EnergyCareerPath.com

My Solar Analysis of MIST Some of you may recall the coinage BRIC, which stood for Brazil, Russia, India and China. This term was created by famous economist Jim O'Neill. Jim's latest grouping is MIST , which stands for Mexico , Indonesia , South Korea , and Turkey . My goal in this article is to overlay the solar potential with the growth potential of the MIST countries. Quick overview of the MIST group: Mexico GDP: $1.6 trillion GDP Growth Rate: 5.4% Indonesia GDP: $1.03 trillion GDP Growth Rate: 6.1% South Korea GDP: $1.46 trillion GDP Growth Rate: 6.2% Turkey GDP: $960.5 billion GDP Growth Rate: 8.9% Compared to the California. GDP: $1.7 trillion GDP Growth Rate: 2.8% ( Q2 ) Alright now that we got that out of the way, let's talk solar! There's not much conversation (if any) about relating the solar industry to the MIST group. This is why I find it very interesting as it presents a great opportunity to dive in and see what kind of potenti...

One of my students brought in an article that described floating solar panels.  The idea was to use water areas that won't intrude on the surrounding area but rather take advantage of already modified human space. PV panels have negative thermal drift.  In other words, they lose efficiency when the temperature increases.  So having access to an immediate source for cooling does wonders for the panel efficiency. The article featured a company called Solaris Syndergy , but was dated last year.   So I decided to take a look to see how far the innovation has come.   Looking into their product, I realized that they solution is centered around CSP.  However, I was able to find another company that uses reflectors and PV panels. Check out Scienza Industria Technologia ! The FTCC System. Image from http://www.scintec.it and while we're on the water, why not submerge it! Submerged Photovoltaic Solar Panel Any scuba divers wanting to cross careers w...

Although this article from CleanTechnica was posted a month ago, it still serves as a great contrast of how an industry can withstand a few bumps in the road (Abound Solar, Solyndra) and still have good industry mechanics. In a struggling economy, solar continues to prove its importance as a stabilizer.  We will continue to see just how stable the industry is as prices continue to drop, tariff wars rage on, and the incentives field reshapes itself. From the article: "It is important to remember that the U.S. solar industry is a bright spot in an otherwise sluggish economy." - Rhone Resch, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA®) “Over 100,000 Americans have jobs in solar, more than double the amount from two years ago. Costs of solar products to consumers continue to drop, while the deployment of solar systems across the U.S. increased by 85 percent over the last year. Solar Energy Industries Association Statement on...

As the Fall semester begins, I will provide the solar students with links to relative industry sites. You can find the latest report from the EPIA, "GLOBAL MARKET OUTLOOK FOR PHOTOVOLTAICS UNTIL 2016", the global PV outlook is shining. What interesting to note is that this report places the U.S. in a higher rank than most reports you'll see doing a search on "solar growth".  From the report: "In terms of global cumulative installed capacity, Europe still leads the way with more than 51 GW installed as of 2011. This represents about 75% of the world’s total PV cumulative capacity. Next in the ranking are Japan (5 GW) and the USA (4.4 GW), followed by China (3.1 GW) which reached its first GW in 2011." This is great news.  Couple this with other projections that include planned development, we should see the U.S. make a good run against Japan.