Intertek certification recognized by Japan Photovoltaic Expansion Center

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 23:00 (Solarserver)

On April 26th, 2011, Intertek Group plc (London, U.K.) announced that its certification has been recognized by the Japan Photovoltaic Expansion Center (J-PEC). With this recognition, solar photovoltaic (PV) products carrying a Intertek CB test report will be eligible for Japanese consumer subsidies, without requiring further certifications. Read more

CLEAN Coalition launches campaign for feed-in tariff for California

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 22:56 (Solarserver)

On April 26th, 2011, the Clean Coalition (Palo Alto, California, U.S.) announced the launch of a campaign to implement a European-style feed-in tariff policy in California. Partners in the CLEAN California Campaign include the Los Angeles Business Council (Los Angeles, California, U.S.), the U.S. Green Building Council California chapters, the Local Clean Energy Alliance, the American Biogas Council (Washington, D.C., U.S.), Global Exchange (San Francisco, California, U.S.) and a number of other organizations and private companies. Read more

KYOCERA Supplies 6MW of Solar Modules for Solar Power Plant in Italy

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 20:07 (Renewable Energy World)

KYOTO, April 28, 2011 ? Kyocera Corporation (NYSE:KYO)(TOKYO:6971) announced that it has supplied approximately 6-megawatts (MW) of the company's multicrystalline silicon solar modules for a large-scale solar power plant near Turin, Italy.33-2 Read more

City of Coachella unveils 420kW CPV project at water reclamation facility

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 17:00 (PV-Tech)

The Californian City of Coachella is now home to a 420kW concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system, which will provide solar energy to the Coachella Water Reclamation Plant. Developed by Johnson Controls and Solar Power Partners (SPP) using 55 SolFocus SF-1100S tracking CPV systems, the project is now connected to the regional electrical grid, serviced by the Imperial Irrigation District (IID). Read more

Trina Solar to develop n-type silicon solar cells with Australian National University

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 16:09 (PV-Tech)

In an effort to boost conventional solar cells to conversion efficiencies of 20% for mass production, Trina Solar has signed a three year research agreement with the Australian National University (ANU). Some of the funding (AUD 3 million) for the project is expected to come from the Australian Solar Institute, which is part of the Australian Government?s Clean Energy Initiative. Read more

Satcon?s PV inverter shipments lower than expected: customers push-out deliveries

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 15:39 (PV-Tech)

Much weaker than expected demand in Europe impacted PV inverter manufacturer, Satcon Technology?s first quarter financial results. Although Satcon posted record revenue of US$62 million for a first quarter accounting period, the revenue figure was below initial projections of US$65 million to US$70 million. Some shipments were postponed to later in the year by some of its customers due to an inventory build, executives noted in a conference call to discuss financial results. Net loss for the first quarter was US$2.1 million. Read more

Malaysia Adopts Sophisticated System of Feed-in Tariffs

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 13:58 (Renewable Energy World)

Joining several other Asian countries, Malaysia's parliament has approved a sophisticated system of feed-in tariffs to develop its renewable energy resources. Read more

2010 PV inverter market share gainers revealed by IMS Research; Power-One moving up to second in the global rankings

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 13:29 (Solarserver)

Power-One was the photovoltaic (PV) inverter market?s largest share gainer in 2010, moving up to second in the global rankings according to IMS Research?s (Wellingborough, UK) latest report on the market. The report will also reveal that for the first time all of the top 10 suppliers to the market in 2010 were European - largely due to the explosive market growth in key European solar markets that these suppliers enjoyed. The top five gainers in market share in 2010 were Power-One, Siemens, Advanced Energy, Sungrow and Danfoss. Read more

PV production: Centrotherm, Kinetics to build 116MW factory in Algeria

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 13:12 (Solarserver)

On April 27th, 2011, Centrotherm Photovoltaics AG (Blaubeuren, Germany) announced that a consortium consisting of Centrotherm and Kinetics Germany GmbH (Eschau, Germany) has signed an agreement to construct a 116MW solar photovoltaic (PV) module plant in Rouiba, Algeria. The consortium will build the turnkey EUR 290 million (USD 430 million) plant, which will be the largest in Africa, for state utility Société Nationale de l'Electricité et du Gaz (Sonelgaz, Alger, Algeria). Read more

Q-Cells enters Japanese residential photovoltaic market, teams up with Japanese installers and forms innovative sales network

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 13:05 (Solarserver)

Q-Cells SE (Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany), one of the world?s leading photovoltaics PV companies, is the first company of German origin to enter the Japanese residential market with integrated photovoltaic (PV) solutions. In order to ensure a successful market entry, Q-Cells has founded the Q-Cells Meister Club (QMC), which is an innovative sales network of selected local installers, offering residential PV solutions with Q-Cells solar modules. The QMC delivers Japanese residential end customers high quality solar systems kits for their roof-top installations from a single source. Read more

Innovalight targets Japan for silicon ink sales

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 11:28 (PV-Tech)

Interest in Innovalight?s silicon inks from Japanese solar cell and module producers has meant the materials supplier has partnered with local firm Marubeni to sell and support potentially new customers in the country. Read more

Kyocera supplies modules for 6MW Italian plant

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 10:32 (PV-Tech)

Kyocera has supplied the modules for a new solar power plant in Cigliano, Italy. At 6MW, the Enermill-operated plant is the largest Kyocera has supplied modules for in Italy; it will be fitted with 13,920 215W and 12,900 235W modules. Read more

Worldwide releases CEO and chairman Jimmy Wang along with his wife and company treasurer Mindy Wang

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 0:44 (PV-Tech)

Worldwide Energy & Manufacturing USA, which supplies PV solar modules under the Amerisolar brand, has had a momentous week of executive changes. The company announced that on April 25, its board of directors removed Jimmy Wang as the company?s CEO, chairman as well as from all other offices and positions that he held at Worldwide and with any of the company?s subsidiaries and affiliates. The board also discharged Mindy Wang, wife of Jimmy Wang, on April 25, from all offices and positions she held at the company, its subsidiaries and affiliates, which included secretary and treasurer of Worldwide. Although both Jimmy and Mindy Wang will no longer serve in their former Read more

Total to buy SunPower as it makes major play into utility-scale solar business

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 23:44 (PV-Tech)

At an initial cost of approximately US$1.37 billion, French oil and gas company, Total is to purchase 60% of SunPower?s outstanding Class A and B shares, taking a majority share in the US-based PV manufacturer and major PV project developer. The deal was said to have approved by the boards of both companies. A further US$1 billion of finance will be made available to SunPower so that it can accelerate its project pipeline rollout, add manufacturing capacity and further its R&D activities. Read more

Trina Solar extends distribution agreement with Australia's RF Industries

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 22:43 (Solarserver)

Trina Solar Limited (Changzhou, China) on April 27th, 2011 announced through its subsidiary, Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co. Ltd., the extension of its national distribution agreement with Australia's leading renewable energy distributor, RF Industries Pty Ltd. ("RFI"). The agreement, initially signed in January 2010, has been extended until December 31, 2012. Under the terms of the agreement, Trina Solar recognizes RFI as their exclusive distributor in Australia, and is expected to supply RFI with up to 40MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules during 2011. Read more

JA Solar signs strategic cooperation agreement with Wells Fargo

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 21:34 (PV-Tech)

Wells Fargo and JA Solar Holdings have mutually entered a strategic cooperation agreement with ambitions to heighten JA Solar?s presence in the US and throughout broader international markets. The agreement will see Wells Fargo support JA Solar with commercial banking services, potential financing for JA Solar?s US Sales, manufacturing and project development activities, project financing and other strategic initiatives that will arise. Financial details for the cooperation agreement were not revealed. Read more

Nanosolar's 3 Big Contracts and Plans to Deliver Them

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 21:29 (Renewable Energy World)

Nanosolar has been trying hard over the past year to repair its public image as a startup that raised a huge amount of money but had little to show for. It hired a new CEO, semiconductor industry veteran Geoff Tate, early last year and began to provide more realistic numbers about its factory capacity and production rates. Read more

Abound Solar partners with DW Europe and Thesan for distributorship deals in Europe

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 21:28 (PV-Tech)

Abound Solar has entered into new partnership and distributing deals with two of its preferred European system integrators: DW Europe and Thesan. Abound and DW Europe, an Italian commercial solar and BIPV system integrator, will collaborate to bring Abound?s next-generation thin-film modules to commercial sized projects in the Mediterranean. Read more

World's Largest Web-Based PV Monitoring Solution Reaches 50,000 Registered Solar Systems

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 20:23 (Renewable Energy World)

With 50,000 registered solar arrays in more than 100 countries, including the United States and Canada, SMA's Sunny Portal is the world's largest Web platform for monitoring, managing and presenting photovoltaic systems. That equates to 3.5 gigawatts of power monitored via the Sunny Portal Web site and iPhone application, both free services. Read more

DynGlobal Releases Emergency Preparedness Portable Solar Power Solutions

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 17:13 (Renewable Energy World)

Read more

SolarCraft Team Member Honored for Green Living

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 17:04 (Renewable Energy World)

SolarCraft announced today that a staff member, James Holloway, was honored as a Clean Energy Advocate by the City of Santa Rosa at its 2nd Annual Earth Day Fair on Saturday, April 16, 2011. Read more

Solutia ahead of schedule in starting EVA encapsulants production in China

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 17:00 (PV-Tech)

Having originally announced plans to produce EVA encapsulants in China that would come on stream by June, 2011 Solutia has said that its new manufacturing facility in Suzhou was ready to supply commercial-grade Vistasolar EVA encapsulant. This is Solutia?s first new EVA production facility to be developed after the acquisition of Etimex Solar GmbH of Germany. Read more

Order Focus: JinkoSolar signs 50MW module supply deal with BULL PowerTech

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 16:36 (PV-Tech)

Project developer and PV products supplier, BULL PowerTech a business segment of BULL Holding AG has signed a module supply deal with JinkoSolar. Under the terms of the agreement, which is the first between the two companies, 50MW of co-branded modules will be delivered in 2011. Read more

Schiller Highlighted for Advanced Solar Manufacturing Solutions

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 15:55 (Renewable Energy World)

Schiller Automation GmbH & Co. KG, a world leading provider of production solutions to the solar industry, was featured recently in Greentech Media's coverage of advanced solar manufacturing. Read more

Tata Power commissions 3MW solar power plant in India

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 14:09 (PV-Tech)

India?s largest private power utility firm, Tata Power, has commissioned a 3MW solar power plant in Mulshi. The project, which is one of the largest in the entire country and the first built in the province of Maharashtra, is spread over 12 acres and took nine months to complete. Read more

Will the Dorset solar farm go ahead?

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 13:40 (Solarpowerportal)

The fate of a solar power project in Dorset will be decided today as planning officers from North Dorset District Council meet with the project developers to make a verdict on whether the plant should go ahead or not. Read more

One solar panel is installed every three minutes

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 12:58 (Solarpowerportal)

Although the large-scale solar sector has taken a bit of a bashing in recent times, it seems residential installations have more than made up for this. According to rent-a-roof solar firm HomeSun, one panel is installed every three minutes in the UK. Read more

Satcon reports USD 62 million in 1Q 2011 revenues

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 12:57 (Solarserver)

On April 27th, 2011, Satcon Technology Corporation (Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) announced its first quarter 2011 results, reporting USD 62 million in revenues and a net loss of USD 1.5 million. The company also reported only USD 35.5 million in bookings during the quarter. "Our performance in the first quarter of 2011 reflected continued demand for our utility scale solar PV systems in both North America and Asia, where Satcon continues to be the market leader," said Steve Rhoades, Satcon's President and Chief Executive Officer. Read more

LDK Solar reduces 1Q 2011 guidance

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 12:49 (Solarserver)

On April 26th, 2011, LDK Solar Company, Ltd. (Xinyu City, China) updated its first quarter 2011 guidance to predict revenues between USD 745 and 755 million, a significant decrease from an earlier outlook of between USD 800 and 850 million. The company also states that it expects wafer shipments between 625 and 635MW, in-house polysilicon production between 2,450 MT and 2,470 metric tons and a gross margin between 30% and 31% for the quarter. Read more

Scheuten signs contract to install modules for 750kW Belgian rooftop array

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 12:46 (PV-Tech)

Scheuten Solar has signed a turnkey EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract to install 3,000 of its panels on the production facilities of Belgian company Faymonville. The panels will populate three rooftop arrays at the trailer manufacturer?s base in Büllingen and have a combined output of 750 kWp. Read more

Anaerobic Digestion: Unaddressed Opportunity

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 12:26 (Renewable Energy World)

While wind and solar generally grab the lion's share of headlines on renewable energy, there are less celebrated, untapped renewable energy resources that can add to the U.S.'s energy mix. One example is a form of waste-to-energy. Read more

Evergreen Solar in call for cash as sales slump

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 12:16 (PV-Tech)

Citing a slowdown in module sales and prising pressure in the first quarter of 2011, Evergreen Solar has declared that its near term liquidity has been negatively impacted, which could lead the company to find new sources of cash sooner than expected. The struggling String Ribbon module producer said shipments were only 18MW in the first quarter, down significantly from 47MW in the fourth quarter of 2010. Read more

The Solar Golden Mean

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 10:34 (Renewable Energy World)

When it comes to solar energy there's a lot of confusion about size. Still in its infancy, industry claims of "first" and "best" are reminiscent of two toddlers arguing over who's dad is bigger Read more

News feature: Nanosolar inks deals with three European installers for up to gigawatt of CIGS panels

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 9:01 (PV-Tech)

European PV systems integrators Belectric, EDF Energies Nouvelles, and Plain Energy have signed long-term deals with CIGS thin-film manufacturer Nanosolar for the supply of up to 1GW of utility panels over the next three to six years.  The agreements are brand new, not extensions or modifications of previous contracts signed in years past with the three companies, all of which are strategic partners, Nanosolar CEO Geoff Tate told PV-Tech. Read more

Dow Solar sponsors student design solar competition

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 2:04 (PV-Tech)

The Dow Chemical Company has launched the new International Student Solar Design Competition, sponsored by Dow Solar. The competition is intended to facilitate innovations for economical and sustainable energy homes that would translate and adapt to different world regions. Open to student?s worldwide, participants will be asked to design a building that encompasses three connected dwellings. Each of the dwellings must use active and passive solar technologies in order to accomplish near-zero energy solutions. Read more

U.S. wind industry reports enduring growth in first quarter of 2011

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 20:24 (Renewable Energy World)

Read more

Order Focus: BTU International wins multiple hydrogen annealing furnaces order

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 14:11 (PV-Tech)

A major Asian solar cell manufacturer has placed an order for multiple hydrogen annealing furnaces from BTU International after the customer experienced a significant increase in absolute cell efficiency using the technology especially on Class B cells during an evaluation period. Read more

Yingli Green Energy establishes regional headquarters for Southeast Asia in Singapore

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 22:49 (Solarserver)

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (Baoding, China), a leading solar energy company and one of the world's largest vertically integrated photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers, which markets its products under the brand "Yingli Solar", on April 27th, 2011 announced the establishment of its regional headquarters in Singapore. Read more

Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Briefing Features City of Saint Paul and PG&E

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 20:37 (Renewable Energy World)

On Thursday, May 12 AltaTerra Research will host the online briefing, "Solutions for Sustainable Cities: Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Planning and Deployment." The briefing will feature speakers from the City of Saint Paul, Minnesota and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Registration is complimentary for government employees. Read more

Valentin Software's impressive new integrated photo dimensioning tool is now available in PV*SOL Pro.

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 18:13 (Renewable Energy World)

PV*SOL Pro is now available with Valentin Softwares' PhotoPlan tool, as well as the new Metesyn design which allows for climate data searches with a given zip code! Read more

EvoEnergy expands commercial business; appoints new Managing Director

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 13:16 (Solarpowerportal)

As part of its continuing expansion in the UK, EvoEnergy has appointed Nick Offer as Managing Director of its commercial business. Offer joins the team from Arup, where he led the team that developed the design for the 2012 Olympic Village. He was also the director in charge of the creation of the Shard, located at London Bridge. Read more

Order Focus: NexPower awarded 36MW order from India

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 12:47 (PV-Tech)

As India?s PV market starts to take-off so is the use of thin-film modules for large-scale projects. India?s high-temperature environment is suiting thin-film technology adoption and NexPower Technology is a also recipient of this emerging trend with a contract to supply 36MW of silicon thin-film modules to Wipro EcoEnergy, the cleantech business of Wipro. Read more

BrightSource Energy makes move on an IPO in the US

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 11:49 (PV-Tech)

Solar thermal power tower developer BrightSource Energy has confirmed recent rumours that it would file for public listing in the US. The IPO is to generate up to US$250 million as part of its capital requirements to build-out its 392-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California?s Mojave Desert. Read more

Magnum Energy goes to Africa

Thursday, 4.28.2011 - 0:38 (Renewable Energy World)

Magnum Energy goes to Africa. In continuing support, our very own Gary Baxter went to Africa to be a part of African Energy's 20th Solar & Back-Up Power Training Seminar. Read more