Solar panel shortage looms even as manufacturers invest in production

The solar industry is bracing for a global drought in photovoltaic panels after a series of high supply years that pushed prices to all-time lows and encouraged installations.

Solar panel adoption is supposed to increase as much as 29% this year, which has top manufacturers and installers anticipating a drop in availability of panels. This would be the first such shortage since 2006 when the nascent solar energy industry was just taking hold, reported Bloomberg News.

Eight years ago, only about 1.5 gigawatts of solar energy capacity was installed. This year as much as 52 gigawatts is expected to be hooked up and another 61 gigawatts in 2015, according to estimates by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

That is compared with about 70 gigawatts of production capacity currently available, though that estimate could be high since some manufacturers’ equipment is out of date or obsolete.

The shrinking supply could hinder the growing rooftop solar panel industry. The scarce supplies often get routed to larger-scale utility projects and leave the residential side with limited availability.

That has led companies like SunPower and SolarCity to invest in additional production capacity. SunPower SPWR plans to open a new factory that will produce at least 700 megawatts a year starting as early as 2017. SolarCity SCTY , which counts billionaire Elon Musk as its chairman, bought a panel maker in June and plans to focus on solar panels for residential uses.

Solar panel shortage looms even as manufacturers invest in production

Renewables the solution to UK's critical fossil fuel shortage – report

Renewables the solution to UK’s critical fossil fuel shortage – report

Friday, May 16th, 2014 By Tom Revell

The UK faces a desperate shortage of natural resources such as oil and coal, according to a troubling new report that underlines the need for significant investment in renewable energy.

In new analysis, researchers from Anglia Ruskin University’s Global Sustainability Institute (GSI) have comprehensively mapped known international reserves of resources, also looking at supplies of food and water.

They found that the UK’s own reserves contain only enough oil to last 5.2 years at the current rate of consumption, with just 4.5 years of coal and three years of gas.

This means the UK is slightly better off than some of its neighbours – France, for example, has less than a year’s worth of oil, gas and coal.

However, some other European states are far better off. Russia has enough oil to sustain itself for over 50 years, with over 100 years of gas and more 500 years of coal, based on current internal consumption.

Norway has enough natural gas to last itself 420 years, while further afield, Qatar could continue consuming its gas reserves at the current rate for over a millennium.

“These maps show vulnerability in many parts of the EU and they paint a picture of heavily-indebted European economies coming under increasing threat from rising global energy prices”, said Dr Aled Jones, director of the GSI.

Prof Victor Anderson, also of the GSI, added that the report highlighted the need for alternative energy sources.

“The UK urgently needs to be part of a Europe-wide drive to expand renewable energy sources such as wave, wind, tidal and solar power”, he said.

Above: European resource maps for coal, gas and oil (click to enlarge).

Increased energy security is one of the biggest advantages that domestically produced renewable energy brings.

In April, a committee of MPs criticised the British government for failing to deliver plans that offer a secure, long-term energy supply.

This came after the Conservative party pledged to cut support for onshore wind projects and the Coalition government altered subsidies for solar power, making investors uneasy about the prospects of renewable projects.

The analysis is the first phase of the GSI’s ambitious Global Resource Observatory project, a survey that will provide an international database of national demand, supply and flow figures relevant to global resource security.

The first published findings also include a map of food reserves, finding that while Europe, America and Russia are well stocked, Africa the Arabian Peninsula and the Caribbean are highly dependent on imports.

Photo: johnny choura via Flickr

Further reading:

Guy Hands: Ukraine crisis shows importance of renewable energy

MPs criticise government’s short-termist national energy security plan

Energy security, fuel poverty and social change: the lowdown on renewables

Investments in renewables must increase, warns UN

Global Sustainability Institute to map effects of global resource shortages

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Renewables the solution to UK"s critical fossil fuel shortage – report