PG&E celebrates completion of 50 MW of PV plants in Central California

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 23:21 (Solarserver)

On September 29th, 2011, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E, San Francisco, California, U.S.) dedicated three new solar photovoltaic (PV) plants totaling 50 MW in Fresno County, California. The utility states that these plants represent the first phase of a five-year program to build up to 250 MW of PV plants in its service area, with independent developers constructing an additional 250 MW of plants. Read more

Suntech supplies 35 MW of PV modules to Cupertino Electric for PV projects in central California

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 23:20 (Solarserver)

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (Wuxi, China), on September 29th, 2011 announced that it has supplied solar panels for two solar power plants in central California. Built and engineered by Cupertino Electric, Inc.'s (CEI) Energy Alternatives Division, the 20MW (AC) and 15MW (AC) projects, located in Helm and Five Points, Calif., respectively, feature more than 150,000 of Suntech's multicrystalline solar panels for utility-scale electricity generation. Read more

Mercom Capital: Chinese government provides USD 8.1 billion to PV manufacturers in 2011

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 13:42 (Solarserver)

The Chinese government has made available USD 8.1 billion in credit agreements and loans to Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers in 2011 through September 26th, as reported by Mercom Capital Group LLC (Austin, Texas, U.S.). These loans and lines of credit, combined with USD 32.6 billion provided in 2010, brings the total that the Chinese government has provided to domestic PV manufacturers to USD 40.7 billion since January 2010. Read more

Advanced Energy to restructure global operations, transition of certain PV inverter subcomponents manufacturing to Chinese facility

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 11:22 (Solarserver)

On September 28th, 2011, Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.) announced a restructuring plan, stating that it plans to localize its research and development (R&D) efforts and engineering resources to the geographic locations of its customers. As part of the plan the company will reduce its workforce by an unspecified amount of jobs, which it says will result in annual savings of USD 6 million. Additionally, the company will transition the manufacturing of certain solar inverter subcomponents to its Shenzhen, China production facility. Read more

IMS Research: PV industry revenues to fall in 2011, 2012

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 11:15 (Solarserver)

IMS Research (Wellingborough, U.K.) has released a new report predicting that a sustained decline in solar photovoltaic (PV) module prices will result in global PV industry revenues falling 10% to USD 35 billion in 2011 and another 14% to USD 30 billion in 2012. The company's "PV Cells & Modules - Supply & Demand Quarterly - Q3'11" forecasts that PV production capacity will reach over 50 GW in 2011, noting that current PV prices are 35% lower than they were at the end of 2010. Read more

PG&E commissions 50MW trio of PV power plants in Fresno County

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 6:54 (PV-Tech)

Three solar photovoltaic power plants, with 50MW of combined installed capacity, have been commissioned as the first phase of Pacific Gas and Electric?s five-year program to speed up the delivery of more clean energy to its customers. The trio of ground-mount solar stations?Stroud (20MW), Westside (15MW), and Five Points (15MW)?are located in Fresno County, CA. Read more

Constellation Energy begins construction on largest solar PV plant in Maryland (16 MW)

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 23:20 (Solarserver)

Constellation Energy Group Inc. (Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.) on September 29th, 2011 announced that its retail energy business affiliate has started construction on a 16.1 megawatt DC grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) solar installation in Emmitsburg, Md. Part of the state of Maryland?s Generating Clean Horizons initiative, the approximately USD 60 million solar facility will be financed, owned and operated by Constellation Energy. Read more

Down to the deadline: DOE awards final loan guarantees of $4.74B for 1.78GW of PV projects

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 23:09 (PV-Tech)

(Updated) On the last official day of the Section 1705 loan guarantee program, the US Department of Energy has been busy announcing the finalization of several awards. The big winners are First Solar and its owner-partners, which saw more than $2.1 billion in partial or complete loan guarantees awarded for the 550MW (AC) Desert Sunlight and 230MW (AC) Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One (AVSR) projects in California. The biggest single project earning a loan guarantee, ProLogis and NRG?s Project Amp ~752MW rooftop plan, was awarded a partial guarantee of $1.4 billion. The other awardee was SunPower, which received a guarantee of $1.237 billion for the 250MW (AC) California Valley Read more

DOE Closes on Three Major Solar Projects

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 22:11 (Renewable Energy World)

The Department of Energy announced it has closed on loan guarantees for three major solar projects Friday afternoon, hours ahead of the approval deadline for the Section 1705 program. Read more

AES Solar closes financing on 24MW PV power plant in Puerto Rico; construction under way

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 20:42 (PV-Tech)

AES Solar subsidiary AES Illumina closed on a loan and financing package and has begun construction of a 24MW PV power plant in Guayama, Puerto Rico, said to be the largest solar power installation yet to be undertaken on the island. Global Energy Services will act as the primary construction contractor on the project. Read more

The Question Day 14: How Can the U.S. Solar Industry Meet Expectations?

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 15:42 (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

Colexon to distribute First Solar thin-film panels for UK projects

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 15:35 (Solarpowerportal)

PV engineering, contracting and distribution firm Colexon Energy has received an order for 5,000 First Solar thin-film panels from installers in Cornwall and Oxford. This is the latest major order Colexon has taken for the black, frameless modules, which have proved very popular due to their high energy output. Read more

Solon completes biggest solar rooftop installation in Italy; 12.3 MW PV Plant at Interporto Padova runs at full capacity

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 13:41 (Solarserver)

On September 28th, 2011 a record-breaking photovoltaic (PV) rooftop installation has been inaugurated. The largest PV rooftop system in Italy with a capacity of 12.3 million Watts (MW) installed on the roofs of 18 buildings and 7 carpark shelters of the logistics firm Interporto di Padova. The system is being developed by Solon S.p.A., an Italian subsidiary of the Berlin-based Solon SE group and leading manufacturer of photovoltaic modules and systems in Italy. Read more

Small Wind Industry Set to Triple by 2015, U.S To Dominate Two-thirds of the Market

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 19:03 (Renewable Energy World)

The small wind industry is, well, small ? representing about 50 MW of capacity additions each year around the world. But new project additions are set to triple by 2015, bringing yearly capacity up to 152 MW, according to a new analysis from Pike Research. Read more

Deal of the Day: Greentech Assets

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 21:56 (Renewable Energy World)

Construction material maker Saint-Gobain exemplifies the kind of buyers who are scooping up greentech companies today. It's a long-time company (founded in 1665!) that is making big bets in renewable energy, and announced on Friday the purchase of a business unit of a Belgian company that makes Solar Gard window films. Read more

Trade Barriers Dim Renewable Energy's Prospects

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Protectionism in the renewable energy industry takes many forms depending on location and sector. For example, in the U.S., Ohio is stringently enforcing a law that half of its mandated renewable energy must be supplied through in-state production. Read more

Putting the Free Market to Work in the Interests of National Security

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

While domestic energy policy is not a silver bullet, it can help extricate the United States from foreign entanglements that have long confounded American decision-makers. History's painful lessons offer us the power to move our elected officials to act in the interest of renewed economic vitality and national security. From the tragedy of U.S.-Middle East relations is born opportunity. Read more

Advanced Energy realigning manufacturing operations and reducing workforce

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 14:03 (PV-Tech)

Lacking real details, Advanced Energy is shifting certain component assembly operations from the US to China as part of a wider cost reduction program instigated by its recently appointed new CEO, Garry Rogerson. Some of its solar inverter subcomponents assembly work will shift to its factory in Shenzhen, China, while final assembly and testing of solar inverter products would remain close to end markets. AE did not disclose how many jobs would lost in the restructuring, which was estimated to cost approximately US$2.5-US$3.5 million, initially. Read more

U.S. public unimpressed by attempt to cast Solyndra failure as a scandal

Friday, 9.30.2011 - 13:41 (Solarserver)

Stating that it is not yet "dinner table conversation" for most, polling organizations Public Opinion Strategies LLC (Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.) and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3, Santa Monica, California, U.S.) have announced the results of survey and focus group research on public perceptions of Solyndra's bankruptcy and its implications for the broader debate around clean energy in the United States. In a joint memo released on September 26th, 2011, the companies stated that only 11% of 650 voters surveyed in the U.S. state of Ohio said that they had heard "a great deal" about the issue, and another 16% said that they had heard "a little" about it. Read more