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Bill Wright , Head of Energy Solutions at the ECA , urges UK business to grasp the potential of storage
Renewable energy is becoming more popular – on the other side of the Atlantic at least . Apple has found a way to draw 93 percent of its energy from renewable energy sources , and the company ’ s latest centre in Nevada is fed from solar arrays – welcome news at a difficult time for the renewables industry .
It is to be hoped that this will set a precedent as , where Apple goes , others tend to follow . Companies who follow their example and aim towards 100 percent renewable energy sources can boost their ‘ green ’ credentials and enjoy a degree of energy security – as long as the system has been configured to run ‘ off grid ’.
Despite the lack of sunshine in the UK we should be looking for companies to do something similar by owning and operating their own renewable supply sources . The Co-op Group has made inroads in this area by building wind farms on their land . Although these are not directly connected to their buildings , they will give them some degree of contractual independence from the main energy providers .
Of course , one issue this raises is what to do when there is little wind – and , in the case of PV , what to do overnight . This is where energy storage comes in . Tesla have given a tremendous marketing boost to electricity storage systems in recent years – even though they have very few systems in the UK – and this could be the year it finally takes off at a building and even grid level .
Energy storage is an area where the UK could apply real leadership and actively encourage firms to take it up – and the seeds might have been sown with the Chancellor ’ s pledge to allocate £ 50 million to innovation in the storage and associated areas in his Budget . Let ’ s grab this opportunity and use storage to encourage further take-up of renewable energy – we don ’ t know how many more of these chances will come our way !
Looking to the future after SunEdison
SunEdison Inc just filed for bankruptcy protection after a two-year , $ 3.1 billion acquisition binge that “ drove its debt to unmanageable levels and sent investors running for the exits ”. Bloomberg New Energy Finance ’ s Head of Solar , Jenny Chase , provides an oversight for the rest of the industry ...
• SunEdison ’ s bankruptcy says more about the company ’ s strategic decisions than about the solar industry as a whole . Comparable companies SunPower and First Solar have managed a develop-and-sell business profitably over the past three years .
• What has distinguished SunEdison has been the relentless and unfocused pursuit of growth , in which it has invested vast amounts of borrowed money . Not all of its ventures succeeded , which is inevitable in the project development business , but SunEdison ’ s win-toloss ratio was evidently insufficient . It borrowed a lot of money and lost it – or at least tied it up in projects at various degrees of completion , which it needs to sell to realise the gains and pay back creditors . On the eve of the bankruptcy filing , these projects were for sale .
• There is plenty of value in the project pipeline , which ultimately comprises cash-generating assets not linked to the continued existence of SunEdison . However , investors will take time to do the due diligence to value these projects correctly before handing over cash for them . Some projects , like the portfolio in Andhra Pradesh , India , at the lowest-ever tariff of INR 4.63 / kWh ($ 70 / MWh ), may be difficult to build at a profit due to the extremely competitive prices they were bid at .
• Bloomberg New Energy Finance suspects that if yieldcos are to make a return , they will need to have a management team that is not directly affiliated with a developer , and which investors trust to serve their interests exclusively .
• Ultimately this makes no difference to Bloomberg New Energy Finance ’ s new build forecasts , although it might prompt developers to be less ambitious with their assumptions when bidding in solar tenders . This may mean a temporary end to the stream of records for ‘ lowest tender price bid ’ as companies try not to offer solar electricity below cost .
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