The hottest intersolar exhibition is in full swing

The intersolar exhibition is in full swing, but there are no spotlight photovoltaic enterprises.

in the crowded intersolar exhibition hall in San Francisco last week, people noticed that many photovoltaic enterprises did not show up

the concentrated solar energy technology led by Areva, such as concentrated photovoltaic and concentrated solar energy, has squeezed into the current market occupied by fossil fuels, but failed to attract the attention of BrightSource and solarreserve

Kevin Smith, director of solarreserve, explained to me this week why CPV enterprises did not show up at intersolar exhibition and did not participate in the panel discussion of the meeting

"the market of photovoltaic industry is much larger, but there are also more competitors. While concentrated photovoltaic may only have four or five major enterprises. If compared with the photovoltaic industry, we are dwarfed, because there are many application capitalists supplying waste foam granulators, and in fact there are too many."

the flagship project of solarreserve, crescent dunes, is the first project to obtain a loan from the Ministry of energy after the collapse of solyndra last year. The 110MW project, located in TONOPAH, Nevada, broke ground last autumn and can generate up to 500000 MWh per year. A 25 year power purchase agreement was signed with NV energy, Nevada's largest power company

he said, "BrightSource will not build any projects with energy storage in recent years. Before developing their own solutions, they have their own ways and means, because their initial strategy was not to bring storage."

"the key to the problem is not whether we can compete with photovoltaic or wind power generation. Now we have begun to compete with traditional energy. How can we compete better with coal or natural gas power stations?

the only thing we can do with renewable energy is to increase the storage function."

but Smith admitted that it has not reached the level of US $0.08 to US $0.1 per kilowatt hour of traditional electricity

although the photovoltaic electricity price continues to decline and the natural gas price is very low, the solarreserve project can still compete with traditional electricity, especially at peak times, the energy demand in solar belt areas, such as Nevada, can be met through roofs

other projects, such as the Blythe project of solar millennium, boast the largest solar power station in the world

although its technology has been tested for a long time, it still cannot make the price of electricity produced competitive, so the company turned to the photovoltaic industry in a dispute

solar trust of America has the right to develop, but it also filed for bankruptcy after its German parent company, solar millennium, encountered difficulties

solar Millennium rejected $2.1 billion in loan guarantees last year. NextEra energy bid $50million for the 1000MW Blythe project, while BrightSource provided $10million for Palen, the second solar trust project in the California desert

similar to Ivanpah, without the $737 million granted by the 1705 loan plan of the Ministry of energy, the crescent dunes project may not be completed at all. Solarreserve, the contractor of ACF Cobra and Banco Santander, acquired another equity of $250million

but Smith is optimistic about the success of the projects and companies funded by 1705 so far

on the surface, the success rate of the Ministry of energy loan is better, reaching more than 98%. The only failures were solyndra, around and beacon power

he said that after Congress approved the $34.7 billion loan plan, it was estimated that $3.5 billion would fail

"if the bank issues 1000 mortgages, they will assume that some of them may fail. Therefore, the bank will set a failure rate.

" when people say that let the P/E ratio decide where the loan goes, I feel very worried. The success rate of the P/E ratio is about 20%-30%. You may know that Google and Facebook and even the human body achieve organic integration, but there are many failures you didn't expect. "

but one year after half of the 3000MW concentrated solar energy was converted into photovoltaic projects (including the 500MW Blythe project), this technology has been competing with the low price of photovoltaic

brightsource and solarreserve are exploring overseas markets and seeking new opportunities for concentrated solar energy, because the U.S. market has passed

"Over the past year, the renewable energy policy in the United States has slowed down. During the election, policy issues were frozen. We signed a 150MW contract with PG e, which is expected to start construction in the middle of 2013. There are other projects under development in the southwest, namely Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. But in fact, the pace of the U.S. market is slowing down, and it will resume after the election period, when we can know the future policy How is the strategy going

several years ago, we have carried out business activities in the international market, including South Africa, the Middle East, China and Australia. "

at the same time, Nancy Hartsock, vice president of marketing and business development of solfocus, took me to visit the HCPV panel of the company using Spectrolab germanium battery

but this technology is limited to sunny areas, because it can not generate electricity in cloudy weather while resisting high temperature

solfocus has deployed more than 9mw of equipment in six continents and 13 countries. Hartsock said that he is considering where to build production plants next, the United States or Mexico. If the conditions of the Mexican market are also very suitable, this choice will be very difficult. However, Hartsock insisted that if the U.S. government can create the same suitable market opportunities, there is no doubt that it will inevitably choose the United States. The goal is to achieve 50% efficiency and reduce the cost to $1.20 per watt by 2020. Only in this way can we completely conquer this specific field in the solar energy industry

global concentrated photovoltaic sales are expected to reach 1400mw in 2015. Lux research's report in January this year predicts that HCPV will begin to occupy an important position in the solar industry, accounting for 697mw in this $1.6 billion market in five years

solfocus's technology is very cool. It can be used in space, can't it? It can gather sunlight 650 times its area, and its quality is completely comparable to the products favored by VC during the peak period of solar energy investment in 2008. Solfocus has received $200million in venture capital since its inception in 2005

but if you break down these data, you can see that all technologies except polysilicon photovoltaic panels will be in a tight period in the future. Republicans complain that the Department of energy's loan plan should not be selected according to technology, but should allow the market to choose customized products that are more suitable for today's emerging new needs. However, the market has made a choice. The winners in the U.S. and European markets are selected by the government, not in Washington, but in Beijing. Zhonghua glass () Department