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ENDNOTES 02 MARKET AND INDUSTRY TRENDS - SOLAR PV
14 September 2015, http://analysis.pv-insider.com/
yieldcos-require-pipeline-growth-recover-oil-fiscal-policy-impact.
144 Other causes were concern about a possible US Federal Reserve
interest rate increase and the fact that several renewable energy
firms were in search of funds from public capital markets, from
Varun Sivaram, Council on Foreign Relations, cited in Steiner-
Dicks, op. cit. note 143; see also Saqib Rahim, “Much-loved
investment tool for renewables is oil’s latest victim,” Environment
& Energy News, 16 September 2015, http://www.eenews.net/
energywire/2015/09/16/stories/1060024729. SunEdison’s
twin yieldcos suffered more than others because investors
believed they were the cure for the company’s over-leveraged
balance sheet, from Tom Konrad, “What yieldco managers
are saying about the market meltdown,” Greentech Media, 27
November 2015, http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/
read/what-yieldco-managers-are-saying-about-the-marketmeltdown.
Attracting investors in other ways based on, for
example, Trina announced in September that it would form a
“growthco” to sell shares to the public in its portfolio of power
plants, increasing value by using cash flow to add power plants
to its portfolio instead of paying dividends from their income,
from Chris Martin, “SunEdison’s yieldco overreach stirs angst
at solar companies,” Bloomberg, 17 September 2015, http://
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-17/sunedison-syieldco-overreach-stirs-angst-among-solar-companies.
Earlier
in 2015, First Solar and SunPower Corp, the two largest US solar
panel manufacturers, joined forces to create a yieldco to make
money from the booming residential sector, but the yieldco
differs in that investors receive payments from power generated
by rooftop systems, from Justin Doom, “First Solar, SunPower
joint venture will own rooftop systems,” Bloomberg, 10 March
2015, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-10/
first-solar-sunpower-joint-venture-will-own-rooftop-systems.
145 Navigant Research, cited in “Global revenue from solar PV
installations is expected to total more than $1.2 trillion from 2015
to 2024,” Sonnenseite, 25 January 2016, http://www.sonnenseite.
com/en/economy/global-revenue-from-solar-pv-installationsis-expected-to-total-more-than-1.2-trillion-from-2015-to-2024.
html; Feifei Shen, “United PV turns to crowdfunding after stocks
in China plunge,” Renewable Energy World, 13 October 2015,
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2015/10/
united-pv-turns-to-crowdfunding-after-stocks-in-china-plunge;
behind-the-meter PPAs from Christian Gertig, independent
consultant, Schoeneiche, Germany, personal communication
with REN21, 9 April 2016, and from, for example, Embark, “Selling
your power and solar PPAs,” http://www.embark.com.au/display/
public/content/Selling+your+power+and+solar+PPAs, viewed 16
April 2016. Solar leasing continued to spread to more developed
and developing countries, from, for example, Chandler, op. cit.
note 65; Jennifer Runyon, “Off Grid Electric raises $25M to help
power a ‘solar revolution’ in Africa,” Renewable Energy World,
22 October 2015, http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/
articles/2015/10/off-grid-electric-raises-25m-to-help-powera-solar-revolution-in-africa.
Many pay-as-you-go companies
(including M-KOPA, Mobisol, BBOXX) are operating across
Africa and elsewhere in the developing world; see Distributed
Renewable Energy chapter for more information.
146 Nichola Groom, “SolarCity, BofA create tax equity fund for smaller
investors,” Reuters, 29 May 2015, http://planetark.org/wen/73254;
Ehren Goossens, “SunEdison, Goldman agree to form $1 billion
Clean-Power Fund,” Bloomberg, 17 August 2015, http://www.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-17/sunedison-goldmansachs-backed-funds-form-1-billion-facility.
SunPower, SolarCity,
Clean Power Finance, Sunrun, NRG, Sungevity, SunEdison,
Kilowatt Financial, Sungage, Mosaic and Dividend Solar have
all entered the solar loan business, from GTM Research, US
Residential Solar Financing 2014–2018, cited in Eric Wesoff, “$200
million more flows to residential solar loans through Sungage
and Mosaic,” Greentech Media, 20 October 2014, http://www.
greentechmedia.com/articles/read/200-Million-More-Flows-to-
Residential-Solar-Loans-Through-Sungage-and-Mosa; as have
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Google, from
Jerry Farano, “Renewable energy and carbon markets,” Jones Day,
Winter 2015, http://thewritestuff.jonesday.com/rv/ff001d57041f2d
d7f995e69ae74e88e8cafe05fb/p%3D5728522. David Appleyard,
“Domestic on-site solar fund backed by big Google investment,”
COSPP, 2 March 2015, http://www.cospp.com/articles/2015/03/
domestic-on-site-solar-fund-backed-by-big-google-investment.
html; Christopher Martin, “Google invests $300 million in
SolarCity rooftop solar installations,” Renewable Energy World,
26 February 2015, http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/
news/2015/02/google-invests-300-million-in-solarcity-rooftopsolar-installations.html.
147 For example: Wunder Capital website, https://www.
wundercapital.com/, viewed 24 March 2015; Power Clouds
(Singapore), launched in 2013, enables citizens from around the
world to collectively build solar PV power plants, from Power
Clouds website, http://www.powerclouds.com/, viewed 24 March
2015.
148 CrossBoundary Energy, “CrossBoundary Energy formally
announces raise of $8M in equity to bring solar power to African
businesses,” press release (New York/Washington, DC/Nairobi:
7 December 2015), http://www.crossboundaryenergy.com/
news/2015/12/7/crossboundary-formally-announces-raise-of-
8m-in-equity-to-bring-solar-power-to-african-businesses.
149 See, for example, “Mirrors, pods, printed panels: solar innovation
heats up,” Greenbiz, 8 July 2015, https://www.greenbiz.com/
article/mirrors-pods-printed-panels-solar-innovation-heats;
Natcore Technology, “Natcore Technology develops solar cell that
eliminates use of silver,” press release (Rochester, NY: 18 August
2015), http://www.natcoresolar.com/news/natcore-technologydevelops-solar-cell-that-eliminates-use-of-silver/.
150 25x’25, “Companies vie over claims to world’s ‘most
efficient’ rooftop solar panel,” Weekly REsource, 9 October
2015, http://www.25x25.org/index.php?option=com_
content&task=view&id=1314&Itemid=246; Steve Hanley,
“Panasonic quickly beats SolarCity’s solar module efficiency
record,” CleanTechnica, 9 October 2015, http://cleantechnica.
com/2015/10/09/panasonic-quickly-beats-solarcitys-solarmodule-efficiency-record/;
Fraunhofer ISE, “20% efficient solar
cell on EpiWafer,” press release (Freiburg: 14 September 2015),
https://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/press-and-media/pdfs-zupresseinfos-englisch/-nivc-2015/press-release-20-efficientsolar-cell-on-epiwafer.pdf;
Suntech, “Suntech solar cell efficiency
climbs to a new high,” press release (Wuxi: 9 July 2015), http://
www.suntech-power.com/news/news153.html; First Solar, “First
Solar achieves world record 18.6% thin film module conversion
efficiency,” press release (Tempe, AZ: 15 June 2015), http://
investor.firstsolar.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=917926;
TSMC Solar, “TSMC Solar commercial-size modules (1.09m 2 )
set CIGS 16.5% efficiency record,” press release (Taichung,
Taipei, China: 28 April 2015), http://www.tsmc-solar.com/
Assets/downloads/en-US/TSMC_Solar_Press_Release_EN_
April_28_2015.pdf; “PV cheapest energy source in Chile; China
hits new cell performance record,” PV Insider, 23 November 2015,
http://analysis.pv-insider.com/pv-cheapest-energy-source-chilechina-hits-new-cell-performance-record;
Solar Frontier, “Solar
Frontier achieves world record thin-film solar cell efficiency:
22.3%,” press release (Tokyo: 8 December 2015), http://www.
solar-frontier.com/eng/news/2015/C051171.html; Communication
EEMCS, “The ‘marriage’ of two cheap photovoltaic technologies
delivers record-efficiency hybrid thin-film solar cells,” TU Delft, 12
February 2016, http://www.ewi.tudelft.nl/en/current/latest-news/
article/detail/huwelijk-van-twee-goedkope-fotovoltaischetechnologieen-resulteert-in-hybride-dunne-film-zon/.
151 Perovskites achieved 18% efficiency in the lab in late 2015,
but they still need to overcome problems of lead content
and long-term stability (such as durability and sensitivity
to water), from “Monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar
cell achieves record efficiency,” Helmholtz, 28 October
2015, https://www.helmholtz-berlin.de/pubbin/news_
seite?nid=14342&sprache=en&typoid=49880, from Jonathan
Gifford, “Perovskite flaws revealed, points to major efficiency
upside,” PV Magazine, 11 May 2015, http://www.pv-magazine.
com/news/details/archive/2015/may/beitrag/perovskite-flawsrevealed--points-to-major-efficiency-upside_100019416/#axzz
3aeSBzTY1, and from “Research improves efficiency from larger
perovskite solar cells,” Sonnenseite, 19 October 2015, http://www.
sonnenseite.com/en/science/research-improves-efficiency-fromlarger-perovskite-solar-cells.html.
152 See, for example, Meyer Burger, “MB PERC,” http://www.
meyerburger.com/en/products-systems/technologies/
photovoltaics/mb-perc/, viewed 30 March 2015; Giles Parkinson,
“PERC solar cell could usher in dramatic drop in cost of solar,”
CleanTechnica, 9 July 2015, http://cleantechnica.com/2015/07/09/
perc-solar-cell-could-usher-in-dramatic-drop-in-cost-of-solar/;
Mark Osborne, “SNEC 2015: Zhongli Talesun’s PERC cell ‘Hipro’
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