IEEE PV Specialists Conference issues call for papers for 2012 event

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 21:21 (PV-Tech)

The 38th IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference (PVSC), June 3 ? 8, 2012 in Austin, Texas, will be opening its registration on December 26. The event will begin with Austin Solar Day on June 3, 2012 while the remainder of the event will focus on ten technical areas including, fundamentals and new concepts for future technologies, thin-film polycrystalline photovoltaics, III-V and concentrator technologies, crystalline silicon photovoltaics, thin-film silicon-based technologies, OPV, space technologies, characterization methods, PV modules and terrestrial systems and a PV velocity forum. Read more

SMA America?s Denver PV inverter assembly site passes ISO audits with zero findings

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 20:26 (Solarserver)

SMA America?s (Rocklin, Calf.) Denver-based, solar photovoltaic (PV) inverter manufacturing site recently passed its initial registration audit for both ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 standards. More importantly, both registration audits yielded zero findings. ?This is a tremendous achievement for SMA,? said Scott Crabtree, general manager of North American operations for SMA America Production, LLC. Read more

Feed-in tariffs ? the money?s all but spent

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 16:47 (Solarpowerportal)

The bubble created by the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) artificial December 12 deadline led the UK’s solar capacity to top half a Gigawatt. The record level of new solar installations means that the budget for the next four years is almost fully committed. Read more

Select Committee report slams Government?s ?panicky? and ?clumsy? handling of FiT cuts

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 13:30 (Solarpowerportal)

The Energy and Climate Change and Environmental Audit committees have today published their report into the Government’s handling of the proposed cuts to the feed-in tariff for solar photovoltaic technology. Read more

Nautilus Solar signs US$25 million financing deal with De Lage Landen to develop PV projects in US

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 21:40 (PV-Tech)

Nautilus Solar Energy advised that it had completed a financing agreement with De Lage Landen in order to fund a minimum of US$25 million of Nautilus Solar Energy installations through key US markets in 2012. The funding will see several megawatts of PV installations completed in Florida, California and the northeast. Read more

China Sunergy ships 1.59MW of PV modules to Scottish housing project

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 21:31 (PV-Tech)

China Sunergy advised that it had shipped 1.59MW of its solar panels to Emotion Energy, which has partnered with Edison Energy to install solar panels for 117 houses in a residential rooftop project in Faifley, Scotland for the Knowes Housing Association Scotland. The PV project will allow 117 Knowes tenants to partake in the energy generated from the solar panels free of charge for 25 years. The solar project was installed prior to the change in FiT on December 12. Read more

WMECo celebrates completion of 2.3 MW Indian Orchard solar facility, largest PV plant in New England

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 20:26 (Solarserver)

The Indian Orchard facility joins WMECo's Silver Lake Solar facility in Pittsfield as one of the largest in the Northeast region and is the largest in New England Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECo, Springfield, Mass.) on December 21st, 2011 celebrated completion of its second large-scale solar energy facility in the Indian Orchard section of Springfield. The facility with a generation capacity of 2.3 megawatts (MW) features 8,200 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. The Indian Orchard facility joins WMECo's Silver Lake Solar facility in Pittsfield as one of the largest in the Northeast region and is the largest in New England. Read more

PV module installation: Zep Solar sues Westinghouse Solar, Light Way, others for patent infringement

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 20:25 (Solarserver)

Zep Solar, Inc. (San Rafael, Calif.), developer of the first PV module-integrated installation platform, on December 21st, 2011 sued Westinghouse Solar, Inc., Light Way Solar and three other parties for infringement of a Zep Solar patent (US #7,592,537), which covers many of Zep Solar's innovative and highly successful products. Read more

SolarTech releases new report to help residential consumers compare solar PV system performance

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 20:24 (Solarserver)

At the end of December 2011, SolarTech (San Jose, California, US), a non-profit industry consortium, announced that it launched the Solar Energy Estimate (SEE) Report as an open web service at SolarHub.com. SolarTech's goal is to reduce consumer confusion by offering a service similar to the Federal government's new-car MPG rating system. Read more

Solar Trust confirms US project purchases moving forward despite Solar Millennium insolvency

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 19:33 (PV-Tech)

Just hours after Solar Millennium announced that it had begun the process of filing insolvency proceedings at the district court in Fuerth, Germany, Solar Trust America, in which Solar Millennium holds a majority of the equity, issued a statement about the company?s immediate future. Read more

Solar Power Goes Viral

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 18:26 (Renewable Energy World)

Catching a nasty virus certainly isn't on anyone's holiday wish list, but for solar power it might be just what the doctor ordered. Read more

PV in Ukraine: Activ Solar finalizes construction of Phase IV of the Perovo Solar Power Station, reaches 80 MW

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 13:21 (Solarserver)

Activ Solar GmbH (Vienna) on December 21st, 2011 announced the completion and commissioning of an additional 20 megawatts (MW) of the Perovo Solar Power Station in Crimea, Ukraine. The total installed capacity of the Perovo project, which started construction in July, has reached 80 MW. Read more

CPV producer Soitec dedicates San Diego North American solar headquarters and manufacturing plant with Governor of California

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 13:20 (Solarserver)

Soitec (Bernin, France), dedicated its new North American solar headquarters and manufacturing plant in San Diego at a ceremony held on December 16th, 2011. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. provided remarks at the event. ?Soitec?s new facility will create hundreds of well-paying jobs and build on San Diego?s growing reputation as one of the world?s leading clean-technology clusters,? said San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders. Read more

REC to supply 60MW PV modules to German PV project developer GP JOULE for large scale solar power plants in France, Germany

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 13:19 (Solarserver)

PV Producer REC (Sandvika, Noway) on December 21st,2011 announced, that its modules were selected for a 60MW module supplier agreement with the German project developer GP JOULE (Reußenkoege) for solar power plant installations in France and Germany. Read more

Ormat signs new 20-year PPA for 10 MW solar PV project with Imperial Irrigation District in Imperial Valley, California

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 13:17 (Solarserver)

Ormat Technologies, Inc. (Reno, Nev.) on December 21st, 2011 announced that it has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Imperial Irrigation District (IID) for 10 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy. The project, Ormat's first independent PV project in the U.S., will be located near the Heber geothermal complex in Imperial Valley, California. Ormat will develop, own and operate the solar project with IID purchasing the power generated under a 20-year PPA. Read more

T-Solar signs US$145 million loan agreements for Peruvian PV project

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 12:42 (PV-Tech)

T-Solar has signed three loan agreements worth US$145 million to finance two PV plants in Peru. The systems, which have a combined capacity of 44MW, are the first large-scale solar installations in Latin America and will cover 206 hectares of land in the Arequipa region of southern Peru. Read more

Legal challenge to U.K. solar PV FIT cuts successful; Judge calls Government's plans "legally flawed"

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 8:33 (Solarserver)

Environment Organization Friends of the Earth (FoE) has won its legal challenge on feed-in tariff (FIT) cuts against the British Government in High Court. Along with two solar companies, Solar Century Holdings Ltd. (London, U.K.), and HomeSun Holdings Ltd., FoE took the Government to court over their plans to slash support for solar energy. After two days in court the Judge ruled in our favour calling the Government's plans "legally flawed". Read more

CSP developer Solar Millennium AG files for opening of insolvency proceedings

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 8:23 (Solarserver)

Solar Millennium AG (Erlangen, Germany) has filed for the opening of insolvency proceedings at the district court in Fuerth. "The Management Board and the Supervisory Board deeply regret this development. In their effort to save existing assets for the shareholders and the creditors of the Company, the Company Bodies felt impelled to take this step", reads the company's press release. Read more

News You Can Use: Five Biofuels Reports Worth Getting Now

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 18:55 (Renewable Energy World)

Here in Digestville, we see an especially big flow at year's end of new reports from research organizations, government departments, private enterprise and especially NGOs. We've seen five this holiday season that are especially worth devoting some pillow time to. Read more

Top 10 PV-Tech Product Reviews of 2011

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 17:35 (PV-Tech)

This year should go down as the most innovative in the history of the PV industry ? despite or perhaps because of the turmoil it has experienced ? simply based on the number of new products the industry launched in 2011 across the entire supply chain. PV-Tech was able to review over 120 products in our ?Product Review? format this year, though many others were covered in detail as news stories, which poses a slight dilemma when trawling through Google Analytics to provide an accurate assessment of readers? interest in new products! Read more

Financial Trends: Evaluating Investments in Advanced Biofuels Projects in the U.S.

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

The recent passage of Renewable Fuel Standards 2 (RFS2) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has increased interest in deploying advanced biofuels projects, including biomass-based diesel and cellulosic biofuels such as ethanol and drop-in fuels (e.g., gasoline and jet fuel). These advanced fuels could be produced from multiple feedstocks such as soy and vegetable oils, forest and agricultural waste, and cellulosic components of municipal solid waste, as well as used fats, oils and algae-based oils. Read more

Wind Makes Up 80% of Contracts in Brazil's Latest Power Auction

Thursday, 12.22.2011 - 16:30 (Renewable Energy World)

In Brazil's latest power auction earlier this week ? a process in which developers bid for contracts with the country's national electricity agency ? more than 80% of contracts were for wind projects. Read more