[amor de cosmos]

Indian State Of Karnataka Plans To Add 2,000 MW Of Solar Power By 2022

The Southern Indian state of Karnataka seems to be on the cusp of a solar revolution of its own. The Karnataka government has auctioned off 200 MW of solar power capacity in two years, a task it has planned to complete in five years. The government has now updated its solar power policy, putting in place long-term and highly ambitious capacity addition targets.

The government has announced that it would install an additional 2,000 MW of solar power capacity by 2022.. This would be in addition to the potential 100s of megawatts of capacity coming from private project developers. Under the policy, the government would auction 1,600 MW capacity for utility-scale projects.

Some of these projects would be set up on farming land. The government has indicated in its policy document that while the projects may be built and operated by the project developers, the land may be leased to them instead of being sold by the farmers. If such an approach is adopted, it would be a significant step, as land acquisition has been a contentious issue in India. This approach would potentially reduce project cost and implementation time while providing a regular source of income to the farmers throughout the plant life.

About 400 MW capacity would be added in the form of rooftop grid-connected projects. The government plans to implement a net metering policy to complement this program and provide financial incentives to households and commercials buildings.

http://cleantechnica.com/2014/06/13/...ar-power-2022/

China gives tax boost to distributed PV power generation
13. June 2014 | Applications & Installations, Industry & Suppliers, Global PV markets, Top News | By: Ian Clover

Government taxation authorities announce that buyers of distributed PV power should invoice power generators in an effort to ease tax burdens.

Chinese tax authorities will in July introduce measures designed to ease the tax burden on distributed PV power generation.

The government is seeking ways to promote distributed PV power generation projects, and from July 1 will ask all buyers of distributed PV power – which are mainly companies owned by the State Grid Corporation of China – to invoice power generators.

This simplified purchase procedure lessens the tax burden on all parties, making power transactions easier and, in most cases, less expensive. The decision by the State Administration of Taxation is intended to boost the installation of distributed PV power projects by stripping away the often-arcane taxation laws that have been known to cripple development in the sector.

http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...ion_100015412/

California bill could ease ‘bureaucratic nightmare’ of PV soft costs
By Andy Colthorpe - 13 June 2014, 11:11
In News, Power Generation, BOS

US residential solar company Sunrun has welcomed a piece of legislation in California that could help drive down soft costs, by streamlining the permitting and inspection process for new PV systems.

Walker Wright, director of public policy at Sunrun, spoke to PV Tech via telephone about AB2188, a bill which is currently going through the state assembly. AB2188 would mean that anyone applying to install a residential solar PV system of up to 10kW would be able to gain permitting and a mandatory inspection within days of applying.

Wright said that in his opinion, the inconsistency that exists at present means that in some cities, permitting and inspection is a very straightforward and expedient process, while in others the indeterminate nature of the timeframe involved can make handling the matter a “bureaucratic nightmare”.

Wright said that while in some cities in California the process of getting a system approved and inspected was very easy and quick, “…in the next town over, that process could be a bureaucratic nightmare, where you don’t hear back from the permitting office, you wonder if your application is fallen into a black hole somewhere", he told PV Tech.

"There’s no accountability on behalf of the office to tell you when they’ll get it back to you. And the same sort of bureaucratic process will repeat itself with the actual inspection of the system. Whether its two days or six months from now on a Tuesday, you don’t know. What the rooftop solar industry is asking for is more consistency across municipal boundaries.”

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/californ...re_says_sunrun

Solar’s time to rise and shine
By Ben Jervey on 13 June 2014
ENSIA

Last month, a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., loaded a postage stamp–sized solar cell onto a tray and placed it under a high-intensity pulse solar simulator. The simulator flashed a 2.5 millisecond pulse of light, and 19 mirrors reflected the photons down onto the cell. For a few more milliseconds, data funneled through a looping nest of wires into NREL computers. Researchers crunched and corrected the numbers, and device performance supervisor Keith Emery verified them: A new world record for solar photovoltaic efficiency had been set.

In the high stakes, highly technical world of photovoltaics, score is kept as the percent of the raw solar energy hitting a cell that is converted to electricity. Because his lab is the only one in the U.S. certified by the International Electrotechnical Commission for testing the efficiencies of solar cells, Emery is the nation’s unofficial solar scorekeeper.

We’re in a Renaissance period of photovoltaic research, in which constant innovation is driving up efficiencies across all types of solar cells — from the most conventional crystalline silicon, to thin-film cadmium telluride, to much-buzzed-about new discoveries such as perovskite cells. World records are being broken at a breakneck rate, and the researchers behind this latest record-setter know better than to celebrate for too long.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/sola...se-shine-81126

Solar Installer To Use Drones For Rooftop Inspections
in News Departments > Products & Technology
by SI Staff on Thursday 12 June 2014

Las Vegas-based solar installer Sol-Up USA says it will now use unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to assess roof spaces to aid in the drafting and designing process.

Sol-Up says a UAS can revolutionize photovoltaic system design by allowing for more optimized and precise calculations and measurements. The company will be using the DJI Phantom II.

The engineering and design process for solar PV systems often relies on satellite images. Newly constructed homes do not appear on satellite images until many months later - hence the need for aerial views in these situations, Sol-Up says.

http://www.solarindustrymag.com/e107...?content.14230