67 replies to this topic

[Rogerdodger]

DIY Solar Panel System: The Real Cost Of Solar Power

At 4:20 $5,000 system produces 4% of needed electricity.

Luxury at best.

[Rogerdodger]

Screw the birds, screw reality.

 

World's Largest Solar Plant Torches Itself...

 

"The plant, the largest of its kind in the world, features a gross capacity of 392 megawatts, enough to power 140,000 homes."

 

..on paper anyway.

But like so many alternative energy boondoggles, it is not living up to it's promises.

 

"It’s yet another setback for the Ivanpah facility. For the past few months, the plant has been unable to meet the output levels stipulated in its power purchase agreement.

This fire obviously isn’t going to help.

 

Concentrated solar power plants, in addition to being a menace to themselves, can also pose a hazard to local wildlife. Last year, a plant in Nevada torched over a hundred birds when they flew through the plant’s 'flux field.'"

 

Of course we can't build a safe, reliable pipeline because it might offend some toad.
 

Edited by Rogerdodger, 21 May 2016 - 10:26 AM.

[diogenes227]

Portugal sets new milestone in the use of renewable energy alone

 

 

Portugal kept its lights on with renewable energy alone for four consecutive days last week in a clean energy milestone revealed by data analysis of national energy network figures.

Electricity consumption in the country was fully covered by solar, wind and hydro power in an extraordinary 107-hour run that lasted from 6.45am on Saturday 7 May until 5.45pm the following Wednesday, the analysis says.

News of the zero emissions landmark comes just days after Germany announced that clean energy had powered almost all its electricity needs on Sunday 15 May, with power prices turning negative at several times in the day – effectively paying consumers to use it.
Wind power generates 140% of Denmark's electricity demandOliver Joy, a spokesman for the Wind Europe trade association said: “We are seeing trends like this spread across Europe - last year with Denmark and now in Portugal. The Iberian peninsula is a great resource for renewables and wind energy, not just for the region but for the whole of Europe.”James Watson, the CEO of SolarPower Europe said: “This is a significant achievement for a European country, but what seems extraordinary today will be commonplace in Europe in just a few years. The energy transition process is gathering momentum and records such as this will continue to be set and broken across Europe.”

Last year, wind provided 22% of electricity and all renewable sources together provided 48%, according to the Portuguese renewable energy association.

While Portugal’s clean energy surge has been spurred by the EU’s renewable targets for 2020, support schemes for new wind capacity were reduced in 2012.

Despite this, Portugal added 550MW of wind capacity between 2013 and 2016, and industry groups now have their sights firmly set on the green energy’s export potential, within Europe and without.
Solar power sets new British record by beating coal for a day
Read more

“An increased build-out of interconnectors, a reformed electricity market and political will are all essential,” Joy said. “But with the right policies in place, wind could meet a quarter of Europe’s power needs in the next 15 years.”

In 2015, wind power alone met 42% of electricity demand in Denmark, 20% in Spain, 13% in Germany and 11% in the UK.

In a move hailed as a “historic turning point” by clean energy supporters, UK citizens last week enjoyed their first ever week of coal-free electricity generation.

Watson said: “The age of inflexible and polluting technologies is drawing to an end and power will increasingly be provided from clean, renewable sources.”

• This article was amended on 19 May 2016. An earlier version said that in 2013 Portugal generated 27% of its electricity from nuclear, 13% from hydro, 7.5% from wind and 3% from solar, according to Eurostat figures. In fact those figures are for the whole of the EU; Portugal does not have any nuclear power plants.

[Rogerdodger]

Blimps were all the rage at one time. Then the wind blew them all away.

 

After a 10 day layover because of cloudy weather, solar plane zooms off at 28 MPH.

Bigger than a 747, holds one passenger, no bags.

The plane is estimated to cost more than $100 million.

Solar-powered plane's latest leg: Oklahoma to Ohio

 

Edited by Rogerdodger, 21 May 2016 - 02:57 PM.

[stocks]

SunEdison Is The Canary In The Coal Mine For Solar Energy

 

Summary

Solar energy is not the future of energy, SUNE will not be the last company to collapse in this sector.

The solar industry cannot survive without government subsidies.

Falling oil/natural gas prices and the advent of shale indicate that the fate of solar energy is sealed.

 

 

SunPower stock dives 30% on layoffs, lowered outlook

 

SunPower was burned on Wall Street Wednesday, with its stock diving about 30 percent after the San Jose company surprised investors with news of big layoffs and a lowered outlook for the rest of the year.

 

Shares of solar panel company (NASDAQ:SPWR) hit a three-year low of $10.15 during trading Wednesday, shaving nearly $600 million off of its market value. It closed at $10.31 and has now lost nearly two-thirds of its value in 2016.

 

 

http://www.bizjourna...ed-outlook.html

[Rogerdodger]

I hope you sold your fslr at $70. Along with the Sun's output, It's been cut in half.

 

[diogenes227]

You know it's the stock market - it fluctuates.

 

So one must follow more than the obvious fact this company is in the future business. In this case, the blue line is simple and handy (rising or falling) in tandem with the market (i.e., the NYMO and NYSI). So, yup 70 was the neighborhood (and 67 was the actual address). 

 

What happens next? 

 

Well, have to wait for the market although FSLR look as if it's getting a head start.  What is that down there with the newly rising blue line?  An inverted head and shoulder in the making?  A cup and handle?  When the NYSI turns up, this stock (probably crossing 40.33) could once again pump some clean money.

 

[diogenes227]

I hope you sold your fslr at $70. Along with the Sun's output, It's been cut in half.

 

 

Interesting MACD divergence on your chart there to go along with my notes above, don't you think?  Even Jack Chan might see that and say bye-bye bias, buy, buy, buy...

 

Good luck and good trading.

 

P.S. Kind of a nice sunny day today. Might be the start of something big. If not there's a close-by stop.

[Rogerdodger]

ELON MUSK IN CROSSHAIRS OVER BILLIONS IN GOVT SUBSIDIES...

 

From Enron to Bernie Madoff, at the end of every great American financial scandal, the totality of the perpetrators’ greed seems to be matched only by the public’s incredulity at how such a thing could be allowed to happen.

 

Already grossly subsidized, Musk’s SolarCity has become an albatross of waste, fraud, and abuse of tax payer dollars. As legitimate earnings and cash become even scarcer for SolarCity, its entanglement in the Tesla empire suggests that a drastic reckoning not only is imminent, but in fact emboldening Musk to become more outlandish and reckless.

Notably, SolarCity is run by Musk’s cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive. During his chairmanship at SolarCity, Musk’s family enterprise has taken in billions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies from both the federal and local governments. But the subsidies and sweetheart deals were not enough, as losses and missed projections continued to mount.

Now Tesla stockholders were being forced to absorb a failing, cash-burning company and pay top dollar to do so.

 

Thanks to Musk’s cozy relationship with the New York Governor, the state has granted at least $750 million of its taxpayers’ money to SolarCity, building the company a factory and charging it only $1 per year in rent.

It would be hard to imagine such an operation would not be lucrative for its shareholders. And yet somehow, SolarCity never has made a profit.

 

It’s not just in New York. In this year’s race for Arizona Corporation Commission, the state’s public utilities overseers, only one outside group funneled cash into the contest.

Burning through taxpayer dollars, buying elections, and expanding a network of crony capitalism has become inherent to the SolarCity model.

In 2013 alone, SolarCity received $127.4 million in federal grants. The following year, in which it received only $342,000 from the same stimulus package, total revenue was just $176 million and the company posted a net loss of $375 million.

 

Solar Victories = Crony Capitalism

Edited by Rogerdodger, 16 November 2016 - 09:33 AM.

[stocks]

First Solar (FSLR) was a corporate donor to Anthony Podesta's "Center for American Progress" (CAP), a "pay for play" think tank that served as a corrupt systemic gateway to government for  lucrative subsidies

 

Though the think tank didn’t disclose it, First Solar belonged to CAP’s Business Alliance, a secret group of corporate donors. Meanwhile, José Villarreal—a consultant at the power-house law and lobbying firm Akin Gump, was on First Solar’s board until April 2012 while also sitting on the board of CAP.

 

First Solar has been a large beneficiary of federal government largess, receiving billions of taxpayer dollars to build solar installations and sell panels abroad. It is not only listed as a CAP donor, but has also been listed as a client of the Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG) in 2011 — a lobbying firm founded by former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. ASG is also listed as a CAP donor.

 

When Export-Import Bank President Fred Hochberg spoke at the progressive think tank in 2012, he mentioned that Alice Albright was in attendance — Madeleine Albright’s daughter and the Ex-Im’s chief operating officer from 2009 to 2013. Hochberg spoke on June 25 and First Solar was awarded $57.3 million in financing on July 18.

In 2011 the taxpayer-backed export bank awarded First Solar nearly $573 million to make their products more competitive abroad and boost their sales .

 

First Solar Vice President Frank de Rosa was likely bundling donations for Obama’s reelection campaign around this time.

 

 

https://www.thenatio...ks-updated-524/

 

http://dailycaller.c...n-relationship/

 

 

Edited by stocks, 17 November 2016 - 10:10 AM.