Uncertainty Remains over Silicon and Domestic Content Requirements

The amount of Ontario-made silicon that enters the province’s photovoltaic (PV) supply chain will have an impact on every stakeholder in the market. Since the launch of Ontario’s FIT program last year, silicon manufacturers have been searching for ways to participate in the market after domestic content (DC) requirements change in 2011. On October 19, Calisolar and Suntech made an announcement that highlights the promise for and some of the outstanding... [Read More...]

Biofuels: Path to Commercial Viability

Biofuels are often held up as the renewable energy source with the greatest potential to replace oil in our current economic system. Biofuel experts have suggested that biofuels could replace oil in almost all of its applications and its cost is likely to be at or below the cost of oil production within the coming decade. Apart from the obvious advantage of being a sustainable source of energy that at the same time is a viable alternative for those... [Read More...]

Ontario FIT Program off to Cautious Start

Starting October 1, 2009, citizens and businesses in Ontario, Canada were able to submit applications to build grid-connected renewable energy projects under the province’s Green Energy and Green Economy Act, which received royal ascent in Ontario’s Parliament on May 14th this year. Motivated by the new feed-in tariffs launched by the Ontario Power Authority on September 24th, many homeowners, businesses and farmers are expected to start... [Read More...]

InterSolar U.S: What was of interest to Solar start-ups?

Not quite the size of its big brother in Munich (58,000 visitors), the InterSolar U.S. in San Francisco was nevertheless one of the largest solar industry conferences in North America to date with 17,000 visitors from July 13-16. As such, it is a useful place to gauge industry sentiment, not at least because the conference came just weeks after the Obama administration’s ACESA bill (a.k.a. The Waxman-Markey Bill) passed congress, albeit narrowly. ... [Read More...]