It’s no secret, there are a lot of solar panels on the market. Many promise different results from lower prices to better aesthetics. But what factors should you weigh when evaluating which solar provider to choose? It all comes down to these 3 things – efficiency, durability and warranty.

Efficiency

SunPower® solar panels are widely known to be the most efficient on the market*. That’s because SunPower solar cells are unobstructed by metal gridlines across the top, unlike most conventional solar cells. That means that there is plenty of open space for each solar cell’s unique light-trapping surface to absorb more than just visible light rays such as ultraviolet and infrared light.

SunPower also uses intra-digitated back contact technology, meaning all of the wires that carry the electricity from each cell in the solar panel are placed onto the back. This eliminates shading and helps SunPower solar panels generate more energy, even when the weather isn’t ideal. SunPower’s technology and strategic design give its solar panels the ability to harvest more sunlight than conventional solar panels.

Durability

In addition to their design for efficiency, SunPower solar panels were also created with durability in mind. SunPower solar cells have a strong copper backing that is resistant to corrosion and weathering. This is incredibly important because solar panels sit on rooftops and are subject to harsh temperature and weather changes. Exposure to the elements causes all solar panels to degrade over time. But the rate of degradation can vary heavily from one solar panel provider to another. For a conventional solar panel, this reduction of power output happens at an average rate of 0.5% each year. But a SunPower solar panel degrades much more slowly at only 0.25% each year. That’s a big difference and illustrates just how durable SunPower solar panels are.

Warranty

Not all warranties are created equal. To find the real value behind a warranty, homeowners should look past just the years a solar system is covered. Some solar companies have warranties that only cover the materials but not the loss of power production. Or, they source parts from different manufacturers, leaving you with multiple warranties to sort through. SunPower offers the most comprehensive warranty in the industry, with coverage spanning both power and product. In addition, SunPower is the only company that stands behind the entire solar system, not just the panels. In the rare likelihood that something does go wrong, you only need to contact one company to fix the issue – SunPower.

But SunPower doesn’t just stop at the product. We also guarantee that your panels won’t lose more than 8% of their original DC power output in 25 years. When compared to conventional solar providers that only guarantee 19%, there’s a clear winner.

When deciding which solar panels are right for your home, do yourself a favor and evaluate which option delivers the most overall value. Chances are, you’ll land on SunPower as the obvious choice.

Danny Hurn (left), an observer on the Polarcus Adira vessel, explains to Dr Andrew Wheatley (centre) minister of science, energy and technology, the workings of the equipment that will be used in the seismic survey for oil. John McKenna of Tullow Oil looks on.

Dr Andrew Wheatley, minister of science, energy and technology, has warned against any unrealistic expectations of a financial windfall in the short term from the three-dimensional (3-D) seismic survey for offshore oil and gas exploration now getting under way in Jamaican waters.

On Friday, Wheatley led a tour of the Polarcus Adira, the state-of-the-art 3-D seismic vessel docked at Berth 2, Kingston Wharves, which will undertake a detailed data-gathering survey covering a 2,250-square-kilometre section within the Walton Morant block south of Jamaica.

Wheatley told journalists afterwards that while there was reason to be optimistic, this should not be interpreted as a guarantee of success, and he appealed for help in enlisting divine intervention.

“I want us as a country to not get overly optimistic because it is a work in progress … but what we want our people to do is to be very optimistic and to think of the possibilities and, of course, do a little praying as well,” the energy minister said.

Meanwhile, John McKenna, country manager for Tullow Oil, the firm conducting the seismic survey, put into perspective the reason for the all-round optimism.

“This obviously is an exciting time for Tullow and for Jamaica. This is the first 3-D survey that is actually going to be undertaken offshore Jamaica, so we are very excited about it. We hope to get some good data and that the survey is completed safely and without any incidents and issues,” he said during the on-board briefing.

McKenna, however, also spoke to the need for patience: “This programme will take 45-50 days,” he explained. “Because it’s such a large volume of data, it can take six to nine months to process. And then it could take another six months to nine months to actually be confident enough to identify and to mature prospects into drilling a location.”

Speaking with The Gleaner afterwards, the Tullow executive said: “I don’t think we’ll know anything (definitive) before probably early next year as to whether or not it makes sense to drill, and then, of course, there may be more than one site that potentially could offer good results.”

Gleaner

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Dr Andrew Wheatley (left), interacts with students of the Merl Grove High School in Kingston on Wednesday. Also pictured (from second left) are president and chief executive officer of the Jamaica Public Service, Emanuel DaRosa; and principal of Merl Grove, Dr. Majorie Fullerton.

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Dr Andrew Wheatley said the Government is leading by example and saving money as it works to encourage Jamaicans to use energy responsibly.

He noted that through various initiatives under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programme (EECP), the aim is to ensure that government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) become a model for the rest of the society in terms of energy management.

“We believe that if we as the public sector show the rest of Jamaica how we are saving as it relates to managing electricity, (by) cutting down our electricity bill, it will not only act as a perfect example, but also you will see the workers within the public sector bringing to their homes, their communities, the practices that we are doing within the public sector,” he said.

Dr Wheatley was speaking at a ceremony for the relaunch of the JPS Foundation Energy Club at Merl Grove High School in Kingston on Wednesday.

He informed that the Government has realised $135 million in savings to date under the EECP.

LOWER CONSUMPTION

The initiative, being implemented by the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica through funding from international partners, aims to retrofit a range of government facilities, including public health, administrative and educational buildings, and facilitate training in best practices for energy efficiency and conservation.

Some of the conservation measures undertaken include coating glass windows/doors to reduce the amount of heat entering buildings; improving the cooling system by using more energy-efficient air-conditioning units; and installing cool-roofing systems.

Over 40 government facilities from the health, finance, education and security sectors have, so far, been retrofitted with solar-control film, cool-roof solutions or energy-efficient air-conditioning systems.

To ensure continued responsible energy use at government facilities, Dr Wheatley pointed out that just last month, an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Standards Guide was launched, which contains standards to which MDAs will be held accountable in order to lower electricity consumption.

The guide, which will be made available in April, was developed through the EECP.

Gleaner

The Public Service Company of New Mexico is asking for project proposals, including renewables and battery storage, designed to help reach its coal-free goal by 2031.

It’s an ambitious, audacious goal.

In its 20-year 2017 Integrated Resource Plan submitted to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC)earlier this year, Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) announced its intentions to be coal-free by 2031. Now it’s taken the first steps toward reaching those goals.

Last week, the state’s largest utility issued a request for proposals (RFP) for 456 MW of new generation resources, including renewable resources and battery storage. The RFP is predicated on the assumption that the utility’s San Juan Generating Station does not continue to operate post 2022.

The inclusion of battery storage in the RFP is part of a new NMPRC mandate that all the state’s utilities include those options in their future plans. The mandate was implemented in August.

In its August decision, the NMPRC said the original 2008 regulation that mandated IRPs didn’t take storage into account because the technology wasn’t sophisticated enough, and what did exist was too expensive. Now the technology is more easily deployable, adding them to the list of requirements makes far more sense – and PNM has taken the commission’s requirements into consideration with its new RFP.

But with new technologies available and prices coming down, the NMPRC decided the time was right to add it to the data requirements included in the reports.

PNM wants proposals that will help its portion of the grid provide the necessary reliability requirements and minimum operating resources that will meet North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) criteria.

PV Magazine 

A joint study by Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology and Energy Watch Group presented on the sidelines of the COP23 talks in Bonn demonstrates that a global transition to 100% renewable electricity could be achieved by 2050, and would be more cost effective than the current electricity system.

Longi Solar

The study, ‘Global Energy System Based on 100% Renewable Energy – Power Sector’ was presented during the Global Renewable Energy Solutions Showcase event, a sideline to the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP23 currently underway in Bonn.

The study’s key overall finding is that a global shift to 100% renewable electricity is feasible with current technology, and would be more cost effective than the current system led by fossil fuels and nuclear generation.

The study found that in a projected scenario for energy demand in 2050, 100% could be met by current renewable technologies, at a global average LCOE of €52/MWh, compared with 2015’s average LCOE of €70.

In EWG’s 2050 scenario, solar PV covers 69% of electricity demand, wind 18%, hydro 8% and bioenergy 2%. The study predicts that wind will briefly overtake solar in the 2020s, before further price drops put solar back in the lead.

Storage is outlined as the key supporting technology for solar, with around 31% of total demand covered by storage technologies. 95% of this is projected to come from short term storage provided by batteries, with power to gas conversion providing seasonal storage.

“There is no reason to invest one more dollar in fossil or nuclear power production,” exclaims EWG President Hans Josef. “All plans for a further expansion of coal, nuclear, gas and oil have to be ceased. More investments need to be channeled in renewable energies and the necessary infrastructure for storage and grids. Everything else will lead to unnecessary costs and increasing global warming.”

The report is based on an original model developed by Lappeenranta University of Technology, which calculates the most cost-effective mix of technologies based on available resources in 145 regions for a full reference year. The full study is published here.

Only time will tell whether this study’s recommendation will translate into reality. As lead author Christian Breyer sums up: “Energy transition is no longer a question of technical feasibility or economic viability, but of political will.”

PV Magazine

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — The Barbados government says independent power producers interested in supplying electricity to the national grid will be able to apply for licences by early next year. Energy Minister Darcy Boyce said that recommendations on licensing systems for these producers should be in hand by the end of the year and that proposals for pricing of renewable energy would also go before the Fair Trading Commission early next year.

“We can give certainty to investors of what they will earn,” he said, adding that the recommendations on pricing will be made after stakeholder consultations.

Boyce was speaking at a signing ceremony between the Division of Energy and Enermax Limited to facilitate the installation of solar photovoltaic systems at 28 community centres and nine polyclinics.

The project, which will be implemented over the next three months, forms part of the Disaster Risk and Energy Access Management (DREAM) Project funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) with project support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Its primary objectives are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the use of renewable energy and to strengthen Barbados’ disaster risk response by promoting decentralised photovoltaic electricity generation with battery back-up.

Boyce said that eventually he would like to see all community centres, polyclinics, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and all schools with renewable energy systems.

He said this would result in a reduction in electricity costs, provide critical battery support when there were outages and ensure that communities and schools were not impacted in carrying out their programmes because of high electricity bills.

Jamaica Observer

Prime Minister Andrew Holness says Jamaica must capitalise on the availability of renewable energy. He explained that the country would be in a far better position if it could convert naturally occurring forces into energy.

“It is possible for Jamaica to go to approximately 50 per cent of its energy needs provided by alternatives,” Holness declared during a tour of BMR Jamaica Wind Limited in Potsdam, St Elizabeth, on Wednesday.

BMR Jamaica Wind Limited is the builder, owner and operator of Jamaica’s largest privately funded renewable energy project. The 36.3MW wind-generating facility has been in operation since July 1, 2016. At a cost of US$89.9 million, this represents a major investment in the parish of St Elizabeth.

LOCAL ENERGY A PREFERENCE

“From a policy perspective, we would much prefer to have more of our energy locally generated, and from that perspective, renewables are very important to us,” said Holness.

He pointed out that there is great potential between the parishes of Manchester and St Elizabeth for an expansion in wind-generating plants and that the significant investment made by BMR Limited is an indication that there can be even greater investment in wind energy in Jamaica.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said that the Government is doing an integrated resource plan which will project what are the country’s future needs. In addition, the plan will incorporate how the country can supply those future needs integrating renewables, in particular wind and solar.

PROBLEM WITH SUPPLY

“Of course, the problem with renewables is the intermittency of the supply, and even that can be overcome with battery technology, which has increased and improved, and so I hold a very optimistic view of the future of energy supply in Jamaica. We are now looking at expansion in solar,” added the Prime Minister.

According to Holness, another solar plant will be opened very soon and the Government is also examining waste energy as a solution.

The BMR Jamaica Wind project holds the distinction of being the first project funded in Jamaica by the Overseas Private Investment Company (OPIC). US$62.7 million was provided by OPIC and US$20 million from the International Finance Company (IFC).

The project is the recipient of the OPIC impact award 2016, as well as, the CREF Wind Project of the Year 2017.

Gleaner