With the COLEXON NewsBreaker February issue we again inform you about current events at COLEXON and in the solar sector.
We give you an overview of the present state of the political debate on PV feed-in tariffs and present selected PV topics. The category Inside COLEXON is the focus of this issue. We report on COLEXON’s international business activities, for example on COLEXON’s market entry in Italy and the successful sale of a solar power plant in Sainte-Maxime, France.
Moreover, we would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Volker Hars who has been appointed as member of the management board who perfectly completes the management team.
Kind regards
Thorsten Preugschas
CEO - COLEXON Energy AG
Overview of the photovoltaic sector
Current debate about the Renewable Energy Act (Erneuerbare Energiengesetz EEG)
The debate on adjusting the feed-in tariffs for photovoltaics has also continued intensly in the month of February. A new version of the proposed adjustment was passed by the coalition committee and presented on February 23, 2010. Now this version has to be formulated into a bill by the Ministry of Environment and, after that, be presented to the cabinet.
In broad outline, the latest proposal provides for following points:
Reducing the feed-in tariff by 16% for rooftop areas and by 15% for free field areas beginning on July 01, 2010
The construction of PV plants on areas of arable land shall not be subsidized any longer, only plants on conversion areas or areas not being used for agriculture shall be subsidizable
The subsidy of personally consumed PV energy shall be adjusted in order to provide an additional incentive of 8 euro cents per kWh (for plants up to 800 kWp)
Orderly resistance to the proposals presented until now has been formulated:
Different initiatives are trying to convince the political decision-makers to adjust the feed-in tariffs with good judgement and based on transparent argumentation
Voices in the sector show clear resentment to the coalition committee’s proposals. They say that reductions in this form will make it more difficult to further reduce prices for PV energy and that the high payments, already invested by the taxpayers as subsidies for building up the sector, are at risk to get lost as misinvestment.
Opinions from the federal states and also from the coalition committee are that the planned reduction is much too high and would be passed without good judgement
The Ministry of the Environment’s parallel statement to focus on renewable energies instead of prolonging the terms of nuclear power plants is disconcerting. In association with the planned massive reduction of subsiding renewable energies, the impression of a lack of direction in energy policy reinforces that consumers shall be protected by reducing the subsidies. Nevertheless, for the most part, consumers are willing to subsidy renewable energies with their electric bill. The Fraunhofer ISE’s current study reaches the conclusion that adjustments in EEG rates are appropriate but in a clearly more moderate form. However, politics hasn’t revealed any sources on which it bases its proposals.
Although the current proposal seems much more tangible than the rumors of the past weeks, the further development remains exciting.
After being able to secure property and project rights for the construction of the 993 kWp solar power plant in the North Italian city Imola at the end of last year, COLEXON has started to errect the solar park with the support of the city and local partner companies. COLEXON would like to establish a long-term cooperation with this solar power plant in order to realize further economically and ecologically interesting projects in the region in the future and to continue its growth strategy in the international market.
COLEXON’s CEO, Thorsten Preugschas, was interviewed about the current state of the international solar sector as well as about company-specific topics for the online edition of the 'Manager Magazin'. During this conversation, Preugschas explained among other things the consequences of the announced reductions in feed-in tariffs: Currently, these provoke a special economic trend for the German solar companies, i.e. full order books for the second half of the year 2010 – also for COLEXON. But whereas other solar companies are worried about the second half of the year, COLEXON is able to concentrate calmly on other business segments. The company has concentrated on relevant international growth markets at the right time and retains a decisive competitive advantage through its flexible and diversified business model.
Volker Hars has been appointed as a new member of the Management Board and is responsible for the segments strategy and plant operation (IPP). Hars has been managing the project „Change COLEXON 2012“ since December of last year and has many years of international executive management experience.
Tom Larsen has resigned from his Management Board position at COLEXON Energy AG in order to be able to concentrate exclusively on his responsibilities as CEO of COLEXON Solar Invest A/S (subsidiary of COLEXON, formerly Renewagy A/S).
COLEXON has sold the 1 MWp solar park Sainte-Maxime in France, planned and realized by its engineers, to the tnp Mitteldeutsche Verwaltungs & Treuhand GmbH. COLEXON and tnp have signed a framework agreement for tnp to purchase PV power plants with a capacity of up to 15 MWp until mid-2011. One component of this agreement could now be realized by selling the plant Sainte-Maxime to tnp. By realizing the plant in France, COLEXON demonstrates again its assets and, thus, company group’s competitiveness: international orientation, yield optimized plant planning and realization, many years of know-how.
In photovoltaics, we distinguish between two basic module technologies – crystalline and thin film. Currently, the most popular technology is based on the use of crystalline silicon. This technology has been tested and well-developed for decades and dominates the photovoltaics industry with a market share of approximately 70 to 80 percent.
In 2009, considerable price reductions for crystalline modules occured. Principal reasons included a surplus of crystalline solar modules as well as the Asian module manufacturers' aggressive pricing policies targeted at securing further market share. Companies that had contractually fixed purchase commitments for quotas of crystalline modules had to be partially written down. COLEXON was able to avoid this problem by making future-oriented and anticyclical adjustments – focusing on the alternative thin film technology – as well as by having a variable sourcing policy for crystalline modules.
You may read up on technological details about condition and manufacturing of crystalline modules here.
U: USA
The photovoltaics industry puts high hopes in the US market. If the growth of European solar markets like Spain or Germany decline, new markets are needed that are able to absorb the excess capacity of project development in the solar market. In this context the US market is of great importance. The extension of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in 2009 was an important step in this development/in the right direction. However, it probably will take time until the US market will develop its full potential. COLEXON assumes that the total volume installed in 2009 amounted to approximately 400 MWp. The European PhotoVoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) estimates the long-term market volume (2013) of up to 7.2 GWp. Thus, in the medium term the USA is projected to mature into the most important market of solar industry.
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