SMA sales and service companies in Chile and South Africa start operations

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 18:53 (PV-Tech)

SMA Solar Technology has expanded its global presence with new sales and service companies in South Africa and Chile. Read more

Germany installs 612 MW of PV in October 2012

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 14:47 (Solarserver)

On October 30th, 2012 the German Federal Network Agency released the latest data on installed solar photovoltaic (PV) generation capacity in Germany, reporting that 611.856 MW was connected to the grid in October 2012, representing a total of 19,150 PV systems. Read more

Silevo achieves 22% of solar cell efficiency, ranks first in California Energy Commission?s performance testing

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 11:21 (Solarserver)

Fremont (California, U.S.) based solar cell innovator and photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturer Silevo Inc., on December 5th, 2011, announced that its proprietary tunneling junction solar cell architecture has achieved 22.1% of cell conversion efficiency, as measured by Sandia National Laboratories with Silevo?s production materials and full-size substrates. This measurement validates that Silevo?s "Triex" PV modules demonstrate one of the highest conversion efficiencies in the solar industry. Moreover, it validates Silevo?s roadmap and plan to achieve 24% of conversion efficiency in mass production over the next few years. Read more

Two Solar Book Recommendations for Solar (Industry) Advocates

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 18:45 (Renewable Energy World)

What gift can you give to the solar industry person who has everything except a succinct history of Germany?s path to solar FiT success? Or perhaps you?d like to give some inspiration to the solar or climate change activist spending their Christmas vacation chained to a Keystone XL pipeline dump truck. Well, I have two recommendations for you: Roof Read more

Israel?s Arava launches solar company to focus on developing world projects

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 17:09 (PV-Tech)

The founders of Israeli solar provider Arava Power Company has established a new business to develop solar projects in emerging markets outside Israel. Read more

Israel?s Arava founders launch solar company to focus on developing world projects

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 17:09 (PV-Tech)

The founders of Israeli solar provider Arava Power Company have established a new business to develop solar projects in emerging markets outside Israel. Read more

India's MNRE releases draft of National Solar Mission Phase 2 policy

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 16:08 (Solarserver)

On December 4th, 2012 India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) released a draft document of phase 2 of the nation's Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). Phase 2 would leave the majority of work up to Indian states, calling for only 4 GW out of a 10 GW goal for solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) to be developed through the central program. The draft also proposes a 70-30 share of 2.52 GW of PV and 1.08 GW of CSP projects. Read more

Ukraine passes renewable energy law cutting solar FiT

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 16:01 (PV-Tech)

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has signed off a new law that will reduce feed-in tariffs for solar power plants commissioned from April 2013. Read more

Puerto Rico's first utility-scale solar PV plant commissioned at 24 MW

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 16:00 (Solarserver)

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Ltd. (Baoding, China) has announced that a 24 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant to which it supplied modules has been commissioned in the US territory of Puerto Rico. Yingli's Americas subsidiary supplied roughly 110,000 YGE 60 cell series modules for the AES Ilumina plant, which sells electricity to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority under a 20-year power purchase agreement. The plant is the first operational utility-scale PV plant in Puerto Rico and the largest in the Caribbean. Read more

AETI ISIS Installed in 1.1 MW California Solar Project

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 14:32 (PV-Tech)

American Electric Technologies has supplied Siemens Industry with a 1MW Integrated Solar Inversion Station (ISIS) as part of a power purchase agreement with the City of Atwater, California. Read more

First Solar establishes South African office and regional director

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 14:29 (PV-Tech)

Thin film manufacturer First Solar has established an operating subsidiary in Cape Town, South Africa. The move follows a recent swathe of large utility-scale PV announcements in South Africa, as part of the country?s first round of renewable energy project bidding. Read more

Solar3D expects prototype 3D cell manufacturing partner in 2013

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 14:03 (PV-Tech)

Three-dimensional solar cell developer Solar3D claims its next major step towards commercial introduction will be a manufactured prototype and a pilot production run sometime in 2013. Read more

US Bureau of Land Management proposes Solar Zone in California

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 13:47 (PV-Tech)

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released its final analysis of the environmental impacts of opening up an area of the Californian desert to testing and developing renewable energy. Read more

Newark and Sherwood homes rolls out second phase of social solar project

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 13:42 (Solarpowerportal)

Newark and Sherwood Homes is to provide 135 tenants with free solar installations in a second round of a project launched last year. Read more

TGC Renewables announces 4.2MW solar park in Devon

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 12:09 (Solarpowerportal)

TGC Renewables has secured planning permission for a 4.2MW solar park in East Devon. Read more

Thomas & Betts unveils Kindorf solar panel fittings

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 11:28 (Solarserver)

On November 29th, 2012, Thomas & Betts Corp. (Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.) announced that it has released Kindorf solar photovoltaic (PV) panel fittings, which includes solar panel hold-down clamps and a solar panel grounding washer. Read more

Envision Solar to deploy Solar PV Tree array at GM's California dealership

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 11:25 (Solarserver)

On November 30th, 2012, Envision Solar International Inc. (San Diego, California, U.S.) announced that it will install its Solar Tree array at the Fremont Cadillac Buick GMC dealership in California as part of a nationwide initiative with General Motors. Installations are scheduled for December 2012. Read more

Kaco to supply inverters for 400 MW solar PV plant in Texas

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 10:33 (Solarserver)

On November 30th, 2012, OCI Solar Power (San Antonio, Texas, U.S.) announced that it has selected Kaco New Energy GmbH (Neckarsulm, Germany) to supply its XP series inverters for a 400 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project in San Antonio (Texas, U.S.). OCI estimates that this will result in roughly USD 500 million in sales for Kaco over the next ten years. Through the associated partnership agreement, Kaco will build a manufacturing facility in San Antonio, creating 70 new jobs. Read more

Order Focus: Solar Frontier bags another utility-scale supply deal in Japan

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 10:19 (PV-Tech)

CIS thin-film manufacturer Solar Frontier has won a contract to supply 92,000 modules to Mitsui & Co, continuing its success in securing supply deals for utility-scale PV projects in Japan. Read more

IHS: Solar PV module prices fell 1.9% to 3.5% in most markets in October 2012

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 9:48 (Solarserver)

IHS iSuppli (El Segundo, California, U.S.) has released an analysis of crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic (PV) module prices, finding that prices declined 1.9% to 3.5% in every major PV market except Canada in October 2012. The "IHS PV Module Price Tracker" blames this trend on weak demand from Germany. IHS reports that the biggest fall in October was in the United States, where prices fell 3.5% to USD 0.69 per watt, remaining higher than Chinese prices of USD 0.58 per watt. Read more

Taiwanese government cuts solar PV feed-in tariffs, raises annual installation target

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 9:38 (Solarserver)

On November 28th, 2012 Taiwan's Bureau of Energy announced that it will cut feed-in tariff rates for solar photovoltaic (PV) generation by 9.2% to 12% on January 1st, 2013, while increasing the nation's annual PV market target from 100 MW to 130 MW. PV feed-in tariff rates for the first half of 2013 will be between TWD 8.40/kWh (USD 0.288/kWh) and TWD 6.33/kWh (USD 0.217/kWh) for rooftop PV plants, with ground-mounted PV plants receiving TWD 5.98/kWh (USD 0.205/kWh). The nation will reduce these rates a further 1.9% to 2.6% in the second half of 2013. Read more

US DOE selects eight solar research projects for ARPA-E funding

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 2:36 (PV-Tech)

The US Department of Energy (DOE) selected eight solar research projects to receive funding under the DOE?s Advanced Research Projects Agency ? Energy (ARPA-E) ?Open 2012? programme. Read more

Martifer Solar completes two Greek PV projects

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 1:47 (PV-Tech)

Solar developer Martifer Solar Hellas completed two Greek photovoltaic projects totalling 677kW. Read more

Blue Energy announces its first international solar project in Ghana

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 1:01 (Solarpowerportal)

Blue Energy, a Cheshire-based renewable energy firm, has announced plans for its first solar project outside of the UK in Ghana. Read more

WindMade Label to Expand to Other Renewables

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 19:43 (Renewable Energy World)

In a press conference held December 4 during the COP18 climate change conference in Doha, the WindMade organization announced it's no longer just concerned about promoting wind energy, but all renewables. A product label launched in 2011 with the aim of offering consumers an easy way to identify companies and products that use wind energy, WindMade's success has enabled it to expand its focus to develop a new label that includes companies that also rely on solar, geothermal, hydro, and biomass. Read more

Renewables Account for 46% New US Electrical Generating Capacity Since January

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 17:35 (Renewable Energy World)

The latest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects states that renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, solar, water, wind) accounted for 41.14% of new electrical generating capacity installed in October 2012 and 46.22% for the first ten months of 2012. Read more

Remote Miners Investing in Renewables to Power Operations

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

The four wind turbines dug into northern Canada's tundra that power Rio Tinto Group's $5.2 billion Diavik diamond mine are the world's first designed to work in gusts as cold as 40 degrees below zero. Read more

Mystery: How Much Will Californians Pay for Renewable Energy?

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 19:09 (Renewable Energy World)

How much will Californians pay for the growing amount of renewable electricity now that large solar farms have begun to take shape in some of the remote corners of the state? That's an intriguing question that seems to draw no good answers. Read more

Green energy industry warns Chancellor against ?dash for gas?

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 16:49 (Solarpowerportal)

Clean energy campaigners have warned of the dangers of exposing the UK to future gas price increases as the Chancellor George Osborne prepares to deliver his set-piece Autumn Statement tomorrow. Read more

In 2010 Germany invested EUR 37 billion to reduce impact of climate change

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 11:33 (Solarserver)

On November 30th, 2012, Climate Policy Initiative (CPI, Berlin, Germany) has released a report stating that Germany invested 1.5% of its GDP in 2010, or EUR 37 billion, in measures to reduce the impact of climate change. The report ?The German Landscape of Climate Finance? shows that in 2010 about EUR 22 billion of climate finance came from corporate investors across all sectors of the economy, including farmers, energy utilities, and industrial and commercial enterprises. Private households invested a significant EUR 14 billion. Read more

UK will be $30 billion better off with wind instead of gas, says report

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 11:23 (Renewable Energy World)

A new report which compares the economics of gas and offshore wind for the UK concludes that the country would be about $30 billion better off by 2020 if it went down the renewables road. Read more

UK Will Be $30 Billion Better Off with Wind Instead of Gas, Says Report

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 11:23 (Renewable Energy World)

A new report which compares the economics of gas and offshore wind for the UK concludes that the country would be about $30 billion better off by 2020 if it went down the renewables road. Read more

COP18 talks bogged down on aid, emissions cut levels

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 10:37 (Solarserver)

A number of media outlets are reporting that negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP18) are deadlocked over the issues of aid to poor nations and levels of emissions cuts. A number of important items are on the agenda for the COP18 meeting in Doha (Qatar) including work towards a legally binding agreement for all 194 member nations to reduce their emissions and settling details on an extension of the Kyoto Protocol. However, as cabinet ministers arrive for high-level talks a number of analysts are expressing concern about progress. Read more

Daqo New Energy revenues, margins fall on depressed polysilicon prices

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 9:33 (Solarserver)

On November 30th, 2012 Daqo New Energy Corporation (Chongqing, China) released financial results for the third quarter of 2012, reporting a 66% year-over-year fall in revenues to USD 21.1 million, a -74% operating margin and a net loss attributable to shareholders of USD 15.5 million. Daqo New Energy sold 1,001 metric tons of polysilicon during the quarter, a 2% decline from the third quarter of 2011. The company also reports that it completed construction of its Xinjiang Phase 2 polysilicon project during the quarter, as well as starting pilot production. Read more

Blue Energy to develop Africa?s largest PV project

Tuesday, 12.4.2012 - 1:01 (PV-Tech)

UK renewable energy company Blue Energy will finance and develop a US$400 million large-scale 155MW PV plant in Ghana which, when complete, is said to represent Africa?s largest PV project. Read more