BP Solar has decided to exit its global distributed solar business and will focus instead on large-scale developments. The decision, which has not been formally announced but has been conveyed to the staff, is part of a global strategy to re-frame the business. The Australian operations will also be impacted, although a spokesman for the company said it had nothing to do with the state of the local industry or government policies and incentives. BP Solar closed its Australian manufacturing industries in Sydney several years ago, moving them to Asia. A decade ago it was estimated to have had more than 80 per cent of the local market, but holds less than 5 per cent of the market now. Analysts think it has revenues of at least $30 million, and about 20 staff will be affected.

BP Solar will focus instead on large-scale projects, such as the 150MW Moree solar photovoltaic project that won $306 million in funds under the recent Solar Flagships round, and other large-scale developments in the US, where it is constructing a 37MW solar photovoltaic plant in Long Island. It has 120MW of installed large scale capacity in Europe, Asia and North America, and another 110MW in development, not including Moree. A spokesman said the company saw its comparative advantage in deploying and getting finance for large scale projects.

Despite a heavy advertising campaign based around the "Beyond Petroleum" moniker a decade ago, alternative fuels have remained a very small part of the BP global business. It said in a recent strategic update that while alternative fuels were the fastest growing energy business, it would focus mostly on biofuels and wind energy developments.

Nigel Morris, director of Solar Business Services, and a former BP Solar employee, said the move was not unexpected. “It would be a pretty safe bet that the pressure that is being brought to bear on most of the premium brands in the PV market through falling demand, price and margin has taken a big green scale," he said. Share prices of solar companies have been under enormous pressure recently across a range of PV companies. "What really perplexes me is how such a massive organisation which competes in so many markets, just couldn’t get the PV Distribution product formula right?”

Ceramics funding deal

Ceramic Fuel Cells has secured financing from the German government for an order of up to 200 of its fuel cell generators from the German energy service provider EWE. The order is the company’s largest to date for its power and heat generators, which can be fired by gas or renewable fuels, and represents income of around $7.5 million over two years.

The funding is being provided partly by the German government’s national hydrogen and fuel cell technology innovation program. EWE will install the units in homes in the Lower Saxony region in northern Germany. The units are being assembled by Ceramic’s local manufacturing partner. Ceramic hopes that its fuel cells can gain traction in Germany, which is looking to change its energy profile after deciding to close its nuclear reactors.

The US Department of Energy is also looking closely at fuel cells, and announced this week that it would install 18 fuel cell backup power systems at eight military posts. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu said the fuel cell systems will help reduce fossil fuel use and improve energy reliability. The DOE said the fuel cell project will cost $US6.6 million, but it noted the primary challenge facing currently available fuel cells is the higher cost of the units compared to conventional technologies they replace."

It's a gas

Perth-based Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd says it does not expect the carbon price to have any material impact on its proposed $1 billion Fisherman’s Landing LNG project in Gladstone, Queensland. LNG said it had included a carbon price in its modeling of operating costs, and the pricing mechanism unveiled by the federal government last week meant it needed to acquire carbon credits for only 50 per cent of its annual carbon emissions and includes fixed carbon credit prices over the first three years. 

“While some uncertainty exists in relation to carbon credit prices after the three-year fixed-price period, the Company considers that it has adopted a conservative approach in its project financial modelling and does not expect the announced carbon tax to have any material impact on existing project return calculations.” LNG said the process it had adopted for its 3 million tonnes per annum Fisherman’s Landing project, its own OSMR Process, would generate around 30 per cent less emissions that other LNG liquefaction technologies. OSMR includes the use of a combined heat and power plant recovering waste heat from the gas turbines, and allows the project to be the ‘best in class’ in reducing CO2 emissions with a confirmed design rate of 0.21 tCO2e/tLNG. Most other LNG projects have emissions 50-100 per cent higher.

Business as usual

Environmental markets advisory and project services firm Green Collar Group said its forest carbon joint venture with First Growth Ventures will continue to operate as usual, despite the appointment of an administrator to its partner’s parent company First Growth Funds. Green Collar CEO James Schultz said FGV continues to be fully funded for the development of the forest carbon projects which it controls in Indonesia and elsewhere in SE Asia and the Pacific and is expected to develop a pipeline of carbon credits. Schultz said the stakeholder engagement has reached advanced stages and continues in accordance with projected milestones.  The program has mitigated many of the typical forest carbon risks by the comprehensive technical approach to in country assessment and development.  This includes the approach to stakeholder engagement, governance, transparency, validation, verification and funds management..
 
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AGL Energy has signed a $A200 million loan agreement with EKF, the Danish export credit agency, to help finance its half share of the massive $1 billion Macarthur wind farm in Victoria. AGL and its partner in the project, the New Zealand based Meridian Energy, are using turbines from the Danish manufacturer Vestas for the 420MW project. EKF often supports projects using Vestas turbines with finance, in a similar manner to Chinese state owned financiers which back projects using Chinese turbines. AGL said the loan agreement matures in 2031, but did not provide further details.