R AS Published on Tuesday 10 May 2022 - n° 403 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the cicada and the ant
There is a schizophrenia in the population and in mentalities: we are told about the danger of climate change and nobody moves. We are told about the ecological transition and no one pays attention to the way in which the products concerned are produced. We are told about energy independence from Russian gas at 30% or 40% of European needs, and we are told about 90% dependence on Chinese panels. They talk and don't act!
AS Published on Wednesday 20 April 2022 - n° 402 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the new panel price hike in the offing
The photovoltaic world has been held in suspense by the silicon shortage. Just when it thinks it can get back to normal (an abundance of material), another shortage is brewing from the pandemic in China, which will hit global demand hard in a few months' time, while the offshore shipments arrive. Seeing the blindness of buyers who prefer to deal with Russia rather than the future, and having understood how to do it, the Chinese are preparing other real or simulated shortages. It doesn't matter! The important thing is to earn more with the same products.
L R AS Published on Wednesday 13 April 2022 - n° 401 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the impact of energy prices
The more time passes, the more it becomes clear that the 2020s will be very different from the decade that preceded it. Not just because of the emergence of photovoltaics or renewables, but because of the disruptions that have been introduced over the past six months. Among the major factors of change is the sustained rise in the price of electricity and gas, which will have unpredictable repercussions on the perception of the population, on economic competitiveness and on the respective wealth of the different regional blocs.
To reverse the trend, sellers of gas, electricity, or oil would have to agree to lower their prices, but the pandemic has shown that commodities are becoming scarce and expensive. Since there has been a generalisation of price increases, it is therefore a fundamental movement. We have to adapt, but we have to be able to change our behaviour to do so
AS Published on Tuesday 5 April 2022 - n° 400 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the modern Diafoirus
Four centuries ago, Molière in Le Malade Imaginaire portrayed Doctor Diafoirus. He has remained famous for his stubbornness in his unchanging, constantly repeated diagnosis that the patient must be purged.
A repetition of this stubborn position can be found in many of the comments on the current situation, which, while criticising fossil fuels and referring to the climate crisis, have only one solution, photovoltaics, as a cure for all ills.
It is not that simple
AS Published on Wednesday 30 March 2022 - n° 399 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at some of the light and shade of photovoltaics
Commentators are clear. The pandemic has profoundly altered the global economy, triggering a general increase in commodity prices and disrupting international transport. Some time later, the war in Ukraine accentuated these disruptions and made it more difficult to return to the previous situation every day. The disruptions are not only affecting the economy in general, but also the two products on which the so-called energy transition was based: panels are becoming more and more expensive and will probably be rationed in the second half of the year due to the lack of silicon. Batteries are subject to considerably higher component prices (lithium, nickel, etc.).
So a great uncertainty is gradually spreading over the world. There are, however, two reasons for hope: two manufacturers of photovoltaic panels are providing confidence
AS Published on Wednesday 23 March 2022 - n° 398 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at La Grande Illusion
By avoiding looking at the facts, the political authorities in Europe, France, ... but also the professional unions only want to develop photovoltaic panels. In itself, the intention is laudable, but it is opposed to the evolution of relations between countries. It ignores our dependence on Chinese panel producers. We were dependent on Russian gas, which limited our Ukrainian policy, and now we are also looking for Chinese dependence. The Greeks called this falling from Charybdis into Scylla.
L R AS Published on Tuesday 15 March 2022 - n° 397 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the changing times through solar and batteries
The energy transition was beginning to enter the minds, the political decisions (elimination of thermal cars in 2035) and the facts. The 2020 pandemic created a series of economic disruptions. The recent war with its sanctions and counter-sanctions increases the disruption. It provides weapons to some and vulnerabilities to others. Unfortunately, it does not stop there! The resurgence of the pandemic in China will further exacerbate the breakdown of the economic world and lead to still unpredictable consequences.
AS Published on Wednesday 9 March 2022 - n° 396 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at gas and silicon: the same battle
It has disappeared from the daily news in favour of the war in Ukraine. It has taken over the media space. All the reporters are on the spot, providing information, telling what they see. But there are two realities, the one that is described and the one of the States that do everything to organise (even in France) the information, the debates, the conversations. There is a world between what is said and the reality. The latter has revealed Europe's unpreparedness, lack of strategy and lack of initiatives. Silicon and photovoltaic production had not awakened public opinion. It takes war to see what we are.
AS Published on Tuesday 1 March 2022 - n° 395 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the expected increase in the price of silicon
Of course, all raw materials have seen their prices soar. Silicon is probably the material that has risen the most in price: a 400% increase (a fivefold increase) between June 2020 and February 2022. As with other commodities, one might expect a gradual normalisation of prices. It seems that this may not be the case in 2022.
Does this shortage herald future supply difficulties for vehicle battery components (lithium, cobalt, manganese, etc.)?
AS Published on Monday 21 February 2022 - n° 394 - Categories:PV Watch
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L R AS Published on Tuesday 15 February 2022 - n° 393 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at E. Macron's speech
At first sight, E. Macron's speech is gentle on the two opposing opinions, the supporters of nuclear power and the defenders of renewable energy. Is this an electioneering statement? Or is it the result of his analysis of the situation? He sought to gain the support of the already known energies, while new energies are slow to take hold.
L R AS Published on Tuesday 8 February 2022 - n° 392 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at California's 'net zero by 2040' programme
All too often, when it comes to energy transition, we talk in general terms, without really knowing the costs, the constraints and the advantages. This is the domain of convictions, assertions, and even beliefs. This attitude creates gaps between those who adhere and those who refuse. The energy transition is a good thing if it succeeds in eliminatingCO2 emissions and reducing global warming under satisfactory conditions! It is to be examined if it has to reduce the lifestyle of the population, for the sake of the climate. For once, a state, California, has lent itself to the game of implementing a programme to achieve net zero carbon emissions. That is the purpose of this text.
L R AS Published on Tuesday 1 February 2022 - n° 391 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at an unattainable energy transition under current conditions
Pressure from climate activists has led to a sudden emergence of new needs: people want to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. For example, people want to replace internal combustion engines with clean engines. The pressure has been so great on a balanced economic world that the producers of these panels or batteries want or are obliged to switch to mass production, which uses a large proportion of the raw material production. The foreseeable needs become even greater than the commodities available on the ground. This upsets previous balances and leads to price increases. The speed and scale of the change disrupts the world economy, which defends itself by raising prices. As demand does not seem to be frightened by the price increases, they will continue until it is no longer worth buying panels or batteries!
L R AS Published on Tuesday 25 January 2022 - n° 390 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the evolution of PV technology from Type P PERC to Type N
The P PERC technology for the production of cells and thus panels has reached its technical limits. A replacement must be found. But which one? There is the one that is in line with current production processes; there is the one that presents a process breakthrough, which requires changing production machines, but which could take the conversion rate further. The debate is raging in the industry
L R AS Published on Tuesday 18 January 2022 - n° 389 - Categories:PV Watch
A look at the light and shade of photovoltaics
In the same week, the news covered the light and shade spectrum of photovoltaics: there was a partnership between two complementary companies to ensure temperature control in buildings. As with all presentations of new products (energy-producing glass, home automation, management of energy production from solar systems, etc.), the public is resistant to these new products. Even the installation of solar power plants is often rejected by the inhabitants. Photovoltaics are not part of everyday life
On the other hand, there are the power plants that have been installed as a result of government tenders, which have been largely supported by the French state. Above all, there is a new dynamic that is being established with the energy purchase agreements (EPAs) that companies are signing to obtain cheaper electricity. For the planet? Not at all! Not even for photovoltaics!