First published in Cleantech magazine, Volume 6, Issue 1. Copyright Cleantech Investor Ltd

With solar photovoltaic prices plummeting, Denis Gross looks at the rise of Concentrated Solar Photovoltaic technology.

Published in: 2011 - A Review of Cleantech Equity Deals, January 2012

With the price of polysilicon falling by some 64% during 2011 to US$26.52, the biggest news in the sector involved bankruptcies of US firms, such as Solyndra, which could no longer compete with the Chinese. Some of the US companies which were suffering managed to find industry buyers – notably SunPower, which saw Total acquire a 66% stake.

Despite the travails of the industry, venture capital stage investment in innovative technologies was still in evidence. We feature a selection of deals in this section. There were also significant levels of venture capital investment in the thin film and concentrated solar areas – both covered separately in the following sections.

Published in: 2011 - A Review of Cleantech Equity Deals, January 2012

The thin film solar sector was rocked by the high profile collapse of Solyndra during 2011. The year also saw consolidation in the thin film space, with deals reported including the acquisition of Würth Solar’s thin film production by Manz in Germany, which involved production capacity being slashed. However, if some of the venture capital investment in thin film technologies is any guide, it would be a mistake to write off this sector just yet. The failings in the Solyndra technology were a particular case, exacerbated by the fact that they coincided with plummeting prices for solar panels. The thin film market is expected to grow rapidly, underpinned by continuing developments in cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) technologies.

Published in: 2011 - A Review of Cleantech Equity Deals, January 2012

The impact of plummeting silicon PV prices hit hard in the concentrated solar thermal space, where casualties included Millennium Solar and Stirling Energy Systems in the US, both of which entered into bankruptcy. The Power Purchase Agreement with PG&E for energy from the giant 280MW Abengoa Mojave Solar project, which is being supported by US$1.2 billion in loan guarantees from the US DoE, received approval to go ahead in November 2011, despite questions about the high costs being paid for the electricity. Mojave will use parabolic trough technology. Meanwhile, in Abu Dhabi, the 100MW Masdar Shams 1 parabolic trough solar thermal plant, being developed by Abengoa and Total, is reported to be gearing up for operation in 2012. However, a number of earlier stage projects are switching from the use of solar thermal technology to concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technology. These include the Solar Trust of America Blythe project and the Calico and Imperial Valley projects, which were originally developed by Tessera Solar (a company owned by Ireland’s NTR, which held a majority stake in Stirling Energy Systems) and had planned to use Stirling technology.