THE FRIDAY NOTE: Japan cuts 10% off solar FiT and the rest of the week's top picks

Mar 29, 2013 – In the past week Japan okays a proposed 10% cut to the feed-in tariff (FiT) for solar power, statistics show increased renewables share in Britain's power generation to 11.3% in 2012, and First Solar and Vestas keep leading market positions according to sector analyses.

In Japan, the proposal from earlier in March to cut the FiT for solar electricity as of the start of April to JPY 37.8 (USD 0.40/EUR 0.31) per kWh paid for 20 years, was endorsed Friday by the trade minister. Previously the FiT was JPY 42 per kWh.

More details on: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/japan-okays-10-cut-to-solar-fit-343870

NEARLY 3/4 OF PROJECTS UNDER INDIA'S SOLAR MISSION USE FOREIGN EQUIPMENT

The domestic content requirement in India’s national solar mission did not do much to obstruct solar technology imports as foreign modules accounted for 70% of the installed capacity for the last three years.

Statistics on the website of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy show that 551 MW of solar capacity had been installed under the solar mission since its launch in early 2010. According to the information, 391 MW of these projects use imported solar cells or modules. A good explanation for these figures is that the domestic content rule includes only crystalline solar technology, while many domestic project developers went for the cheaper thin films.

More details on: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/nearly-3-4-of-projects-under-indias-solar-mission-use-foreign-equipment-342689

RENEWABLES SHARE IN UK POWER RISES TO 11.3% IN 2012

The UK saw the share of renewables in electricity generation grow to 11.3% in 2012 from 9.4% a year back, mainly due to capacity additions, the latest government energy statistics showed Thursday.

In 2012 installed renewable power plants produced 41.1 TWh or 20% more than in 2011. A total 37% of green output came from bioenergy installations. Onshore and offshore wind farms contributed 29% and 18%, respectively. Hydropower’s share was 13% and that of solar photovoltaics (PV) was 3.2%.

More details on: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/renewables-share-in-uk-power-rises-to-11-3-in-2012-343607

FIRST SOLAR TAKES 1ST PLACE IN SOLAR EPC RANKINGS FOR 2012, VESTAS REMAINS TURBINE SUPPLY LEADER

US firm First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) was the number-one solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor in 2012, installing over 500 MW of capacity, while domestic peer SunEdison ranked second with 390 MW.

The top 10 solar EPC contractor list for 2012 of market analyst IMS Research, a unit of IHS Inc (NYSE:IHS), included less European companies due to a shift in the market focus from Europe to Asia and the Americas, IMS pointed out in a release on Wednesday.

A day earlier on Tuesday, a Make Consulting study showed that Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS) had remained the number one wind turbine supplier globally in 2012 with a market share of 14.6%, while US General Electric (NYSE:GE) was on its heels with 13.7%.

More on the two stories: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/first-solar-takes-1st-place-in-solar-epc-rankings-for-2012-sunedison-comes-2nd-343489
and
http://renewables.seenews.com/news/vestas-keeps-number-1-in-make-consulting-2012-rankings-ge-follows-closely-342998

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