Green Power Conferences, the company which has provided successful solar forums internationally across a number of photovoltaic markets has announced the dates for their ‘Solar Turkey’ conference. The Turkey conference, to be held in Istanbul on the 10-11 of December 2009 will offer a comprehensive guide and forum covering all issues relevant to the ever growing Turkish solar energy industry.

Over recent years, Turkey state legislation has sought to harness the high levels of solar irradiance enjoyed by the country by offering incentives designed to increase investment in the Turkish renewable energy sector. Key to these incentives is the implementation of a feed-in tariff which will offer premium, guaranteed rates for renewable energy suppliers feeding surplus energy back in to the national grid. The implications of such legislation and implications for the potential of the Turkish solar industry will be discussed in detail on the two dates at the Mövenpick Hotel announced by Green Power Conferences.

Up for discussion will be a number of issues relevant to the Turkish solar market. Key to this will be the huge potential for the sector with the state government set to introduce new renewable energy legislation in the autumn of this year. The potential will also be discussed in relation to the existing successes of the market with 2 million square metres already installed. Potential investment opportunities will be also be presented in relation to various solar technologies currently available for installation. Solar PV, Thermal and CSP will each provide exciting opportunities in the upcoming sector.

As with all previous Green Power Conferences, attendees will be exposed to a number of high profile players within the industry ranging from financial, manufacturing, technology development and project managers all offering invaluable experience and information about industry in Turkey. Networking opportunities will involve meeting with legal advisors, banks and utility companies in order to offer a perspective about the viability of solar investment within the Turkish system.

The Agenda will include information on pitfalls and challenges with a view to giving attendees real advice as to the ups and downs of solar investment in Turkey. With regards to the feed-in tariff, presentations will include real Turkish case studies with figures and market stats in support. Financing opportunities will be presented with various options for raising capital within Turkey. Similarly, the difffering technology options will be presented as to the benefits of each in respect to investment yields.

Green Power Conferences will be sure to deliver yet another successful solar forum as they have done elsewhere, worldwide. For anybody interested in solar investment, this event will be unmissable.

For more information on the Solar Turkey event please visit

http://www2.greenpowerconferences.co.uk/v8-12/Prospectus/Index.php?sEventCode=SP0911TR

Solarfeedintariff.co.uk has announced that they are again working with partners IndustryRE to offer a unique, high yield, photovoltaic investment product with revenue streams guaranteed by the Spanish feed-in tariff system.

The solar photovoltaic (PV) sector is a growth industry and has been the focus of government support with the dual purpose of meeting climate change targets and of course slowing the effects of climate change.
More recently, the benefits of renewable energy, and in particular solar PV have been expounded also as a means of helping to revitalise the economy through job creation and investments in new , a concept explicitly expressed by both Barack Obama and Gordon Brown.

This opportunity is for the purchase one of twelve solar installations based in the Spanish region of La Rioja, which although now is more famous for it’s wines, has the potential in terms of climate and legislation to be future world leader in solar PV installation.

The solar installations, currently owned by various Spanish SL companies are connected to the Spanish national grid and are therefore able to take advantage of the feed-in tariff law RD661/2007 which guarantees a fixed rate of 0.44 euros/kWh for energy fed back in to the grid.

The installations currently in place are also provided with licenses/permits, insurance, utility contracts along with maintenance and company administration. With the above market rates paid for solar energy – guaranteed for 25 years (CPI included) and the additional benefit of Spain’s high levels of solar irradiance, the La Rioja solar installations will offer a unique, secure return for investors protected by government laws.

Each PV installation will be legally owned by the respective Spanish SL company taking care of the modules, inverters, trackers etc. with contracts in place regarding the sale of electricity to the utility companies at the rates set out in the feed-in tariff. With a maximum installed capacity of 100 KW, investors will be able to enjoy returns on investments at around 8-10% over a period of 40 years.

Investment – Solar Photovoltaic
Budget – From 1 Million Euros
Finance Available – 60%
ROI – 8-10%
Investment Duration – 40 Years
Exit Strategies – Available

Click Here To Find Out More Information And To Make An Enquiry

China provides perhaps the best example of a genuine solar revolution. In recent years China, and in particular the capital Beijing, have become synonymous with heavy air pollution with carbon emissions a natural result of being the largest manufacturing base in the world. The Olympic Games held in Beijing in 2008 highlighted to the world the problems that China is having with pollution in urban areas where population density and heavy road traffic has contributed to a situation where on some days visibility is severely reduced.

The televised images of the Beijing skyline obscured by a murky cloud of smog offered a grim reminder of the contamination which is of course an inevitable by-product of a rapidly industrialising economy. However, China has embraced the concept of renewable energy with a massive shift towards solar energy. Legislation introduced by the Chinese government has been designed to spark investment in renewable energies and has so far, proved to be successful.

As the largest manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) components, China has been a market leader in developing new products for markets elsewhere. Certainly, the Spanish market which experienced its own boom following the introduction of a feed-in tariff in 2007 relied massively on Chinese PV imports with the market experiencing a glut of Chinese produced PV plant when the Spanish industry went through its downturn and failed to install the solar plant which had been ordered. However, in a bid to alleviate some pollution problems and help meet climate change targets, the Chinese government has recently sought to increase the number of solar installations within the country.

In order to do this the government introduced a feed-in tariff system. Essentially, the feed-in tariff (FIT) was designed to attract investment in the new solar industry by offering financial incentives to investors. The FIT mechanism operates on the basis that the law guarantees a fixed, premium rate for units of electricity fed-in to the grid by solar energy generators. The utility companies are obliged by the legislation to purchase the solar electricity at above market prices, the costs of which are passed on to the consumers. In China this mechanism which has been successful in areas such as Germany, Spain and California has also proved successful in China. In July 2009, the New York Times ran with the headline, “Green Power Takes Root in China” heralding the arrival of the Chinese PV market on the world stage.

The arrival of the Chinese PV industry has come in the form of a national renewable energy law which decrees that utilities must generate 8 per cent of their energy by renewable means by 2020. The fact that this 8 percent figure does not include hydroelectric power adds to the importance which the Chinese are now placing on green energy. The growing awareness of the lack of long-term sustainability in traditional coal energy sources has prompted the Chinese government to take action to maintain China has a major industrial power well in to the future. There has also been somewhat of a frenzy among private companies seeing the opportunities that will undoubtedly present themselves in the Chinese renewable industry, with a growing activity particularly in sectors such as wind and photovoltaic technology which will inevitably boom in China in the near future.

The New York Times was keen to use this Chinese government action to make comparisons with the comparatively weak efforts being made in Washington to spur the renewable sector in the United States. Indeed, in the United Kingdom, with the recent feed-in tariff legislation, members of the green energy industry will be hopeful that government action in the UK will have the same effect it has had on the Chinese market.

The New York Times asserted its almost neurotic view of Chinese renewable growth compared to that of the US by warning,

“You won’t just be buying your toys from China, you’ll be buying your energy future from China.”

China has a target in place to produce 8000 megawatts of energy by wind energy by 2010 which they are set to smash. If China continues apace to move towards green energy, they will surely shame efforts currently being made in the West to develop their own sustainable renewable industries.

Spain gives perhaps the best case example of how a strong feed-in tariff system can either make or break the solar industry in which it is introduced. The Spanish feed-in tariff (FIT) was designed as a mechanism for incentivising investment in solar installations and was introduced in 2007. Traditionally, the high cost of solar plant and installation deterred investors who identified that despite the high levels of solar radiation across the Iberian Peninsular, yields would be minimal at best simply due to high initial outlays.

The FIT is a system which guarantees fixed, premium rates for solar producers who feed electricity in to the national grid. The high rate paid for each unit of electricity is met by the utility companies who in turn spread that cost over their customers. Therefore, in Spain with the introduction of the tariff system in 2007 with the rate of 0.44 euros offered for units of energy fed-in to the grid by solar producers the interest generated in the Spanish photovoltaic (PV) market was overwhelming. Indeed, combined with extensive coverage from the Spanish media along with Zapatero’s PSOE government’s commitment of making Spain the leading producer of solar energy in Europe by 2020, there was a phenomenal boom in the PV sector with the number of solar installations rising dramatically.

The UK government and in particular the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) since passing the Energy Act in 2008 have been moving towards a similar tariff system and in June 2009 announced that they would introduce a Clean Energy Cash Back system in the first quarter of 2010. In order to do so, they have undertaken a meticulous consultancy process in order to ensure that the mechanism which is introduced does exactly what it is intended to do i.e. make the UK solar industry strong and viable in the long term by attracting investment in the young sector. Spain certainly offers an example of how to attract investment in the short term. However, the Spanish example also offers stark examples of how not to set up a tariff system for long term industry health. The essential problem with the feed-in tariff which was established in Spain was that it was unable to cope with market fluctuations which arose as a result of the initial success of the tariff.

A recent report by the New York Times highlighted the failings of the Spanish solar legislation. Problems stemmed from the fact that politicians expected a steady stream of investment over a period of years. However, the massive interest which was generated in the fledgling industry encouraged a wave of investment in the first few months. The massive take up of solar installations was unexpected and caused the Spanish government to reduce solar incentives by 30 per cent without warning. Because the Spanish feed-in tariff failed to be market responsive, many investors who had already ordered deliveries of solar product from China, were left in the situation that they had no market in which to install it. With regards to the Spanish legislation, Julie Blunden of SunPower Corp was quoted in the New York Times,

“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.”

This will be the key lesson for the British government, how to introduce legislation which encourages growth in the new solar industry without setting a tariff level which is too high. In Spain, the government’s level of 0.44 euros was artificially high and therefore created the problem of an influx of investment which the government could not manage. Therefore, when the PSOE government reduced incentives by 30 per cent with many investors having already ordered large quantities of solar plant from manufacturing bases in China, the proverbial rug was pulled right from under them. Talking specifically about the legislation changes which had the detrimental effects on the Spanish PV market 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.”

Spain has already experienced a dramatic reduction in photovoltaic installation in 2009 with 375MW compared to 2008 installations of 2,500MW. Spain will now fail to live up to its ambitions of becoming the European Union’s leading renewable energy producer by 2020 essentially because Zapatero’s government has neglected the tariff scheme across the country. The introduction of a 500MW project cap along with the withdrawal of essential subsidies has seen the solar industry stagnate and since the new year, decline. Members of the solar industry in the UK will therefore be hoping that the British government emulates the example of Germany rather than Spain in the way that they choose to roll out the much talked about feed-in tariff next year.