NJRCEV completes 14.1 MW PV plant in New Jersey

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 19:00 (Solarserver)

On January 11th, 2012 NJR Clean Energy Ventures (NJRCEV, Wall, New Jersey, U.S.) announced the completion of a 14.1 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant built on a campus of McGraw-Hill (Columbus, Ohio, U.S.) in East Windsor, New Jersey. NJRCEV states that the USD 59.5 million plant is its single largest investment to date. The company notes that it completed a number of other projects in New Jersey during its most recent financial quarter, including a 3.6 MW PV plant in Manalapan, the remaining 25% of a 4.7 MW system in Vineland, and 1.3 MW of PV on two rooftops in Edison. Read more

Dr. Philip Comberg takes the helm at Conergy; new CFO, board members appointed

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 17:17 (PV-Tech)

Changes are afoot at Conergy as chairman of the supervisory board, Dr. Philip Comberg, has been appointed as CEO for one year?s duration, effective immediately. Alexander Gorski?s tenure as COO has been extended to 2014, while Jan Vannerum leaves his role as head of accounting and controlling to take the company?s finances? reins as CFO, replacing Dr. Sebastian Biedenkopf who resigned in October. Read more

SCHOTT to discontinue wafer manufacturing at Jena facility

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 12:16 (Solarserver)

On January 12th, 2012 SCHOTT Solar AG (Mainz, Germany) announced that it will discontinue wafer manufacturing at its facility in Jena, Germany. This will conclude the company's restructuring efforts and affect 290 employees. SCHOTT states that developments in the global solar industry, including overcapacities and severe price declines for wafers and cells, have made the termination of wafer production necessary. The company will open a technology center for monocrystalline wafers at the site in Jena, and will continue manufacturing thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) modules at the site as well. Read more

NLP Solar Sales Training Live Webinar January 25th & 26th

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 22:03 (Renewable Energy World)

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EnviroMission announces finance commitment for its Arizona solar tower project

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 20:40 (PV-Tech)

EnviroMission advised that it had received formal commitment for the complete development and construction capital for its first solar tower power station, which is being established in La Paz County, Arizona. The company notes that the financing is subject to the due diligence and the acceptance of related banking implementations by its legal advisors and bankers. Read more

Mage Solar becomes premium sponsor of Belgian club football team RSC Anderlecht

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 20:27 (PV-Tech)

Already a sponsor for Germany?s SC Freiburg football club, Mage Solar advised that it is now a premier partner of Belgian club football team RSC Anderlecht. The company slated to make its first appearance in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League on January 15 when RSC Anderlecht plays Club Brugge. Read more

ReneSola appoints new European region president, president of Asia-Pacific region

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 19:40 (PV-Tech)

Jijun Shi and Stephen Huang have been promoted by ReneSola to new executive positions. Shi will now serve as president of the European region, while Huang, ReneSola?s VP of wafer sales, will lead as president of the Asia-Pacific region. Further, Zhidong Zheng, the company?s VP of wafer technology, was promoted to senior VP while Paul Li, JC Solar president and senior VP of ReneSola has retired. Li plans to continue with the company in a consulting role through the end of June. Read more

REC shakes up group management, Wafer, Solar division as part of its move to Singapore and Munich

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 19:24 (PV-Tech)

Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) advised that its group management sector and wafer and silicon division have seen the addition of new members as it takes its final decentralization steps for its move from Oslo to Singapore and Munich. Read more

Westinghouse Solar claims integrated solar power mounting systems cut costs by wide margin

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 19:07 (PV-Tech)

Westinghouse Solar?s latest white paper, ?The Revolution in Solar Power Mounting Systems?, takes a look at the financial, engineering and customer benefits of rooftop solar power systems with integrated racking, wiring and grounding, including those units from Westinghouse and Zep Solar. The publication details how the standard in rooftop solar system installations has been a field assembly process that uses different ?components that must be sourced, kitted, and assembled onsite,? which leads to a high assembly cost. Read more

Mecasolar trackers adapted for use at 600 kW CPV plant in Italy

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 19:01 (Solarserver)

On January 11th, 2012 Mecasolar (Fustiñana, Spain) reported that it has delivered 55 tracking systems to a 600 kW concentrating solar photovoltaic (CPV) plant in Italy. These trackers will be retrofitted to the plant, which is currently operating. Each tracker will support 48 230 watt CPV modules, for a total of 11 kW per tracker. The CPV modules use a 5x concentration design, and Mecasolar states that this project shows that its trackers can be easily adapted to other types of low-concentration CPV modules available on the market. Read more

Derry Newman steps down as CEO of Solarcentury

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 17:22 (Solarpowerportal)

Derry Newman, CEO of Solarcentury, has announced his plans to retire from April this year. Newman joined Solarcentury in December 2006 and oversaw an unprecedented level of success at the company. Under Newman’s stewardship, Solarcentury appeared in the annual Sunday Times Tech Track 100 league tale of the fastest growing UK tech companies in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011. Read more

Solarschmiede continues plans for expansion

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 15:27 (PV-Tech)

Software company, Solarschmiede, is expanding this month, having hired three new managing directors. Rudi Haas will be taking over the engineering department. Solarschmeide says he was instrumental in setting up the department in the last few years. Harald Zeich who was previously active as a developer and project leader at the company. His department develops individual software and license programmes to plan solar energy systems. Finally, Felix Schneider, sales director of the Munich-based company since 2009, will become head of management and thus stands shoulder-to-shoulder between the software and engineering departments. The new management has long-term experience from Read more

Moser Baer installs 5MW solar farm in Jodhpur, India

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 13:00 (PV-Tech)

India-based, thin-film PV manufacturer Moser Baer has installed a 5MW solar farm, equivalent to powering 70,000 households, covering an area of 60 acres in Tinwari, Jodhpur district, India. This is part of the US$1 billion the company has promised the Indian states of Gujarat, Orissa, West Bengal and Rajasthan, for projects worth 300MW. The farm was built under the solar subsidy scheme, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). The opening ceremony was attended by the renewable energy minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Ashok Gehlot, chief minister of Rajasthan. Read more

solarhybrid buys 201MW Israeli pipeline

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 12:24 (PV-Tech)

solarhybrid has bought a 201MW pipeline of PV projects in Israel. The pipeline was purchased from the estate of the insolvent Sunday Energy and cost solarhybrid Israel ILS9 million. Read more

Bloomberg New Energy Finance: Solar investments drive 2011 growth in clean energy financing; PV has approached competitiveness with other sources of power

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 12:23 (Solarserver)

On January 12th, 2012 Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF, New York, New York, U.S.) announced that total global investment in clean energy industries increased 5% in 2011 to USD 260 billion, driven by a growth in investments in solar technologies. Bloomberg estimates that solar investments increased 36% during 2011 to reach USD 137 billion, nearly double the investment in wind power during the year. BNEF notes that this increase in investment was particularly striking given the difficult global economic climate and the challenges the industry faced. Read more

SMA Solar reports ?1.7 billion in sales for 2011; market share declines

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 11:46 (PV-Tech)

Citing an intensely competitive market environment, SMA Solar Technology, the leading PV inverter manufacturer, reported preliminary full-year financial results of ?1.7 billion in sales for 2011. SMA Solar had previously cut ?200 million from its previous forecast of ?1.9 billion to ?1.7 billion, with results therefore coming in at the lowered figure. SMA Solar reported 2010 sales of ?1.9 billion. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were reported as being more than ?240 million. Read more

What Do Falling Natural Gas Prices Mean for Renewables?

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 19:48 (Renewable Energy World)

With a glut of shale gas on the market, natural gas prices continue to tumble in the U.S. And they'll only fall more throughout the year. Read more

Boots on the Roof training programs? to feature eIQ Energy?s vBoost module technology

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 18:50 (PV-Tech)

Under a new partnership between eIQ Energy and Boots on the Roof, eIQ Energy has supplied a dozen of its vBoost converter modules to the Boots on the Roof solar training program. The partnership was initiated in January and will see eIQ?s technology featured in the school?s commercial PV construction training program as well as its commercial PV design course. Read more

Opening of A Shade Greener?s Southern Head Office creates 129 new jobs

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 17:15 (Solarpowerportal)

A Shade Greener has created 129 new jobs in the Southern Bristol area after the opening of their Southern Head Office in Paulton, Bristol. The group, who claim to be the UK’s largest free solar panel installer, now employs over 600 people in the solar industry. Read more

Helping the Virgin Islands Cut Fuel Use with Renewables

Friday, 1.13.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

The U.S. Virgin Islands are a great place to visit, but you wouldn't want to pay energy bills there. The tiny U.S. territory in the Caribbean has just 110,000 residents, all the beach, surf, wind and sun you'd ever want, but energy prices that are four to five times higher than are paid in the continental United States. Read more