SOLON to bring 10 MW of PV to Kingman, Arizona

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 19:36 (Solarserver)

SOLON Corporation (Tucson, Ariz.), one of the largest providers of turnkey solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants in the U.S., will build a 10-megawatt array near Kingman, Arizona, to provide affordable renewable power to customers of UniSource Energy Services (UES). SOLON will provide the energy to UES through a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) that allows the utility to secure a stable energy resource while avoiding the system?s upfront costs. That energy will complement the output of a 1.22 MW UES-owned array that SOLON will also develop near Kingman?s La Senita Elementary School. Read more

Slovenian PV producer Bisol enters Polish photovoltaic market

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 19:14 (Solarserver)

On October 19th, 2011, BISOL (Prebold, Slovenia) announced that it entered into the Polish photovoltaic market. The company's first shipment to Poland included BISOL photovoltaic modules, with a plastic based mounting system. The first BISOL PV modules in Poland are installed on Rzeszów High School of Law. Read more

REC ASA reports continued losses in 3Q 2011, permanently closes three Norwegian wafer and cell plants

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 15:52 (Solarserver)

On October 26th, 2011 Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC, Sandvika, Norway) announced another quarter of losses, reporting a 12% sequential fall in revenues to USD 549 million, a -43% EBIT margin and USD 139 million in losses from operations. The company further announced that it will permanently close its oldest wafer plant at Herøya, Norway, its wafer multi plant in Glomfjord, and its solar photovoltaic (PV) cell plant in Narvik. 700 workers will be laid off or re-assigned as a result of these closures. Read more

MiaSole begins production of 13% efficient CIGS modules

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 13:12 (Solarserver)

On October 25th, 2011, MiaSole (Santa Clara, California, U.S.) announced that it has begun volume production of its most recent efficiency breakthrough, and is now producing 13% efficient copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin film-solar photovoltaic (PV) modules. The company notes that this efficiency gain represents a 30% improvement over the beginning of 2011, while decreasing costs per watt by a similar amount. Read more

UL certifies REFUsol PV inverters for commercial, utility-scale use in US

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 1:37 (PV-Tech)

REFUsol advised that its 012K-UL, 016K-UL, 020K-UL and 024K-UL solar inverters had been tested and passed for certification by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) allowing for the inverters to be used in the US market. The four inverters were tested in accordance with UL1741 and IEEE 1547 standards. Read more

Westinghouse Solar sees quarterly revenues increase, losses cut; guides sales growth for year

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 23:33 (PV-Tech)

Westinghouse Solar released its Q3 2011 financial results, which saw the company achieve US$3.4 million in revenue during the quarter amounting to a year-over-year increase of 57% when compared to Q3 2010?s US$2.1 million and a 22% increase over Q2 2011?s US$2.8 million. Barry Cinnamon, CEO of Westinghouse Solar advised that the company?s revenue saw an increase during the third quarter due to the shipments of its new, lower cost and larger format panels to customers, which began in late August. Cinnamon additionally advised that the company reduced its total operating expenses to US$1.9 million in the Q3 over the US$2.2 million in Q2 2011. Read more

Belectric, Solar Frontier complete 4.2MW thin-film solar power plant in Bessan, France

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 23:01 (PV-Tech)

The 4.2MW solar project recently completed in Bessan, France by Solar Frontier and Belectric is the first solar project in France to use Solar Frontier?s thin-film CIS modules, marking the company?s entry into the French solar project market. The companies advised that the project saw Belectric install 29,931 thin-film CIS modules at the Bessan site and advised that it only took six weeks from planning through construction for the project to be completed. Read more

T-Solar Group developing 61MW of solar projects in Peru and India

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 22:43 (PV-Tech)

The T-Solar Group, which has 230MW of solar projects under construction in Spain, Italy, India and Peru, advised that it is continuing its international development with the addition of 61MW of solar power in Peru and India. The company recently brought its 5MW PV power plant in India online, which uses thin-film amorphous silicon panels that were fabricated at its Galicia, Spain factory. Read more

US DOE plans to invest US$60 million for CSP research projects as part of its SunShot Initiative

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 22:23 (PV-Tech)

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu revealed that the US Department of Energy (DOE) will be investing US$60 million over a three-year period for the application of scientific research in CSP technologies. The investment is part of the DOE?s SunShot Initiative, which aims to reduce the cost of solar energy by 75% and make it more cost competitive with other energy forms by the end of the decade. Read more

IBC Solar extends PV module product warranties to 10 years

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 22:09 (PV-Tech)

As of October 1, IBC Solar?s MonoSol and PolySol series solar modules have been outfitted with a 10-year product warranty, which supports the modules 25-year linear power warranty.  The new 10-year warranty covers the IBC MonoSol and IBC PolySol series of modules if they show any defects that can be attributed to their manufacturing or materials faults and therefore effect the module?s functionality. Read more

Bio-based PV backsheet gets provisional UL relative to thermal index designation

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 21:56 (PV-Tech)

BioSolar advised that its BioBacksheet has been granted provisional relative thermal index (RTI) recognition by Underwriters Laboratories (UL). The company first received UL materials certification for its technology in February and since that time has seen the UL conduct long-term thermal stability testing on the BioBacksheet. Read more

UL Certification allows the use of REFUsol PV inverters in commercial and utility scale solar projects in the U.S.

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 19:23 (Solarserver)

REFUsol GmbH (Metzingen, Germany) on October 27th, 2011 announced that Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has successfully tested and passed the REFUsol 012K-UL, 016K-UL, 020K-UL and 024K-UL solar photovoltaic (PV) inverters for use in the U.S. market. All four inverters were tested in accordance to UL1741 and IEEE 1547 standards. The official UL trademark is awaiting issuance. Read more

Quanta Services selected to build 20 MW utility-scale solar facility developed by Samsung C&T America in California

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 19:09 (Solarserver)

Quanta Services, Inc. (Houston, Texas) on October 26th, 2011 announced that it has secured a contract to provide comprehensive engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the Atwell Island Solar Generation Facility Project. The 20 megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) installation for SPS Atwell LLC, a project company partly owned by Samsung C&T America, Inc. will be located near the city of Alpaugh in Tulare County, Calif. The project was developed by Samsung C&T America and is expected to be a significant contributor to the local community through the creation of local jobs and the generation of clean, renewable power. Read more

Gehrlicher Solar to build huge PV portfolio in southern Spain

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 18:55 (PV-Tech)

Gehrlicher Solar has unveiled plans to build a huge PV project portfolio in southern Spain. The systems, which are predominately of the rooftop variety, have a combined capacity of between 200MW and 400MW and are to be installed in the Murcia region. Read more

The Question Day 28: How Can the U.S. Solar Industry Meet Expectations?

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 18:01 (Renewable Energy World)

RenewableEnergyWorld asked solar executives and our social media community to lend their voices and define what three strategies they think will lead to a thriving solar industry. Answers were varied, and many valid opinions were brought to light. Responses will be updated here daily, and feel free to look at previous insights by clicking on the page links below. Read more

Solar Companies Team Up With Habitat for Humanity

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 15:02 (Renewable Energy World)

Solar executives stepped away from the networking bustle of SPI 2011 last week to attend an event for humanity. Read more

First Solar removes CEO Rob Gillette, announces near-doubling of revenues in 3Q 2011

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 12:39 (Solarserver)

On October 25th, 2011 First Solar Inc. (Tempe, Arizona, U.S.) announced that Chief Executive Officer Rob Gillette has been replaced by Chairman and Founder Mike Ahearn as interim CEO. A day later on October 26th, 2011, First Solar announced its third quarter 2011 financial results, reporting record revenues of USD 1.01 billion, a near-doubling from the previous quarter. Additionally, the company updated its 2011 guidance. Read more

Concentrating solar power: DOE to provide USD 60 million as part of its SunShot Initiative

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 12:31 (Solarserver)

On October 25th, 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will invest USD 60 million to advance concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies over the next three years, as part of its SunShot Initiative. The DOE expects through this investment to fund between 20 and 22 projects which have the potential to increase efficiency, reduce costs and deliver more reliable performance than existing commercial or near-commercial CSP systems. Read more

UK solar industry is thrown a FiT cut ?lifeline?

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 10:58 (Solarpowerportal)

After last week’s scaremongering reports of a 9p feed-in tariff, it now appears the UK solar industry will be thrown a lifeline. We can reveal today that Greg Barker will not cut the residential tariffs by anywhere near as much as was feared. Read more

Avdira Solar to distribute 100MW of Bisol PV modules in Greece over next three years

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 1:45 (PV-Tech)

Bisol and Avdira Solar have entered a contract, which will see Avdira Solar distributing 100MW of Bisol?s solar PV modules over the next three years. Avdira will commence with the delivery of its first 25MW throughout 2012. Both companies advised that the agreement was a way for them to each have a better foothold in the Greek solar market. Read more

REC Group sees drop in revenues, EBITDA for quarter; company to close 3 Norwegian solar factories

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 0:57 (PV-Tech)

Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) advised that during Q3 2011 revenues reached US$543,558 and an EBITDA of US$67.03 million, down from US$157.81 million in Q2. The company noted that the drop in its revenues for the quarter was a direct effect of a weak solar market, the curbing of parts and production capacity in Norway and a reduction in selling prices and sales volumes. Read more

First Solar?s quarterly revenues, income rise, but company lowers 2011 guidance

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 0:14 (PV-Tech)

Just one day after First Solar announced that Rob Gillette was no longer its chief executive officer, the company made the unusual move to push up its earnings announcements for the third quarter of 2011. Net sales for Q3 reached US$1 billion showing an increase of US$473 million from Q2 2011. Quarterly net sales also saw jumped up US$798 million from Q3 2010. Read more

Geothermal Industry Holds Strong Amid Challenges

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 21:24 (Renewable Energy World)

Walking the exhibit hall at the 2011 Geothermal Expo in San Diego, Calif., you’d be hard-pressed to find anything but high energy and enthusiasm — impressive for an industry that only saw one project go online in the U.S. in the past year. But hope is prevalent as each company strives to carry on and plan for the future.  “We’ve got another 700 megawatts (MW) of projects that are in the active building and construction phase right now,” said Karl Gawell, director of the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA). Watch more of Gawell’s industry outlook below. The project pipeline looks full, and companies are well aware of what needs to Read more

Excellence in Renewable Energy Awards: Nominate Now!

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 19:43 (Renewable Energy World)

Get ready to celebrate the industry's achievements. At RenewableEnergyWorld.com, we are ready to accept nominations for the Excellence in Renewable Energy Awards. These awards recognize the best companies, people and projects in the North American renewable energy industry. Read more

Pike Research: Use of energy storage increasing; nearly 600 projects announced or deployed worldwide

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 15:47 (Solarserver)

On October 25th, 2011, Pike Research LLC (Boulder, Colorado, U.S.) announced the release of a new report which states that energy storage projects are gaining momentum globally. The company's "Energy Storage Tracker" estimates that nearly 600 energy storage projects have been announced or deployed worldwide, with a surge of new project activity during the last decade. Read more

In Australia, Can Renewable Energy Get Over the Tea Party Blues?

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

"It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things." Niccolò Machiavelli Australia’s government is trying to initiate a new era of clean energy and facing such powerful opposition that some renewables companies that will benefit from the policy are scared to proactively campaign for it. The debate around Australia’s new Clean Energy Future legislation has seen conservative parties here — as in the USA — take a stance that is not just oppositional, but dangerously radical. They now oppose traditional conservative measures Read more

Hanas New Energy begins work on hybrid CSP, natural gas plant in China

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 12:24 (Solarserver)

On October 12th, 2011, Hanas New Energy Group (Ningxia, China) commenced construction of a hybrid natural gas-fired, concentrating solar power (CSP) plant with an output of 92.5 MW in Gasoshawo, Ningxia Province, China. Hanas is building its integrated solar combined cycle (ISCC) trough solar plant in collaboration with North China Power Engineering Company Ltd. (Beijing, China) and Siemens AG (Erlangen, Germany). The company expects to commission the plant in October 2013. Read more

Solon to build 10MW PV plant for PPA with UniSource Energy in Arizona

Thursday, 10.27.2011 - 1:23 (PV-Tech)

Solon will be building a 10MW solar PV plant near Kingman, Arizona for UniSource Energy Services (UES), which, under a 20-year PPA, will allow the utility to provide renewable power to its customers without the upfront cost of the system installation. The 10MW array will accompany the 1.22MW UES-owned solar array that Solon developed near Kingman?s La Senita Elementary School. Read more