Blog: The Photovoltaics Solar Energy Advocate

PV Module Form Factor Evolution – Enter SolarClover

Dave Buemi — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:10:32 +0000

The standard PV panel design is essentially a 30+ year old packaging scheme, whether you are talking about crystalline technology or thin-film (glass on glass). It is a form factor that has served the industry well up to this point, but as my readers know, I believe it is keeping the pace of PV adoption [...]

Buy American Act Compliant PV Modules – How to Know?

Dave Buemi — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:50:17 +0000

The US PV industry as a whole is grappling with the solar import tariff petition by Solarworld which presents an interesting set of American made, American protectionist, and wider global trade issues. A great recap with citations of this complex situation which may result in substantial tariffs on solar PV modules that contain crystalline solar [...]

Reality Check for DoD Energy – And Its Big!

Dave Buemi — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:03:08 +0000

While there has been much excitement about the sheer size of the Pentagon’s plans for deploying renewable energy, a recent study from DoD’s Office of Installations and Environment on solar applicability on bases in the California, Colorado and Nevada bases offers both optimism and caution for deploying solar in DoD agencies. Of specific interest, 7000 [...]

All the Best in New Year

Dave Buemi — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:45:51 +0000

Solar Industry M&A – Really?

Dave Buemi — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:08:56 +0000

With the collapse of publicly traded solar stocks in the last 4 months, the general business press has been buzzing with speculation about mergers and acquisitions. But these articles have missed some basic industry drivers and circumstances that may point to minimal M&A activity. A good example includes a recent Bloomberg article about how First [...]

Operational Energy – The Marines Embrace Renewables

Dave Buemi — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:27:16 +0000

US Department of Defense agencies are leading the nation on the renewable energy front. With plans to have 25% renewable energy use by 2025 and spending $15.2B on DoD energy in 2010, this is a significant and growing market place for the solar energy industry. DoD energy is segmented into basing power (mostly electricity), operational [...]

Understanding Photovoltaic Cell and Module Level Efficiency

Dave Buemi — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:02:51 +0000

After a recent presentation during a government renewable energy conference, I received a number of questions regarding why there was such a large difference between crystalline solar cell efficiency and a fully packaged and weatherized module. For instance, a 19% efficient crystalline photovoltaic (PV) cell, when packaged into a module with 60 cells results in [...]

Where did global warming go?

Dave Buemi — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:13:06 +0000

A good piece in the New York times today answers the question by starting with “. . . . now that nearly every other nation accepts climate change as a pressing problem, America has turned agnostic on the issue.” Every other nation in the world is experiencing significant climate change effects, recognize the urgency of [...]