Solar Feed In Tariff Website

Green Power Conferences, the team behind the London and Washington solar forums has announced the dates for a similar conference to be held in Turkey. The Solar Turkey conference which will take place in Istanbul between the 25-26 of November will seek to highlight the massive potential for the photovoltaic industry in Turkey over the coming years.

The potential for solar energy growth in Turkey has created excitement in the industry with comparable conditions for solar in Turkey as in Spain with an average solar radiation of 1311kWh/m2. The conference, to be held at the Movenpick Hotel in the Turkish capital will look in to a number of business opportunities for those interested in investing in the Turkish solar market.

The conference will also provide opportunities for networking with time for attendees to investigate suitable and advantageous business partners for working within the Turkish market. Similarly, the conference will highlight various PV technologies and systems available in the market and offer advice as to the benefits of each within the industry.

As a relatively unknown market the conference will offer expert advice and information regarding the Turkish solar industry and will give attendees a valuable insight into facts, figures and projections for the future of the industry. Also, advice will be given as to vertical market opportunities in Turkey with debates with market regulators to determine the best ways to meet the requirements of the solar market there.

Attendees will have an opportunity to network with the following:

• Banks
• Federal & State regulators
• Utilities
• Capital Venture Firms
• Solar distributors & Installers
• R&D companies
• Legal experts
• Industry analysts

The New York Times has run an editorial highlighting mistakes made by the Spanish government in subsidising their solar industry in recent years. While Spain was held up as an example of how strong feed-in tariff (FIT) laws can greatly encourage investment and growth within up and coming renewable industries, amendments made by President Zapatero’s government have caused a crash in the photovoltaic market in Spain.

The essential problem of the Spanish tariff which was introduced back in 2007 was that it had no long term provisions or ideas of how to be market reactive in the case of various investment paterns. The generous tariff offered 0.44 euros per kW of energy fed back in to the national grid. The Spanish government anticipated a steady investment pattern over a period of years, however, the media interest along with the high yields made possible by the tariffs caused a short term boom in the solar industry.

In response to the inundation of solar installations across Spain, the government was forced to make changes to the tariff system. With many already signed into investment scheme the government pulled the rug out from under them by reducing the tariff incentives by 30%. With investors already tied into long term deals and with large quantities of PV equipment already being shipped from manufacturing bases in China, many had there fingers burnt by a solar industry which had been created artificially over a short period of time.

Santiago Seage, the CEO of Abengoa Solar SA commented on the situation saying, “What’s important for the regulation of solar is stability. Unfortunately, up to now, we have had too many changes and if the context changes, you can make mistakes in business decisions.”

The Spanish lesson, as set out in the New York Times indicates clearly the need for a tariff which both encourages strong growth of the industry but also offers long term stability by not creating an artificial market with tariff levels which are too high. Germany perhaps offers the best example of long term stability with a healthy PV market capable of being market reactive.

With regards to market stability, Julie Blunden from the US company SunPower Corp was quoted in the New York Times as saying,

“The most important lesson, which everyone has learned, is that if you’re going to establish a feed-in tariff, you need to figure out how to make it market-responsive.”

Tags: Abengoa Solar, FIT, Julie Blunden, New York Times, photovoltaic, PV, Santiago Seage, Solar Feed In Tariff, solar industry, Spain, Spain solar, Sun Power Corp