW towers are operational with steam and, recently, a 20MW tower commissioned with salt. The early towers have been designed with low temperature steam (DSG) to minimise risk and provide performance certainty. 14 | SPRING 2011
The technology at the forefront of Australian CSP research for many years is dish concentrators, which are always aiming directly at the sun and provide the highest average solar concentration. Overseas, most developments have been on the basis of the Stirling engine (and more recently the Brayton cycle), which is mounted on the dish and generates electricity directly at the focus, though commercial developments have stalled recently. In Australia technological development has used the potential high temperatures to advantage and considered fluids such as steam, ammonia (for storage) and salts. Research work has been led by the Australian National University, and commercialisation by Wizard Power.
Leading the way in linear Fresnel An emerging CSP technology is linear Fresnel. The principal is simple, with the advantage being a fixed, downward facing linear focus allowing direct steam generation. The disadvantage is a lower annual optical efficiency, with developers advocating the lower reflector cost outweighing the lower optical efficiency. Australia led the way with the compact linear Fresnel several years ago, and this recently culminated in the awarding of Australia’s largest solar project, Solar Dawn at Chinchilla, based on Australia’s early pioneering work. The same company is building a 44MWth linear Fresnel project at CS Energy’s coal power station in Queensland, and a different, pilot scale plant is under construction at Liddell coal power station in NSW by Transfield using Novatec Solar technology. The latter two plants are both
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Big solar
Right: CSIRO’s new solar Brayton Cycle project at Newcastle
“R&D works best when it can be linked to production – Australia must defend its competitive edge to make the next big thing.”
16 | SPRING 2011
demonstrating the potential to use solar steam to displace coal in existing power stations, with many advantages through the use of existing infrastructure. It is interesting, and probably no accident, that Australia has and is developing the three technologies that are presently least commercialised, yet most promising1. No accident, because these are the technologies where Australian researchers and developers can make the most impact in terms of both cost reduction and therefore GW eventually installed. There is a considerable portfolio of CSP R&D now underway, funded primarily through the Australian Solar Institute. Australia has never before seen anything like the level of R&D support witnessed over the past three years, and researchers have responded strongly. More than $50 million of CSP research is presently underway in Australia2 (total project value), predominantly based on towers, in areas including3: • Advanced thermal storage based on high temperature salts or solid materials such as graphite (CSIRO and Abengoa Solar; Graphite Energy) • Very high temperature steam for the most advanced supercritical steam turbines (CSIRO) • Brayton cycles heating air to nearly 1,000°C for use in gas turbines needing no water (CSIRO and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) • Thermoelectrics and thermionics as fundamental material work for the future (University of Newcastle, CSIRO, Thermax, UNSW). • The Commonwealth Government’s APP program has been funding CSIRO’s programme of work in solar fuels, based on merging two of Australia’s largest energy sources – solar and natural gas. In the same way that Southern Europe and the MENA regions have joined forces to develop the Desertec concept of generating solar electricity in the sunbelt and transporting it as electricity to Europe where premiums are available, the Australian version could be generating storable, transportable fuels and
exporting it to our Asian energy trading markets as “solar molecules”, and • Development of small troughs for low to medium temperature applications (NEP, ANU, CSIRO and Chromasun).
Commercialisation With more than 1,000MW of CSP plants in operation globally, nearly 3,000MW under construction, and some 9,000MW in the pipeline, Australia needs to move quickly to translate its research into commercial technology, or else miss the boat. It is critical Australia overcomes the “valley of death” gap between research and commercial– demonstration scale research. Researchers urgently need the infrastructure to enable scale-up of the most viable concepts in a research park(s) dedicated to proving new concepts. Each of the other leading regions have, or plan to have, such expanded solar facilities, as outlined in the European Industrial Initiative for CSP, and the US plan for government determined, designated Solar Demonstration Zones. A target of 25% of Australia’s electricity from solar energy by 2050 is technically and economically achievable. The resulting aggregated ground area of the individual projects needed would be around 800km2 (28km x 28km in total) less than many sheep or pastoral stations. “R&D works best when it can be linked to production – Australia must defend its competitive edge to make the next big thing.4” In CSP, we have just that opportunity. Wes Stein is the Solar Program and Stream Leader for CSIRO Energy Technology – Newcastle.
1. The earlier leading work by the University of Sydney on advanced solar selective surfaces for evacuated tubes is acknowledged 2. ASI Rd 3 and USASEC is presently in progress 3. Refer to www.australiansolarinstitute.com.au for complete list and descriptions 4. Eric Knight ANU, SMH Opinion, 27/9/2011
Industry comment
Surviving Solar-itis Di
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BRISBANE Spring has arrived and as I bask in the warm sun, I contemplate the last few months in Australian politics where it seems everyone caught “solar-itis”. It’s been a vigorous outbreak around the country and has left a wide array of stakeholders groggy, tired and in some cases beaten. The solar industry is not alone in this; the utilities with increasingly large REC obligations and fast growing revenue streams clearly wanting to be in this game. The RET has effectively become a variable growth driver and compensatory package for them and solar can help them. And even the Government, across all levels, got a dose. Although support waxes and wanes with opinion polls, they have and will again support solar if history is anything to go by. Renewables policies have become intertwined with electricity regulation and economics like never before in Australia and that and the Carbon Price were equivalent to a late night out in the cold and the rain. I suspect most Government departments sat down to dine on solar, accidentally ate too much and got solaritis as a side effect of the affliction. We did try to tell them. In two decades of watching this industry, I’ve never seen so much elation and heartache. Some continue to invest and projects get larger. But hundreds if not thousands of businesses and
One of the big challenges is for utilities to transition to learning to make money from selling less energy instead of their traditional model of ‘more is better’.
Biggest systems: 2011
8.2 x bigger
2012
125 x bigger
people are exiting the industry. It’s not for the faint hearted anymore and billions are at stake.
Solar-itis is global Australia is of course intrinsically linked to the global economy. So it fits that around the world, the industry is suffering from the solar18 | SPRING 2011
University of Queensland 1.2MW
Verve Geraldton 10MW
Moree Solar Farm 150MW
itis affliction too. Reports of major collapses, closures, profit declines and investor fear are widespread, although not universal. However, with the spring sunshine I have renewed optimism that our Governments and industry will get through this nasty bout of solar-itis. Why? Because I believe in collective social evolution and I believe it happening right in front of our eyes. The evidence and debate around climate change is forcing change across society. In Australia, despite our epidemic of solar-itis, the pieces of the puzzle are aligning and I truly believe that the Government and non-renewable industries are in for a massive surprise. Solar is going to grow and the scale is going to bring costs down to increasingly competitive levels. In some cases it is virtually at grid parity. And in the US, large scale solar is around US$0.10cents/W, resulting in solar PV replacing Concentrated Solar Power in the first half of a 1000MW plant. And according to US based GTM (Greentech) Research the total number of CSP projects which have been converted to PV is now just under 3000MW. Now overlay rising electricity prices, deregulation and the prognosis for future price rises. “Utilities bill shock” is on every Australian’s mind and starting to make a difference to behaviour. Ausgrid, which provides power to much of New South Wales, announced recently that household energy demand fell 2% p/a for the past four years, the first time since the 1950s that this has occurred. This trend will undoubtedly continue as we get more used to having to conserve, and the market responds by delivering ever more products to help us manage our demand.
M o re
e
Nigel Morris conveys his upbeat views on the power of collective social evolution that is driving the solar power industry onward and upward and the cost of solar energy down.
pla c ed en d t o e n d r f ar m if e s ol a
817% Solar industry growth 2009-2011
The big challenge One of the big challenges is for utilities to transition to learning to make money from selling less energy instead of their traditional model of ‘more is better’. But this too is happening, albeit painfully slowly. Many of the major utilities sell solar, offer demand management incentives through time of use pricing and are starting to roll out allempowering smart meter trials. In the coming decade, demand is forecast to become peakier and despite the signals, it will continue to rise (albeit slowly) according to modelling done by ROAM consulting for Treasury. At the same time, we are facing the mothballing of almost 2000MW of old coal fired power stations. Wind power is great, but increasingly tough to install. Renewable energy targets are a growing challenge for the energy sector. They have to act soon or will face increasing penalties, and they know it. Most are having an each-way bet across a variety of solutions while the market settles in. So almost despite the resistance, renewables – and solar in particular –are gaining momentum. The big surprise I believe we will see is just how much solar falls in price, how fast this will come and how the market will react. We have had just a taste of it and although we’ll go through some dips and bumps, it will happen. When the Carbon Price was announced, I analysed a small set of numbers that Treasury produced, purporting a 40% contribution by renewables by 2050, to installed generation capacity. Within this, they projected just over 3% coming from solar – and most of it from big and or concentrating solar. They have
CANBERRA
clearly (and grossly) underestimated solar PV. Under this modelling, the Government expects a staggeringly conservative 2.7GW to be cumulatively installed over the next 40 years. While long term forecasts are extraordinarily difficult to accurately produce, I took a simple and highly conservative approach; building a forecast based on 400MW p/a for five years, then 500MW p/a for the next five years, then 600MW, then 700MW, 800MW, 900 MW and finally 1000MW. Given that we will install almost 700MW of PV in 2011 and that PV costs are falling while electricity prices are rising, the numbers won’t be exactly right they will undoubtedly be low. Historically, the solar industry in almost every case has ended up installing more than everyone projected over the medium term.
30GW in the next thirty years predicted
Difference between government and PV industry forecast
1011%
Well guess what? Using these conservative forecasts, we predict around 30GW or ELEVEN times as much solar to be installed, and probably much more. Perhaps the Government was just taking a conservative punt, perhaps they don’t want to upset the status quo or perhaps I’ve missed something, but even if I’m wrong by an order of magnitude, there will clearly be substantially more PV installed by 2050 than Treasury modelling suggests. I don’t know about you, but this news cured my solar-itis – I feel more optimistic about our industry’s influence than ever before. Nigel Morris is a director of SolarBusinessServices www.solarbusiness.com.au
Industry solar forecast by 2050 30GW
Government Solar forecast by 2050 2.7GW
SolarProgress | 19
Australian Technology Park, Sydney, Australia Wednesday 30 November to Friday 2 December 2011
www.solarconference.com.au
A MEMBER OF
ISES
www.auses.org.au
CONFERENCE MANAGER INTERNATIONAL PARTNER
SUPPORTED BY
International Solar Energy Society
PARTNERS
30 November – 2 December 2011 Australian Technology Park, Sydney, Australia
Wednesday 30 November – Friday 2 December 2011 Australian Technology Park, Sydney, Australia
Overview The 49th annual Australian Solar Energy Society’s (AuSES) conference will involve a range of leading government officials, scientists, developers, and solar industry experts. The program will feature many practical, in-depth forums and discussion panels sharing current thinking and best practice.
Topics/speakers for 2011 include: • International experts on solar research and building sustainability –– Allan Jones MBE who led the reduction of the Woking Borough council’s carbon footprint by 78% –– US-based solar expert Jeff Lyng who was instrumental in developing a number of Colorado’s energy policies including the 30% Renewable Portfolio Standard. • Solar commercialisation case studies including: –– The Hon Simon Corbell MLA – ACT Minister for the Environment & Sustainable Development on the ACT’s large scale solar initiatives –– Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP on how Sydney is closing in on the most ambitious greenhouse gas reduction target of any Australian government – 70% by 2030 (on 2006 levels).
• How “big solar” can benefit from the $10bn Clean Energy Finance Corporation and an update on the state of Solar Flagships including Round 2 • Over 75 peer reviewed academic papers covering topics such as PV devices & systems, Solar Thermal, Solar Policy & Economics as well as ‘Built in’ PV and sustainable technologies • Sustainable Solar policy and economics update • Solar PV Installers Professional Development Day featuring: Lyndon Frearson; Belinda Mclean; Warwick Johnston; Glen Morris; Ric Brazzale; Simon Troman. • Australian market entry expert sessions, including a review of the market and market trends translated in to Mandarin • The Solar PV Best Practice Program and its roll out over the coming year • World experts from the International Energy Agency ‘Solar Heating & Cooling’ Roadmap workshop • Experts from the Australian PV Association with the presentation of expert papers and its AGM • Visiting industrialists looking to enter the Australian solar market • Australian Solar Pioneer Dr David Mills will speak about 100% renewables in the US • Views from each of the major political parties about their approach to renewables and solar
“Bringing business and research together for a better tomorrow”
Solar 2011 Conference
“Bringing business and research together for a better tomorrow”
Keynote Speakers: Clover Moore MP Lord Mayor of Sydney
Greg Hunt MP Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage
Allan Jones MBE Chief Development Officer, Energy and Climate Change of the City of Sydney.
Simon Corbell MLA Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, ACT
Amory Lovins Chairman and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute
Dr David Mills Co-Founder and former CSO and Chairman of Ausra (retired)
Dr Muriel Watt Head, Energy Policy & PV IT Power Australia
Jeff Lyng Director of Market Development, Opower
For sponsorship and exhibition inquiries please contact: Brian Rault National Sales & Advertising Manager, CommStrat Phone: +613 8534 5014 Fax: +613 9530 8911 brian.rault@commstrat.com.au
30 November – 2 December 2011 Australian Technology Park, Sydney, Australia
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Round-table
Weathering the storm … then a sunny outlook There is little disagreement about the state of flux in the solar industry. But it’s not all bad, say Ric Brazzale of GET and John Susa of Trina. Just all part of the evolution. A paving of the way for a robust future, as told to Nicola Card.
Like many associated with
support for the industry so we’ve seen an
systems, it reconfirms [to consumers] that
Australia’s solar industry, Ric Brazzale of GET is astonished by the dramatic increase in solar installations over the past few years; the soaring accumulation of MW installed and busy, demanding, hectic times for PV manufacturers and installers. But the industry is now bracing itself for a tough year ahead, possibly a halving of last year’s activity levels, says Brazzale, who quickly adds that this anticipated contraction follows a 50% increase on the previous year, and 400% increase on the year before that. A snapshot of Australia’s PV installations helps put things in perspective: In 2009 about 70,000 PV systems (predominantly residential) were sold and installed. Just a fraction of the 200,000 PV systems sold and installed in 2010 and the even more massive 315,000 during 2011. And the year ahead? Regulators estimate that during 2012 the PV market will shrink to about 160,000 installations. Small compared to 2011 but still well ahead of 2009 figures. A rollercoaster ride nevertheless. Brazzale of GET commented “when you look over the timeframe, where we have got to is fantastic, but we need to get to a sustainable level. “Growth has been driven by two things: government policies including some very attractive feed-in tariffs, and the Commonwealth government’s renewable
industry that has boomed at an unsustainable level,” said Brazzale who spent a decade as CEO of the former Business Council for Sustainable Energy. He explained that the industry has been calling for a reduction or a slowdown in the solar credits multiplier “and everyone realised that the NSW gross feed in tariff was too attractive. So what we now have is a bit of a solar PV bubble. “We will get to a sustainable level in a year or so but the industry has a bit of pain to go through during next 12 months when there will be a contraction in the industry. Short term it’s going to be tough.” The scenario is reminiscent of ‘the recession we had to have’, to quote Paul Keating. “Lots of people have entered the market and there have been some poor practices … installation issues around DC circuit breakers and in some cases bad advertising practices. We expect to see more businesses get into difficulty as the market slows down. There has to be rationalisation, there are too many solar companies.” Brazzale says the solar industry will eventually regain its footing and on balance, costs will reduce as PV approaches grid parity and there will be sunny days ahead, so to speak. “The long term prospects for solar power are fantastic. “Market confidence is really important in
they are doing something worthwhile as the government has a policy to support and approve it. “There is value in electricity being exported to the grid. Most people in the industry would be happy to have a one-to-one feed-in tariff, that is, not to get any bonus, just buy and sell at the retail price(s) of grid sourced electricity. That type of arrangement is possibly all the industry needs. And many are now advocating for that.” Trina Solar’s John Susa is in agreement over feed-in tariffs. Trina Solar is a Chinese PV panel manufacturer and a new entrant that has quickly claimed the number two spot in Australia’s fast moving solar market, but Susa is mindful of market forces and the inevitable slowdown. “Feed-in tariffs will stimulate the industry until we can stand on our own two feet. They were not designed for companies to get rich on the back of government or taxpayers. Those that are too generous do not benefit anyone long-term,” Susa explained. “The target for us [the Australian solar industry] is to consolidate. “We need to ask ourselves what we need to make this industry viable and competitive to a stage where we do not need support. And we need to lobby government on behalf of it, for example a one-for-one feed-in tariff and accelerated tax depreciation similar to the US.”
energy scheme and solar credits. The other issue is the cost of PV systems and that has fallen dramatically in the past three years – nearly halved. “What that has meant is that government policy has been too slow to wind back policy
selling systems – the feedback we get is how important it is to maintain quality installations and consumer confidence in the product and the industry. “And it is important to maintain some sort of feed-in tariff arrangement. That helps sell
Susa also advocates one industry voice as “different groups going to policy makers confuses the message … and we need to clarify and articulate just what we need to make residential, commercial and utility scale PV sustainable.
24 | SPRING 2011
One voice
Ric Brazzale (left) and John Susa agree the long term prospects for solar power are fantastic.
“The key is to keep our message simple, to come up with a clear rationale on what we need over the next three to five years from government to make this industry work, to develop sustainable plans.”
Typical payback periods Susa says the two to three year payback on PV capital investment in NSW was unrealistic and does not exist anywhere else in world. A more realistic payback is between eight and 10 years, he says. “The payback period is quite an important factor in the market. In Germany it is around eight to 14 years depending on the region, US around ten years. Queensland is seven years, as is Victoria, but from next year the payback will be nine years, and for NSW 12 years.
“But the good news in Australia is that with module costs going down, the average cost of a 2kW system has stabilised. “From the end user viewpoint electricity price hikes are frequent and that creates the perception that the costs are higher than they actually are, with people thinking about how they can subsidise their power bill.” Another factor installers need to consider is the selling point. During the recent boom years it was easier to sell systems based on a quick and easy calculation over return on investment. “The pitch now needs to be more sophisticated,” Susa says. “We need to develop more sophisticated tools that help explain to customers how it is going to work to their advantage.”
Averting dangers Another salient message: Industry success and longevity relies on bankable partners, says Susa. “Many retailers have gone to second tier module suppliers and inverter suppliers, and the issue is whether they can honour [warranties] and work in five or 20 years, and many dealers and retailers will not be there to honour responsibilities. “In our operations across the world, bankability is something we took up early and we are very careful with partners we select. “All of us in the PV supply channel need to be more dedicated and serious as an industry about bankability of supply as that can hurt us if there are problems with panels or inverters or maintenance down the track.” Susa says he will be investing a lot of his time over the next six months on this crucial aspect.
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State Reports
State nt
tas AUSES Tasmania – Matthew Pettit, President matthew.pettit@bigpond.com What a productive couple of months for AuSES Tasmania. In August we hosted a very successful Solar Bus Tour with 114 people visiting a range of houses, two of which were retro-fit examples with relatively low-cost improvements by home owners, their priorities based on the greatest saving in the short term. Improvements included insulating under a timber floor and around an electric hot water cylinder, installing pelmets above windows or installing a secondary glazing leaf to form a double glazed window system. Around 85% of houses are vintage stock and could benefit from retro-fits for energy savings and increased comfort. We saw very different styles of contemporary 2010s architecture, from the long gallery style to one that appeared to have ‘just landed’. These houses are at the forefront of design in
Tasmania achieving excellent energy ratings and more importantly a stable internal temperature helped by the designed mass in the building structure. Special thanks to our part-sponsors for the event: K&D Trade and Apricus Hotwater Systems distributor EcoTasmania. September saw AuSES open six homes for Sustainable House Day 2011. Participants viewed a range of sustainable and impact minimising strategies, including a compact house with well insulated walls and south facing ceiling that’s as comfortable and efficient as a more expansive northern facing home. We also ran our fifth highly successful Builders Training Seminar, this time not in Hobart but Burnie. Our thanks to Workplace Standards and the Department of Justice for their promotional support.
AUSES Northern Territory – Jai Singh, Chair NTbranch@auses.org.au
Excellence Awards 2011 – Engineers Australia (NT Chapter)
Don McDonald, Former Alice Springs General Manager, NT Airports receives the award. The 2011 Engineering Excellence Awards for Northern Division was held in July in the Skyline Marquee at Darwin Turf Club. AuSES (NT Branch) has been sponsoring the sustainability award each year. The 2011 winner was the Alice Springs Airport Solar Power Station entered by NT Airports, Department of Climate Change, Alice Solar City, CAT Projects, Ingenero and Solfocus.
Public seminar A public seminar was organised in September at the NT Museum Theatrette at which three presentations were made: 1. Personal Case Study – an exceptional grid connected system installed in Millner by Marion Buwalda-Pedler; 2. Roof Top PV structural performance requirements in cyclonic areas, presented by Peter Russell; and 3. Australia’s largest tracking solar power station located in Alice Springs, presented by Trevor Horman. 26 | SPRING 2011
wa AUSES Western Australia – Garry Baverstock AM, President G.Baverstock@solar-e.com Our memberships continue grow with the implementation of the mentoring strategy. The quarterly technical meetings followed by the ‘solar beers’ networking session after proceedings is growing in interest and in being involved in AuSES. The importance of coordinating our industry activities with SEA is also proving to be an excellent way of improving the influence of AuSES in WA and encouraging membership of both. Perth solar company UnLtd Energy kindly sponsored September’s (Equinox) ‘solar beer’ event following an impressive expose by Prof Chem Nayar’s of his work in diesel hybrid systems. Smarter thinking! UnLtd is a key player in SEA but recognise the value of engaging the younger generation. This community building approach in WA is also a way forward for other state branches in creating a long-term sustainable membership basis for the society. It nicely complements the overall
corporate and strategic function of the national body. Apart from chipping away at establishing informal and our formal mentor program, the WA advisory committee hopes to draw public attention to solar energy and the activities of the society through events such as SolarDay world-wide. In Australia this year November 19 is ‘SolarDay’ but next year Solar Day will occur on June 21 to coincide with the International Day started by John Reed in the USA. We are looking at some sort of social occasion at Piney Lakes Environmental Education Centre this year, and hope to get this day recognised by the UN. Our Christmas event will be held at Murdoch University at the new School of Engineering. This is taking our ‘solar beers’ to the students, where of course we need to be in order to be successful. Our thanks to SEA CEO Ray Wills for his ideas and enthusiasm for this approach.
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State Reports
sa AUSES South Australia – Stewart Martin, Chair stewart.martin@unisa.edu.au Approximately 20 AuSES SA and ATA members enjoyed a tour of Lochiel Park earlier in the year. The tour began in the Visitor Centre, which has a display of the house monitoring system and information on the village, and this was followed by an interesting tour around the village and wet lands. Many thanks to David Whaley from UniSA and Tania Lesneuck from Campbelltown City Council for explaining the energy and water saving features of the houses and showing us around.
About Lochiel Park The Lochiel Park Green Village is a nation leading housing development, situated in Campbelltown, SA. The houses within the development are designed to be net zero energy homes with a minimum 7.5 star rating, incorporate roof-mounted photovoltaic panels, gas-boosted solar hot water systems, and energy efficient appliances. Each house also uses its collected rain-water for hot water purposes, and recycled water for outdoor watering, toilet flushing and laundry appliances. Each house is equipped with an in-home monitoring system, ie a touch screen display, a programmable logic controller, and an array of intelligent meters and sensors that comprehensively measure electricity, water and gas usage, in real-time. Each property 28 | SPRING 2011
has a customisable load management system installed, which allows devices to be deactivated during periods of peak electricity demand. Nine houses also measure the indoor air temperature, relative humidity, individual appliance electricity usage and monitor rainwater tank levels.
Solar Feed-in Tariff meeting About 40 people attended a meeting at the Unley Citizens Centre where Adrian Ferraretto, Director at Phovo Pty Ltd and formerly Managing Director at Solar Shop Australia; and Michelle Drummond, Regional Sales Manager, Solarmatrix gave brief histories of government subsidies for domestic photovoltaic installations. Recent falls in the value of renewable energy certificates (RECs) have impacted on the payback time of domestic photovoltaic systems. Early adopters face long pay back times but if REC prices stabilise and the cost of PV systems continues to fall, these pay back times will shorten. In particular, the industry and customers have been affected by sudden withdrawals and changes in feed-in tariff arrangements. Mark Parnell, Greens MLC in the SA Parliament detailed recent proposed changes in the Feedin tariff the state and successful amendments by the Greens and other opposition parties whereby the Government contribution to domestic producers who entered the system by October 1st remained at 44cents kWh but that new entrants during the next two years would receive a Government funded tariff of 16cents kWh and 6cents kWh from the retailers. This scheme would last just five years, whereas the earlier scheme was to pay out till 2028. The three speakers took audience questions, one of which concerned uncertainties in interpreting the legislation about upgrading systems. This clearly needs to be resolved and the legislation may need to be amended.
nsw AUSES NSW – Graham Hunt, President gehunt@netspace.net.au The NSW branch of AuSES meets regularly on the fourth Tuesday of the month at the Broadway Campus of UTS (University of Technology Sydney). Our thanks to the Institute of Sustainable Futures at UTS, which provides our meeting venue. Recent speakers at our meetings have included: Steve Kim from Smart Heat on Hydronic heating; Member Noel Barton on Comparison of Levelised Electricity Costs for Large-Scale Solar Projects; Paul Petersen on Aerogenisis on Small Wind Turbines; and Iain McGregor from Solar Choice. In November we host a visit by Paul Myors from Ausgrid on their Smart Home project A regular segment called Future Directions showcases a young person working in the renewable/clean tech sector. Recent presenters include James Ray and Dimitris Lazos, both students at the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW. We work closely with the Sydney Central branch of the ATA on a variety of activities. For Sustainable House Day, September 11, we cohosted an Info-Fest mini-expo at Redfern Town Hall at which owners of sustainable houses had displays and presentations. We thank our sponsors for this event – Solar Choice and The Natural Paint Place. Several members visited the CSIRO Energy Division Open Day at Newcastle in mid August. We also helped host the inspiring Professor Mario Avila from Cuba in August with a workshop and public lecture at UNSW who spoke on ‘Cuba: Energy and Development’.
Solar Cities
No town like
Alice
30 | SPRING 2011
Blessed with 9.5 hours of sunshine each day Alice Springs was a natural choice as one of Australia’s seven solar cities. Here in the second of a series we find out more about the small town that has embraced solar power in a big way. Story by Nicola Card
It isn’t easy keeping track
Left: The mightily impressive PV system at Crowne Plaza in Alice Springs
of all the solar power developments in the proximity of Alice Springs. It may be a small township with just 27,000 residents and 10,000 dwellings – and as remote as they come – yet the community is punching well above its weight in harnessing the power of the sun. Look around and PV panels are a common feature of the rooftop landscape – on hotels, motels and local businesses. Plus hundreds of houses. At last count there were 477 PV systems on homes and businesses, but the tally grows weekly. Among the more notable solar-powered buildings is the Crowne Plaza that sports 305kW of mono crystalline reverse junction cells allowing more surface area to be exposed to the sun. At the time of installation back in early 2009 this was the largest PV system in the southern hemisphere. The aerial image on the left conveys a sense of the size and scale of the project far better than words could. As does the picture (overleaf) of Alice Springs airport which in late 2010 turned on its 235kW solar plant that is based on mirror concentration technology. More on that in a minute. Another big picture development is the Uterne (‘you-turn-A’) solar power plant which fired up as recently as July 2011. With a rated 1MW capacity, Uterne is Australia’s largest tracking solar power plant and has the ability to fully power the equivalent of 288 ‘average’
homes for a year or supply 10% greenpower to 2750 Alice Springs homes. And that is very much in keeping with the township’s status as a Solar City PV now accounts for 3.1MW capacity of the total grid capacity for the town. “Pretty amazing for a town of 27,000” said Sam Latz who is General Manager of Alice Solar City. “In terms of community uptake we have massively exceeded our target, by the end of June 2011 more than 2350 households and 140 businesses had registered and 2135 home energy surveys been completed. Out of 10,000 households that is a great result,” he said. Latz relayed more impressive statistics about the Solar City program that was launched in March 2008: incentive vouchers to the tune of $6.13 million have helped drive the take-up of solar related power systems with residents gaining a 35-50% discount based on fair market price. And $3.88 million in funding has been channeled into residential solar and energy efficiency measures, with more than 600 smart meters installed. Across town around 620 solar hot water systems have been installed, each jacketed to cope with frosty nights and the hard, salty bore water sourced from the Amadeus basin. “Solar hot water systems are prone to corrosion so many systems have heat exchangers so the salty water does not run through the panels,” Latz explained. “Our SolarProgress | 31
Solar Cities
bore supplies cannot continue indefinitely, it is unsustainable as it is a non-renewable source. With commonwealth funding, a sister program, Alice Water Smart, has just been launched to address consumption.” Cranking up the calculator – solar powered we can only assume – Latz advised that greenhouse savings amounted to 3100kW of capacity or 3500 tonnes of greenhouse gases. But is the community target of 1000 rooftop PV systems realistic? Yes, says Latz. “We’re addressing bulk buying schemes on one to two kilowatt sized panels, although the sudden reduction in the [NT] value of solar credits has taken the wind out of the sails,” he said in reference to the buy-back tariff of 51.28 cents/kWh concluding in June 2013.
Broad support Led by the Alice Springs Town Council (that naturally sports rooftop photovoltaics), the Alice Springs Solar City Consortium is the only one of its kind led by local government. It enjoys support from the Northern Territory Government, Power and Water Corporation (all of which help fund the program), Tangentyere Council, the Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce and the Arid Lands Environment 32 | SPRING 2011
“People see solar power as being a huge part of our energy future. There is a real sense of life and an opportunity grasped, not lost.” Sam Latz, General Manager of Alice Solar City.
Centre. Also involved is the Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre (DKASC) whose research arm shares its findings with people from all quarters of the globe.
Data collection and distribution Solar Progress caught up with Lyndon Frearson of CAT (Centre for Appropriate Technology, an Aboriginal owned NGO) which has a large stake in DKASC. He explained that all the material collected by energy meters is fed back into a central data base. “And we have a class one weather station with pyrometers that measure sunlight so we measure radiation and how it translates to real energy production. It’s all sorted on a secure data base and made available free of charge to visitors via the DKA website. “Anyone around Australia or the world can log into it and see graphical representations of the data and those who register details can access raw data from website, including all weather parameters and information on total amount of sunlight cross-referenced against different types of technology,” Frearson explained. Currently 3500 people are registered, varying
A bird’s eye view of Alice Springs airport With a system rating of 235kW and annual output of 600MWh, the ASP plant (which is situated just 800 metres from the terminal) supplies 28% of the airport’s power needs. US company SolFocus supplied the 28 Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) tracking arrays, each one rated at 8.4kW in peak power and measuring eight by seven metres. Katie Cooper who is General Manager for Alice Springs airport says power consumption was trimmed following the airport’s Level Two energy audit: energy efficient light globes, whirly birds to reduce air conditioning, skylights and shades are now in use. The upshot? Annually 470 tonnes of carbon emissions are being saved. “We have a very strong environmental strategy … a clear desire to from “investment bankers, venture capital firms, government agencies, utilities, individual investors and homeowners, commercial customers … anyone looking at investing in PV systems to see how they perform in different weather conditions.”
The origins CAT’s involvement in Alice Solar City dates back to September 2007 when Frearson was engaged to lay the foundations for a functioning, operational entity. “It involved everything from securing office space for staff to engaging graphic designers for logos, designing financial models, recruiting a General Manager and team, designing data bases, data collection, letterheads, survey mechanism, telecommunications systems, energy audits for people’s houses, surveys,” he said. All the nuts and bolts stuff.
reduce our power consumption – and we are a high user as runway lights are lit 24 hours a day. We want to try and use renewable resources where we can,” Cooper explained. Costing in the region of $2.3 million, half the cost of the project was met by government, the remainder by the companies that own NT Airports: three superannuation funds. Clearly they regard airports as a solid, low risk investment that provides slow but steady growth. “Getting messages out to the community about the whys and wherefores of the solar power project is facilitated through a pod – touch screen hub – in the passenger terminal,” said Cooper, adding that a great deal of interest had been generated. “Lots of solar specialists and tour groups have been through and we have won several awards, all of which helps promote Alice Airport both as a brand and as a destination.”
Solar Cities
UTERNE: TURNING HEADS – AND PANELS – AND SUNSHINE INTO ENERGY On the outskirts of Alice Springs sits another landmark. Developed by US company SunPower and occupying three hectares, Uterne (‘bright sunny day’ in the local Arrente language) features 3048 ultra-efficient SunPower mono-crystalline panels. Each 318 watt module is mounted on a custom designed tracker that follows the sun’s movements.
Collectively those panels generate about
50%
more electricity than conventional solar panels
30%
more than conventional fixed-tilt installations.
“The essence of the project is to engage with people and get definitive behavioral change leading to energy reduction,” Frearson explained. “On the very day you make a big song and dance to open Alice Solar City you need to get people to literally walk in and sign up – 38 seconds after the last speech.” CAT was later engaged by Alice Solar City to help develop several of the larger iconic projects including the Aquatic Centre; Crown Plaza; Uterne power plant; and Alice Springs airport’s concentrated PV system. “We ran feasibility studies and procurement process to facilitate projects for the consortium. Four out of five iconic projects are complete. All are big ground breaking projects in their own right, each with unique challenges.” Frearson commented that Sam Latz had since embedded himself in the community and “it is that active engagement that facilitates ongoing energy reduction by householders and businesses.”
Alice Springs Aquatic Centre – yet another iconic PV project
and up to
The plant will generate
2300
megawatt hours of electricity a year.
The Power and Water Corporation has committed to purchase electricity from the 1MW system for 20 years, and the community can elect to purchase GreenPower. Developed in partnership with Alice Solar City and SunPower Corporation, the $6.6 million power station is supported with $3.3 million in funding from the Australian Government as part of its $94 million Solar Cities program.
34 | SPRING 2011
Powerful future For his part Latz says “The first three years of the project was about recruitment and incentives and providing marketing information and education. That [element] is continuing but slowing a bit and we are now evaluating the success of trials and incentives for tariffs. That is now our core purpose, producing the findings and advising the community.” He pays tribute to the community’s foresight, saying: “People see solar power as being a huge part of our energy future. They love seeing it happening now, with the largest power station and largest penetration of PVs. There is a real sense of life and an opportunity grasped, not lost.” For more information: www.alicesolarcity.com.au
DKSH00115
Solar architecture
To be or not to be solar – hitting a little harder
In the last issue of Solar Progress Warwick Johnson’s observations on architectural design sparked a fair bit of comment. We invited practicing solar architects Sasha Ivanovich and Garry Baverstock to look at the build environment, their profession and its progress towards integrating science and engineering as we move towards the day when PV will be part of the fabric of our buildings.
Consider this: the built environment in Australia is responsible for about half our greenhouse gas emissions. That being the case, would it not make sense to bring a sound scientific basis into sustainable architecture, that is, if we are going to conquer the dangers of climate change? We think that is just what is needed. Sensible, sustainable solar architecture must be at the core. At present, the fundamentals of solar architecture have been swamped by “sustainability” which in practice has limited grounding in science, yet presumed to be adequate for the future. We believe from our involvement in architectural education, service on architectural boards and committees, our technical knowledge of solar and sustainable energy, we are in a position to conclude: sustainable architecture goes nowhere near far enough for our needs. Architects as a professional collective must comprehensively understand the science and have the competency to stop continuing being part of the problem. Sustainability as a superficial badge of honour is not acceptable. The profession must develop the solutions and make it second nature for the next generation of architects. Sustainable design is now included into the Competency Standards – the document that guides (under the control of the Architectural Accreditation Council of Australia) all qualifying architectural education course at universities in Australia. However, it is not specific. Arguably this is one of the reasons why the problem exists. Sustainability is an applied discipline in the built environment and distilled from the Competency Standards. It is taught and embedded in architectural education, but remains open to a wide range of opinions 36 | SPRING 2011
“We assert that true, scientifically validated sustainability is not mainstream practice by architects by any stretch of the imagination at the present.”
and interpretations from both academics and practicing architects and is more about opinions than science. In the practicing profession, it is worrying the extent the word “sustainability” is used and awarded where basic measures of cost, energy use, embedded energy and long term sustainability are not systematically assessed and analysed. In terms of climate change the matter is urgent and how architects design, far-reaching. The design process in architecture for the 21st century must be wedded to precise science. In architectural schools nowadays, it appears there is not enough time to teach the precise science and yet sustainable design can only be defined by precise science. Without proper training where time is devoted to gain understanding and to apply the required processes, the science will remain incomplete. To date, sustainable design has been an adjunct to the design thinking of most architects. It is a fact that change comes slowly and this is definitely the case with most schools of architecture and architectural practices.
The work of the pioneers From the work of Deo Prasad from the 1990s onwards and the earlier ground breaking work of John Ballinger (both at the University of NSW) much progress was made towards the incorporation of passive solar design principles. It was based on science and much was integrated into the standard curriculum for passive solar architecture and planning. Since the halcyon days of Ballinger the notion of sustainability has trivialized and demoted solar design in importance. We believe it has been convenient for many professionals to adopt the “sustainability” position, or perhaps solar design was a threat to the status quo or it revealed a lack of skills.
A passive solar house designed for the climate of Canberra; virtually no heating or cooling is required. Picture courtesy Trevor Lee.
It became common to establish solar design as an add-on or an improvement to a design concept rather than a way of holistic thinking applied to a design in the first place. Recognition of this fact led to the establishment of the MSc in Environmental Architecture at Murdoch University, and offered as a collaborative elective in part, or ‘multi-badged’ with the School of Architecture at the University of Western Australia. This course has a high level of science, engineering and technical training for architects and built environment professionals.
Re-fuelling The RAIA ‘Refuel Tour’ in 2007 indicated that the hierarchy at the Institute of Architects (now the AIA) recognised that something needed to be done. The purpose of this tour to each of the states and territories was to motivate the architects to change to adopt sustainability and solar design. There were encouraging crowds attracted to the seminars. But the general experience in WA has seen the science element, created mainly by Neville D’Cruz at Curtin University in the 1980s and 1990s, already tampered with and deconstructed and the technical aspects reshaped. This has had the effect of ‘dumbingdown’ the learning since his retirement. Perhaps it is time for new higher trained and educated members of the next generation to take on the role of rebuilding the levels of technical competency and design processes to ensure that architects are up to the standard needed for the 21st century. So we assert that true, scientifically validated sustainability is not mainstream practice by architects by any stretch of the imagination at the present.
What should be taught in a course of architecture? From the first year in an architecture course, students should comply with basic passive solar and thermal control design in various climates and understand a building’s relationship to the natural conditions of its site. This solid foundation would then enable a start to build true sustainability as a cornerstone of all design as students learn draw on and gain more sophistication in planning and crafting spaces in conceptual form. As a result, sustainability will naturally become embedded through proper technical assessment. It will also help greatly with understanding any mandatory compliance systems. It is inevitable that the mandatory requirements are likely to become more and more stringent and good design will have to be derived from a profound, technically informed basis, fully understood by the architect. Our education system needs to deliver this level of competence. Is this actually happening at present? We think not, and certainly not to the extent it should be happening. However, we recognise that some universities are doing much better in achieving a high standard of ‘solar-based’ sustainability than others. More needs to be done.
Integrated photovoltaics Integrated photovoltaics is an area that is underestimated as a future shaper of our architecture in Australia. Deo Prasad is one architectural educator who has authored a book on the subject after years of research and development. In collaboration with engineers at UNSW he initiated integrated PV into his architectural teaching programs. But apart
from the MSc course at Murdoch University in Western Australia, he stands alone in architectural education. Clear solar access to roofs must be assessed at the early stages of conceptual design in teaching and practice and through a solid knowledge of how the technology works and what the spatial and strategic positioning requirements are. Rather than be considered an aesthetic problem, rooftop photovoltaics should be considered an aesthetic challenge.
Some conclusions Unfortunately many of our university architecture courses do not appear to be technically robust. We need more technically competent architects, but at the moment we are simply not. It is time to move on and react intelligently and positively to criticism. As the built environment moves to incorporate PV (for example as a major part of the building fabric), we need to fully equip our young graduates with the science and engineering that will enable them to meet the challenges. It should be clearly understood that there have to be wholesale changes to the way we live and plan our cities, most importantly how we adapt built environment. Changes now in architectural education training will allow this all to happen. Doing nothing is not an option. It is time to wake up! Sasha Ivanovich is Managing Director of SIA Architects based in Fremantle WA and Annandale NSW. Garry Baverstock AM is a director of Ecotect-Architects Swanbourne WA , and Adjunct Professor at Murdoch University. SolarProgress | 37
Tech Talk
Technical Corner
Technical guru Glen Morris examines Earthing PV Module Frames. Through his business SolarQuip, Glen Morris has been installing renewables both on and off-grid for over 20 years. Glen consults for the CEC, is a member of their Standards Training and Accreditation Committee, is a member of Standards Australia EL-042 Committee and teaches renewables at various TAFEs. Glen is a board member of AuSES, and has been a system auditor for both the CEC and NZ Government. He has lived off grid for the past 20 years and is currently housed at one of Australia’s oldest intentional communities in the Yarra Ranges near Melbourne.
Earthing PV module frames Since February 1, 2011 earthing of the frame of a PV module to the installation earth for systems using non-isolating inverters (transformerless) has been a requirement of systems that create RECs. Glen Morris takes a closer look.
The earthing requirement was the result of both real world incidents and electrical theory that showed that for some non-isolating inverters there was a potential for an AC voltage to be referenced from the PV module frame to earth. This could lead to an unexpected shock that could cause the owner or installer of such a system to fall from the roof. As a result, the Clean Energy Council preempted the forthcoming changes to AS/ NZS5033 that would likely require earthing of all PV module frames. Systems that create Renewable Energy Certificates must comply with the Australian Governments “Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amended Regulations 2010” that require systems to be both installed by a CEC accredited person and comply with the CEC’s Code of Conduct. This code requires compliance with the CEC’s Guidelines. The updated Grid-Connect Install and Supervise Guidelines (Sept 2010) state: “If the system includes a transformerless inverter with no galvanic isolation, then the PV module frames (if metal) must be earthed.” Aluminium forms an excellent insulating oxide on its surface and anodizing enhances this effect, thus simply bolting a tinned lug to 38 | SPRING 2011
the frame will probably never achieve a low resistance connection. Earthing is used in electrical systems for various reasons: to provide a path for fault currents in earth referenced systems; bonding of conductive parts so that no dangerous voltage differences in the system may be present; for functional operation of a particular piece of equipment (i.e. SunPower modules); to prevent the system voltage floating to an undefined level; and to provide shielding from leakage currents (i.e. transformerless inverters may present leakage current from frame to earth). In a PV system two main types of earthing are used: functional and protective FUNCTIONAL EARTHING Functional earthing is commonly done to achieve a performance requirement of the product. For example, SunPower modules utilise a back contact cell grid that requires earthing (even through a high resistance path) to drain away the positive charge build-up on the front of the cells. Without this the performance of these type of modules would be severely reduced. The other most common reason for functional earthing is for some types of thin film PV modules (most typically those of superstrate construction) that require the negative conductor to be referenced to earth (usually through a low value fuse or high resistance) so as to prevent bar graph corrosion of the thin conductive oxide layer on the underside of the front glass. PROTECTIVE EARTHING Protective earthing in PV systems is designed to prevent any touch potential on the conductive
parts of the PV module being referenced to earth via someone touching the frame or parts of the system connected to the frame. There has already been an incident in Queensland where a young child touched a metal ladder that was leaning against the roof and received a small shock. Investigation has shown that it wasn’t a fault in the system but leakage current from frame to earth via the roof, ladder, child route. The system had a transformerless inverter of the type that can generate a small AC potential (up to half grid voltage) on the frame when the inverter is switched on. For this reason the CEC has updated its guidelines to require earthing of PV module frames for non-isolating inverters. The problem exists because transformerless inverters reference the AC earth (via a MEN connection at main earth bar) either: neutral connected to negative of PV; neutral connected to positive of PV; neutral alternatively switched internally between negative and positive of PV rapidly. It should be emphasised that not all transformerless inverters exhibit a high leakage current to earth via the DC side, it depends a lot on the internal topology of the inverter: the type of modules connected to it; the size of the array; and the weather conditions (wet panels exhibit a higher capacitive coupling). Unfortunately, AS4777.2 (2005) currently has no test for this leakage current potential thus all transformerless inverters are tarred with the same brush. Hopefully in the future we will have defined classes of TL inverters and the protective measures required by reference to their class type.
Penetrations through tile roofs Installing PV modules on tile roofs presents many extra difficulties for installers such as integrity of the old tiles, location and size of supporting rafters and method of entering the roof space. Currently many installers notch the front edge of the tile and run the PV array cables through conduit into the roof space. Unfortunately this presents problems when considering the requirements of AS/NZS 3000 clause 3.9.4.3 (Wiring systems under wall lining or roofing material). Specifically, it is stated that a “wiring system” must not be installed between a roof and its underlying support (example of a tile and its supporting batten is given). A “wiring system” includes cable and conduit – thus the conduit doesn’t exempt you from avoiding this arrangement. The solution is to penetrate perpendicular to the roof using a suitable method of flashing (see photo). This flashing can be hidden from sight under the last panel or between rows of panels. For a modest cost, penetrations are not only compliant but fast and easy to do. Some flashing system can be laid directly over the existing tile and a masonry hole saw used to cut a suitable entry point for the conduit. Electrical inspectors and energy regulators are now widely enforcing this requirement – as they should. Image right: Typical purpose built roof penetration
inverter Excellence
Solar Energy Australia
Big solar: molten salt
The sun and the SALT OF THE EARTH Direct heating of molten salt in a power tower
Forget the rain in Spain falling mainly on the plain, instead think of abundant sunshine being respected and collected. When it comes to concentrating solar power Spain is a trailblazer but with the right policy settings Australia can do better, says solar thermal researcher Rebecca Dunn. Story by Nicola Card 40 | SPRING 2011
One of the many highlights of Rebecca Dunn’s short but colourful career thus far is witnessing the progression of Spain’s Torresol Gemasolar power tower plant. Her first visit in 2009 took in the foundations, the next year she saw the rise of the tower then, in September 2011, the landmark in action: Spain (indeed the world’s) first molten salt supplied commercial power tower delivering electricity to the grid. “Seeing CSP and trough plants in Spain gives me hope for Australia, and we have a better and more enviable resource that is close to the grid,” says Rebecca Dunn, who has been strongly driven toward renewables since her early teens. But while the solar scene in Spain is heartening it is also frustrating for the ANU Solar Thermal Group PhD Candidate.
The landscape tells the story. Australia: zero large scale solar thermal energy supplies; Spain: 582 MW with a total of 1500 MW under construction With the use of molten salts proven in Spain’s Andasol-1 parabolic trough plant in 2008, Spain’s ground breaking Gemasolar CSP plant (near Seville) and current eight parabolic trough plants put molten salt to good use for steam generation and storage.
Like a giant, rust proof thermos flask “The salt is a mix of sodium and potassium nitrate which has a lower melting point of 220°C. Dunn explained. “Molten salts have a high degree of thermal stability to 600°C. “And that explains why phase change salts are not used since their melting points are higher, with sodium chloride at 800°C.” As illustrated in the diagram, turbines in CSP plants re-circulate the molten salt as hot and cold salts, avoiding the need to replenish the finite resource. Although salt and corrosion go hand-inhand, problems in solar thermal plants are avoided by using sophisticated stainless steels – carbon steel and nickel alloys to cope with extreme temperature variations. The advantage of molten salt systems over oil or water used in some plants is the higher temperatures achieved and long-term storage. “Molten salts can be stored in insulated tanks and remain viable for weeks. Losses average less than 1% a day,” Dunn said. In summary, molten salt is available and safe, has low losses, low cost and material stability. And the icing on the cake: provides reliable electricity around-the–clock. Generating and storing renewable energy. “An enticing combination for a grid operator,” says Dunn. Solar Progress wondered whether CSP could replace coal as a power source. Based
CSP at the All-Energy Australia conference Concentrating solar thermal power got a good airing at the All-Energy conference in October in Melbourne. Israeli Professor David Faiman noted that of the renewable technologies available, and given Australia needs to add 2.87 TWh annually to maintain living standards, CSP plants required the least land area for maximum MW output; between 16 and 20 square kilometres annually. That’s in sharp contrast with the 732 square kilometers required annually for wind farms to maintain the pace. (A revelation that drew muffled gasps from delegates.) Views on optimum storage systems were not in accord. Expressing doubt over cracking and corrosion and the “half day” spent charging the molten salt, BrightSource Director Ander Dyer advocated the benefits of water-generated steam, the technology of choice for the 400MW Ivanpah plant (see his article on pages 8-10). Dyer also alluded to the happy confluence of California’s renewable energy policies, land availability, loan guarantees, vertically integrated utility and rate of return that together gave the green light to Ivanpah. For his part, CSIRO Newcastle’s Energy Centre Wes Stein – whose story on the 1.2MW power tower features on pages 12-14 – noted the amount of global CSP activity, saying “Big companies believe that molten salt is the way to go … [and] towers [rather than troughs] are best.”
on the Torresol Gemasolar plant notching up more than 15 hours’ storage, Dunn responds in the affirmative. With the bigger picture in mind, once power from wind, PV and hydro is factored in, Australia could transition to clean energy in a decade. “Technically you can do it, but you need the political will,” says Dunn who was a significant contributor to the Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan (ZCA2020 Plan).
Toward 2020 Published in mid 2010 by lead authors Matthew Wright of Beyond Zero Emissions and Patrick
Hearps of Melbourne University, ZCA2020 lays out a roadmap for 100% renewable energy in Australia within a decade, with baseload energy supplied by renewable resources. The report boldly recommends that CST power towers and molten salt storage be a ‘chosen technology’, ideally providing 60% of total grid connected demand, or 42,500 MW annually. Development costs in supplying such CST levels are calculated at around $175 billion. Today installed CSP capacity in the USA stands at 507 MW but worldwide about 17.54 GW of CSP projects are underway, much of which is China.
Big solar: molten salt
Rebecca Dunn (pictured here at Torresol Gemasolar power plant in Spain) says Australia has the resources and capacity to develop commercial energy storage plants for round-the-clock power but could do with a boost through more appropriate policy settings.
Trough vs tower “Personally I believe power towers will win out over [today’s more common] parabolic troughs that use oil which limits them to a 393°C operating temperature,” Dunn says. “Trough specialists are now looking at high temperatures of fluids in the solar collectors (instead of oil) but they will still have the efficiency problem in winter, so only time will tell. “And towers have advantages with their heliostat two-axis tracking mirrors following the sun’s eastward trajectory. If you can track the sun’s altitude through the winter months too you can capture more energy – which is what towers do better over troughs.”
Commercialisation Few would refute that appropriately set and managed policy settings underpin development in the renewable energy sector. “Spain’s CSP plants are limited to 50 MW, a strategic move that enables more companies to hop on board with the government’s feed-in tariff for large scale solar installations. Feed-in tariffs increase the electricity price but at the same time you see a drop in the spot market price and that offsets the feed-in tariff support,” Dunn explained. “The US operates a loan guarantee scheme. But we don’t have the sorts of loans found in the US and for CSP in commercial stage you would need low interest rates. Here in Australia the Clean Energy Finance Corporation set aside $10 billion in the carbon tax, though there is 42 | SPRING 2011
“Gemasolar’s power tower has 15 hours of storage and runs 74% of the year at full output. Compare that with NSW coal which runs at 64%.”
uncertainty over the time frame for use.” Solar Progress asked Dunn whether baseload was the ‘holy grail’ for commercial CSP. “Not necessarily, what you want is dispatchable power, that is, power accessible on demand as it is more flexible than baseload. But we can use towers for baseload at three in the morning. Gemasolar’s power tower has 15 hours of storage and runs 74% of the year at full output. Compare that with NSW coal which runs at 64%.” What about CSP plants being built near to the grid? “There is a bit of a trade off in that the further inland the better the solar resource; that is not too far so you do not have to build additional transmission. “In Australia we have good solar resources that are not too far from the existing grid, for example in Kalgoorlie, Mildura, Dubbo, Broken Hill and Charleville. They may be inland but each is fairly close to the grid infrastructure.” Whatever the weather, as the saying goes, Dunn is a staunch supporter of CSP plants being rolled out on a large commercial scale to address climatic problems that have concerned her since her early teens. “One day we’ll have commercial CSP plants. Once political questions are dealt with, and we have the will of Australian people telling their politicians about CSP.” Further Information http://beyondzeroemissions.org/zerocarbon-australia-2020
Australian PV Solar Energy Exhibition
Tech Talk
CO OU UN N TT EE RR FF EE II TT C CO ON NN N EE C C TT O O RR W WA A RR N N II N NG G C
Clayton’s connectors: If it’s not Multi-Contact, BUYER BEWARE
it’s not MC4
Nicola Card spoke to the folk at DKSH about the identification of counterfeit
A growing growing number number of of suspect suspect copies copies of of Multi-Contact’s Multi-Contact’s MC4 MC4 Solar Solar components components have have A connectors before it isdeficiencies too late recently appeared appeared on on the the market. market. Stringent Stringent testing* has has revealed revealed substantial deficiencies recently testing* substantial in quality resulting in compromised safety and impaired system performance. in quality resulting in compromised safety and impaired system performance.
...
ORIGINAL MC4 MC4 ORIGINAL MADE IN SWITZERLAND MADE IN SWITZERLAND
MC LOGO MC LOGO
BLACK O-RING BLACK O-RING
GENUINE MC GENUINE MC
PROVEN QUALITY PROVEN QUALITY
FULLY TESTED FULLY TESTED
RELIABLE RELIABLE
COPY COPY
NO MC LOGO NO MC LOGO
INFERIOR COPY INFERIOR COPY
MADE WHERE? WHERE? MADE
INFERIOR QUALITY INFERIOR QUALITY
RED O-RING RED O-RING
CAN BE DISASTROUS CAN BE DISASTROUS
RISK TO WARRANTIES RISK TO WARRANTIES
Why would would you you risk risk it it for for the the cost cost of of just just aa few few cents cents more? more? Why
When it comes to the safety of rooftop over 20 years but seen market share buying the counterfeit product. PV installations, connectors playthe a vital name role. plummet significantly. “People purchasing MC4s think they are Ask for you can trust, demand genuine MC4 connectors. Ask for the name you can trust, demand genuine MC4 connectors. But as those-in-the know know, substandard Here’s the story thus far: Years ago following purchasing the genuine Swiss article as the connectors produce risk of high resistance extensive research MC developed and started majority of copied products look identical connections or water ingress resulting in manufacturing multi connectors in Swiss and to our connector. When a client walks into premature failure of the array and at German factories for export around the globe. an electrical wholesaler and asks for an MC4 worst – fire. Meeting ISO standards their MC4 or MC3 they assume they are being provided with the Thus few would dispute that bona-fide; connectors are widely accepted as reliable. genuine MC4 … not a replica,” he explained. proven and tested, ISO approved product is the But three years ago MC uncovered instances “The biggest problem is people ask for them only option. Right? of “backward engineering” or counterfeit by name but are given something else yet still Yes, but how do you guard against products being deceptively advertised and invoiced for our product, so it is fraudulent or a the counterfeits that bear a striking sold as MC4. The connectors look identical breach of the law. People are [initially] none the resemblance creeping into the market. to those produced by MC, bar printing or wiser they are getting an inferior product. * A temperature increase test by the TÜV Rheinland with copied PV connectors from various manufacturers showed significant differences higher temperature. Or more accurately, the market, colour in some cases. from “Pricingininmay 10-60% cheaper but the * Ainfiltrating temperature increase test by the TÜV Rheinland with copied PV connectors various manufacturers showed significant differences higherbe temperature. This was in stark contrast to the excellent results of the MC4 -PV connectors. This was in stark contrast to the excellent results of the MC4 -PV connectors. according to David Faux of DKSH, the Faux says the problem is rife the world over product is only worth about $4 so if they are 150-year-old Swiss company that has and he has reason to suspect that as many as doing a $12,000 rooftop PV installation they represented Multi Contact in Australia for half of all PV installers are being conned into are only saving about $5.” PVPower Solutions 2011.indd 6 PVPower Solutions 2011.indd 6
44 | SPRING 2011
7/10/2011 2:14:31 PM 7/10/2011 2:14:31 PM
Devil in the detail
Identification
Faux explained that connectors are made of different materials: plating materials on the contact and different grades of nylon which can lead to expansion or contraction. “Any electrical connection within a system becomes a weak link in the PV chain and it has a compound effect. If a quality system is not used it can cause heat to build up which causes a failure of the connector or crimp join to the conductor. They must be waterproof, or IP-rated; materials have to resist tough environmental effects,” Faux explained, adding that components age at different rates so the biggest problems will occur five or ten years down the track. Potential dangers include water ingress and subsequently fires that in the worst case scenario cause loss of life. And spread to neighbouring properties. Faux told Solar Progress that some clients have reported issues including a failure of connectors in installations and have spent hours tracing faults before realising they have the wrong product – and have been duped.
Checking PV systems for counterfeits is a timely proposition involving crawling on roofs and under panels, and checking the junction box at the inverter. In essence verifying up to 20 connectors. It can take hours to dismantle systems to find the fault. Time = money = very costly repair.
Action To help stem the problem DKSH has embarked on an education campaign by circulating information via email and reporting the matter to the industry at large in documents, flyers and brochures. Company representatives have alerted industry players at industry events and spoken to those on Australian Standards committees and at the Clean Energy Council. “We bring this issue to light with installers and wholesalers and the companies we deal with and during the past twelve months we have educated the installer public as to the dangers and how to identify the copied connectors,” Faux said. “Within 20 hours
of circulating one brochure we received 20 emails from people unaware they had been ripped off.” Several major suppliers have woken up to the scam and pulped their catalogues. But smaller companies – still none the wiser – have been supplying counterfeits to electrical wholesalers. And that calls for more action. The MC awareness campaign is set to be cranked up thanks to the temporary lull in the industry. (Faux revealed that in recent months he and his colleagues have clocked up 15 hours days, seven day weeks.) Now the team is fully documenting and reporting the deceptive nature of selling inferior product under someone else’s brand and the possible ill-fated consequences, and this will be taken up in full with the ACCC. “The problem goes beyond the commercial aspect; it is safety that matters most. That is the biggest problem we have. And if PV installers are expecting to be supplied with a certain product they should be provided with it.”
SolarProgress | 45
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University of Queensland
Bernie’s Greener Homes Blue Mountains Solar Pty Ltd BP Solar Pty Ltd Bosch
Ecofficient Pty Ltd Econstruct Ecostar Environmental P/L Ecowatt edenPower Enasolar Energy Matters ENVIREN Enviromate Australia Pty Ltd Exemplary Energy Exlites Pty Ltd
H
RF Industries Pty Ltd Rainbow Power Company Ltd Regen Power Pty Ltd Robert Bosch (Australia) Pty Ltd
B
D Daniel Kohler Dave Watson Electrical DKSH Dyesol
Hastie Services Horizon Solar Technologies
M Michael Reed Mitsubishi Electric Australia Pty Ltd Mojarra Pty Ltd
O
Q
V Valoptics
W Wise Earth Pty Ltd
T
Q.Cells
R
The Modern Group Thomas + Naaz Pty Ltd Todae Solar Toward Sustainable Futures
Industry related groups A quick guide to who’s who in the industry. Your organisation omitted? Contact the editor and we’ll update the next issue.
Local
Global
Alternative Technology Association www.ata.org.au Australian Centre for Renewable Energy (ACRE) www.acre.ret.gov.au Australian Electric Vehicle Association www.aeva.asn.auAustralian Australian Photovoltaic Association www.apva.com.au Australian Solar Energy Society www.auses.org.au Australian Solar Institute www.australiansolarinstitute.com.au
European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) www.epia.org German Solar Industry Association (BSW) http://en.solarwirtschaft.de Global Link Solar Group (H.K.) Ltd. www.solarpromotion.org International Solar Energy Society www.ises.org Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association (JPEA) www.jpea.gr.jp Photon Europe GmbH www.photon.com
Beyond Zero Emissions www.beyondzeroemissions.org Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems (ANU) www.cses.edu.au Clean Energy Council (CEC) www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au CSIRO www.csiro.au Energy Matters www.energymatters.com.au Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator (ORER) www.orer.gov.au Solar-e www.solar-e.com Solar Energy Industry Association www.seia.org.au
Renewable UK www.renewable-uk.com Solar Energy Industries Association (US) www.seia.org Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) www.solarpowerinternational.com Solar Promotion International GmbH www.intersolar.us
46 | SPRING 2011
Industry Events
Happy solar-day:
Leading solar events THE WORLD OVER
SMA’s milestone
November 2011
January 2012
November 9-11, Beijing, China 3rd IPVSEE 2011 Solar industry, government authorities and professional associations will discuss the future of the renewable energy sector and official PV policies in China. Exhibition: latest in PV manufacturing equipment, materials and products in China. www.solarpromotion.org
January 4 to 6, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India International Conference on Renewable Energy Utilisation (Icreu2012) www.icreu2012.com
In mid September SMA Solar Technology AG (SMA) celebrated its 30th anniversary and marked the occasion by unveiling news of the world’s largest service centre for PV inverters. In the German spring of 2012, SMA will bundle its service activities in an ultra-modern 24,000 m² building, with the aim of further evolving the broad range of services offered to customers around the globe. Replacement devices will be analysed, tested and repaired in the new building. Short response times will be maintained in the environment of greater numbers of supplied inverters. With a focus on sustainable and efficient energy usage, the new Service Centre at Sandershäuser Berg in Germany will feature a fully insulated shell with a wooden-frame construction and effective heat recovery using waste heat from production. The roof will sport a photovoltaic plant with a power output of 1 Megawatt. Since being founded in 1981, SMA has grown from a small German engineering firm for control systems into a world market and technology leader for PV inverters. Now at the forefront of photovoltaic technology, SMA is contributing significantly to the spread of renewable energy forms. “The company founders’ vision of a 100% decentralised, renewable energy supply is what drives SMA forward to this day,” said SMA CEO Pierre-Pascal Urbon. “One of the most important topics in the energy supply sector is the integration of the ever-increasing quantities of electricity from renewable sources into the power distribution grid. Smart plant and grid management solutions from SMA play an important role in this area.” SMA has a global network of 85 service sites in 19 countries.
January 31 to February 2, Brisbane Retrofitting for Energy Efficiency – Brisbane www.retro-fitting.com.au/brisbane
November 22-25, Singapore EnviroAsia 2011 Clean energy, the waste sector, emission control management and the water sector. Solar energy technologies and services will be exhibited at this event. www.enviro-asia.com
March 2012 March 19 to 22, San Diego, US Solar Power Finance & Investment Summit 2012 www.infocastinc.com/index.php/ conference/526
April 2012 November 30 – December 2, Sydney AuSES Solar 2011 See page 20 for all details. www.solarconference.com.au
November 28 – December 2, Yokohama, Japan 21st International Photovoltaic Science & Engineering Conference (PVSEC) pvsec21@ics-inc.co.jp www.pvsec21.jp
December 2011 December 13 to 16, Mumbai, India Intersolar India (Conference and Exhibition) www.intersolar.in/
April 16 – 19, Copenhagen, Denmark EWEA 2012 http://events.ewea.org/annual2012/
May 2012 May 13-18, Denver, Colorado WREF 2012 EmPowering the World – World Renewable Energy Forum http://ases.org/index.php?option=com_conten t&view=article&id=18&Itemid=147
August 2012 August 5 to 8, Hiroshima, Japan Pacific Rim Energy & Sustainability Congress 2012 www.presco2012.org/
September 2012 18-21 September, Rijeka, Croatia Eurosun 2012 www.eurosun2012.org/
STORAGE INNOVATION TO SOLVE SOLAR PV WOES. Grid demand storage from Sol-Ace enables Domestic PV to offer peak-time power to the local area, at up to 2 times the rating of the installed PV modules. A real saving to all electricity consumers. Grid Demand is a technology project of Vulcan Energy Pty Ltd For more information see the presentation at www.griddemand.com.au Rob Campbell ph: 0414925222 e: rob@electricity.net.au Visit us at the AuSES Solar Conference Exhibition for a detailed demonstration.
Building in Oodnadatta? Before you start, there is a better way to ensure that you get the building orientation, and shading, the solar hot water system and the PV system all optimised for best results. Never heard of Oodnadatta? Do not worry.
Australian Solar Radiation Data Handbook includes: • 48 data tables for each of 28 locations around Australia • 55 maps (seven in full colour) • 17 appendices on the science of irradiation and its measurement • Associated AUSOLRAD software that generates tables from any orientation, tilt, overhang and ground albedo
We have the data for 27 other locations (including all capital cities) much nearer to you.
“Separately or in combination, the ASRDH and AUSOLRAD is a fine product, created with meticulous attention to detail. It is an essential reference for everyone who needs to understand the Australian solar resource, whether it is to exploit and manage it in our buildings or to harvest it as Australia’s logical and premier renewable energy resource.” Peter Lyons and Monica Oliphant (Renewable Energy consultants)
For more information and to order your copy of Australian Solar Radiation Data Handbook from $104 visit www.auses.org.au/solar-radiation-handbook
Your clients will thank you. 48 | SPRING 2011
Affordable Home Energy Management
Australian Made
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