Clean Power Research To Study Solar Variability With New CPUC Grant

In a third round of funding from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), Clean Power Research has been awarded a grant of approximately $850,000 from the California Solar Initiative Research, Development, Deployment and Demonstration (CSI RD&D) program.Clean Power Research plans to use the funds to implement new photovoltaic fleet simulation tools that are expected to help predict the variability of solar power caused by cloud cover. The company will validate its PV fleet simulation methodologies and produce a one-minute, 1 km SolarAnywhere data set for California, which the company says is a requirement for calculating variability at the short time intervals typical for dispatching energy reserves.

These new PV fleet simulation capabilities will be made available via software to support projects in distribution planning, smart grid operation, utility load scheduling, and balance area planning and operation."Accurate solar forecasting is critical for integrating ever-larger PV fleets into the grid, yet the expense and difficulty of obtaining this information can be very high," says Tom Hoff, president of research and consulting at Clean Power Research. "This grant builds on our previous CSI RD&D research, allowing us to validate our PV simulation models and make them widely available through easy-to-use software tools.

"Participants in the Clean Power Research project include California Independent System Operator Corp.; Pacific Gas and Electric Co.; Sacramento Municipal Utility District; University at Albany, SUNY; Electric Power Research Institute Inc.; Solar Electric Power Association; and University of California, San Diego.

Bankrupt solar manufacturer Evergreen Solar Inc., which is now in the final phases of its bankruptcy liquidation, has been unable to find a buyer for its Devens, Mass., manufacturing facility.The company has thus requested permission from a judge to break its existing lease and abandon the property, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing bankruptcy filings.Evergreen, which filed for bankruptcy in August 2011, has been criticized for accepting millions in grants, low-interest loans and other incentives from the Massachusetts government before moving production to China and subsequently wiping out that public investment with its bankruptcy.The company also recently agreed to a deal with its secured creditors, according to the Wall Street Journal. These creditors, who are expected to lose more than $100 million when bankruptcy proceedings end, will receive at least a penny-on-the-dollar settlement.

Heliatek GmbH has inaugurated its first production facility for the manufacture of flexible organic PV (OPV) panels in Dresden, Germany.Heliatek says it has invested 14 million euros in the construction of the first production line. The company's modules are based on organic semiconductor materials, and its manufacturing line employs a roll-to-roll process using vacuum deposition at low temperatures. Heliatek believes this process holds excellent potential for significantly reducing costs in mass production.Whereas other organic manufacturers rely on printing processes, Heliatek is the only company that specializes in solar panel manufacture using vacuum deposition of small molecules (oligomers) on flexible film, the company claims.Heliatek will roll out its organic solar film for "Energy-2-Go" applications this fall, according to CEO Thibaud Le Seguillon.

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