Introduction of new Bulgarian FiT encourages Urmet to construct 3MW plant

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 13:20 (PV-Tech)

Italian integrated security systems provider Urmet Engineering is planning on taking advantage of Bulgaria?s newly implemented feed-in tariff policy with a 3MW plant destined for the south of the country. According to PHOTON, the company intends to invest ?6.5 million into the project, due to be built in the municipality of Plovdi. Read more

Yingli signs USD 70 million agreement with Heraeus for metallization pastes

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 12:23 (Solarserver)

On April 18th, 2012, Heraeus (Hanau, Germany) announced that it has signed a one-year, USD 70 million cooperation and supply agreement with Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Ltd. (Baoding, China). Under the agreement Heraeus will dedicate research and development (R&D) resources in three continents to develop silver metallization pastes for Yingli's high-efficiency PANDA solar photovoltaic (PV) cells. Read more

GTM Research: CIGS a bright spot among struggling thin-film PV industry

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 9:00 (Solarserver)

On April 18th, 2012 GTM Research (Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) announced the release of a report on the future of the global thin film solar photovoltaic (PV) industry, stating that falling crystalline silicon PV prices have placed thin film technology in a "fight for survival". "Thin Film 2012-2016: Technologies, Markets and Strategies for Survival" predicts that global thin film market value will decline to below USD 3 billion in 2012, to return to a USD 7.6 billion market in 2015-2016. The report also forecasts that copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) technology will reach 4 GW of production in 2016. Read more

Bosch closes acquisition of Voltwerk, announces expansion of its inverter business

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 8:55 (Solarserver)

On April 19th, 2012 the Bosch Group (Stuttgart, Germany) announced that it has closed its acquisition of Voltwerk Electronics GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) from Conergy AG (Hamburg, Germany), following the approval of German anti-trust authorities. Bosch states that the purchase will allow it to expand its inverter business, with Voltwerk becoming part of Bosch Power Tec GmbH (Böblingen, Germany) by the end of 2012. Bosch and Conergy have not disclosed the value of compensation for the sale, which was originally signed in December 2011. Read more

Key speakers at Solar Future 2012 conference expect US solar market to boom in 5 years

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 21:35 (PV-Tech)

Former CEO of the Carbon War Room, Jigar Shah, and Eric Graber-Lopez of BlueWave Capital will both be speaking at the May 11-12 Solar Future Eastern USA 2012 conference and both agree that within the next five years solar energy in a large part of the US will be cheaper than power from the grid. They cite the continued drop of solar panel costs, combined with transportation costs of electricity increasing as the factors leading to such an expanded solar market. Read more

Mozambique?s first solar panel factory commences construction

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 21:09 (PV-Tech)

Last week, construction for Mozambique?s first solar panel factory got underway with technical personnel from Funae present. The site is located in Beleluane, Matola Rio Administrative Post, Boane District in Maputo as is being built after a bi-lateral cooperation between the governments of Mozambique and India. The site?s main focus will be to reduce the import and acquisition costs of power systems that are produced in other countries. Read more

Report: Tibet has new 30MW PV plant

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 20:18 (PV-Tech)

Power Engineering reported that the city of Xigaze in Tibet has a new 30MW solar plant in operation. This is the first phase of a large-scale PV project that is being developed by Linuo Power Group. LDK Solar?s 60MW industrial solar park and Chaorisolar?s 10MW installation are still under construction. Read more

India Solar Summit: day one sees dedication of 600MW of projects by Gujarat Chief Minister Modi

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 16:15 (PV-Tech)

A massive crowd gathered yesterday for day one of the India Solar Investment & Technology Summit (ISIT) event in Gujarat. The event?s aim of bringing together senior government officials, leading solar cell manufacturers, module manufacturers, equipment suppliers and solar developers from all over the world was realized with over 10,000 attendees who came to see Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi dedicate over 600MW of solar power to the nation at the inauguration of the Charanka Solar Park near Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Read more

Will Solar Projects Need Tax Equity in the Future?

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 16:13 (Renewable Energy World)

I've written in various places about the need for tax equity to finance renewable energy projects—particularly solar. I was under the assumption that tax equity may be a thing of the past. Now, I'm not so sure. You may know that the investment tax credit (ITC) declines from 30 percent to 10 percent of eligible capital costs in 2017. In additi Read more

Spanish to march against solar incentive moratorium

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 15:43 (PV-Tech)

This weekend, Spain will be following in the footsteps of its European cousins, having organised a demonstration against cuts to its solar incentive scheme and energy moratorium. April 22, Earth Day, at noon, Spaniards will march from Santo Domingo Opera Dos de Mayo in the hope their government will take heed of their warning even though similar events in Germany and Italy fell on deaf ears. The UK is currently the only European country to have had any success against curtailing feed-in tariff cuts, no matter how short term the result may be. Read more

Barker defends DECC?s handling of solar FiTs

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 15:42 (Solarpowerportal)

Energy and Climate Change Minister, Greg Barker has defended his department?s handling of the solar feed-in tariff after a series of written questions were submitted to parliament questioning the circumstances surrounding recent turmoil in the industry. Read more

How Chinese Panels Are Impacting the European Solar Market

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

In recent years, the global price of PV modules has undergone a rapid and sustained period of decline. In light of scaled back policy in key markets and recent bankruptcy announcements, the questions remain: How exactly is Chinese PV module pricing affecting the European market? And how best should European governments and solar companies react? Read more

Will Solar Installers Become Commodities Too? Perhaps They Are Already.

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

As solar PV prices continue to be chased down to the lowest $/watt solar commodity, solar PV installers, big and small, must also consider whether their solar services are also headed in the same direction. I strongly believe that experience, certifications, and skill have value, but as solar installation becomes increasingly "plug and play" wit Read more

GeoEye and Geostellar enter agreement to establish US map for PV potential

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 13:31 (PV-Tech)

GeoEye has entered into an agreement with Geostellar. GeoEye specialises in geospatial information systems while Geostellar focuses on the development of analysis platforms for land owners to determine how long it will take them to equalise the investment they made. The data for the analytics process include features like weather, local utility rates, subsidies and shadows to calculate the recoup of a solar installation. Read more

New Jersey utilities increase presence in 2011 Solar Electric Power Association rankings

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 12:41 (Solarserver)

On April 18th, 2012, the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA, Washington D.C., U.S.) released findings from its most recent annual survey of U.S. utilities, noting that growth to a record 62,000 solar photovoltaic (PV) installations was the result of expansion in the U.S. East Coast as well as California and the Southwest. For the fourth consecutive year Pacific Gas & Electric Company Inc. (PG&E, San Francisco, California, U.S.) led the nation in volume of new PV capacity with 288 MW installed in 2011. However, four East Coast utilities also made the top ten, with Public Service Electric & Gas Co. (Newark, New Jersey, U.S.) in the #2 spot with 181 MW installed in 2011. Read more

U.K. solar market booms, crashes again as new regulations come into effect

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 12:32 (Solarserver)

The most recent data released by the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change shows that the U.K. solar photovoltaic (PV) market has crashed a third time, following a rush to install PV plants before restrictive rules came into effect. Data from the two weeks leading to Sunday April 15th, 2012, show a total of only 3.84 MW installed, compared to 33.4 MW installed in the week leading up to April 1st, 2012, and 15.2 MW in the prior week. Starting on April 1st, all properties with PV plants must be certified to a certain level of energy performance in order to receive full feed-in tariff rates. Read more

Sungevity to launch pay-as-you-go solar systems

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 12:20 (PV-Tech)

California-based Sungevity and Australian solar Nickel Energy have announced a joint venture dubbed RoofJuice, to provide pay-as-you-go solar systems. This will set Australian homeowners back by AUD$12,400 for a 5kW installation, with no upfront costs. Read more

Order Focus: Samil Power is awarded 200MW of solar projects

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 12:07 (PV-Tech)

Chinese inverter manufacturer Samil Power has announced that it has been awarded 200MW of PV projects in the Chinese Suqian, Jiangsu region. The region has a high solar radiation and is therefore optimal for new PV projects. Read more

Gehrlicher America and Kennedy/Jenks enter into joint-development agreement

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 11:01 (PV-Tech)

Water and wastewater facilities developer Kennedy/Jenks Consultants and Gehrlicher America have entered into an agreement for a joint development to provide solar energy to water and wastewater providers in the states of California, Arizona and Nevada. Kennedy/Jenks has been involved in the design and planning of water treatment facilities since 1919. Read more

Growing Biogas in North America: Three Legs of Sustainability

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

The transition into adopting biogas in North America is already happening today, as one can see at the University of Wisconsin ? Oshkosh Biodigester I project. Unlike Germany, which enjoys a country-wide incentive structure set by the German government, North American countries have had to rely on visionaries who believe AD is a promising technology that is part of achieving energy independence. Some implemented projects have been supported by investors and have relied on a high organic waste tip fee to support the economic feasibility and cut down the return on investment. Read more

SunSi Energies to acquire 51% stake in TransPacific Energy

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 21:45 (PV-Tech)

SunSi Energies announced that it has signed a binding letter of intent to acquire a 51% interest in TransPacific Energy, a company based in Nevada and California that specializes in designing and selling energy systems. SunSi will buy 51% of TPE?s common stock with TPE being paid in full with shares of SunSi?s common stock. Both companies expect the transactions to be finalized by the end of May. Read more

Yingli signs framework agreement for US$324 million with China Development Bank

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 20:52 (PV-Tech)

Yingli Green Energy Holding and China Development Bank have signed a framework agreement for US$324 million in funding according to a report from Bloomberg. The funding will be used for a trade platform in Hong Kong in order to import raw materials. Read more

Broadway Electrical to develop 44 PV sites along Cape Cod, Martha?s Vineyard

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 20:38 (PV-Tech)

The Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC) announced that it had awarded its Round II PV contract to Broadway Electrical and Cape, which consists of two tiers of PV installations that amount to 49.37MW of PV capacity. Broadway will design and install 44 PV systems throughout the Cape Cod and Martha?s Vineyard regions, helping to supply the areas municipal companies? electricity at a fixed kWh rate for 20 years. Read more

Sungevity expands to Australia; "RoofJuice" to allow customers to purchase electricity from a PV system with no upfront cost

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 19:58 (Solarserver)

On April 19th, 2012, Sungevity Inc. (Oakland, California, U.S.) and Nickel Energy (Lismore, Australia) announced a joint venture that will bring a pay-as-you-go solar option to the nation. New JV Sungevity Australia's RoofJuice product will allow customers to purchase electricity from a PV system with no upfront cost, starting in late May 2012. RoofJuice will also incorporate the company's software tools including remote design services. Read more

California High-Speed Rail Authority signs MOU to develop 2.5 GW of renewable energy generation capacity on state properties

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 19:47 (Solarserver)

On April 18th, 2012, the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced that the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is the latest state agency to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the goal of installing renewable energy systems on state-owned buildings, rights-of-way, vacant lands and other assets. The MOU targets the installation of 2.5 GW of renewable energy capacity to help meet California's renewable portfolio standard of 33% renewable generation by 2020. Seven state agencies have signed the MOU, including the Department of General Services, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Read more

US Re-takes Lead in Clean Energy Race from China ? But Not for Long

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 18:16 (Renewable Energy World)

According to the just-released report "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race?" from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the United States invested the most in Clean Energy of any country in 2011, retaking the lead from China, which had held the top sport for the last two years. But the U.S. resurgence is more likely to be a blip than a trend. Read more

Normalize Renewable Energy Credits Now

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Several renewable energy incentives are on the congressional chopping block this year, and every year, it seems. There are plenty of persuasive arguments on either side regarding whether or not to keep renewable incentives. We believe a long-term energy policy is needed at the federal level to allow the domestic renewable energy industry to grow and ultimately prosper. It will remove the guesswork surrounding what incentives may be available in any given year. Read more

Nick Clegg and Ed Davey call for ?crucial 30 percent cut in European emissions by 2020?

Friday, 4.20.2012 - 13:00 (Solarpowerportal)

The Deputy Prime Minister and Energy and Climate Change Secretary have today launched a robust defence of the Coalition?s green policies after a week of sustained attacks. The ministers have defended the group?s policies, reiterating their ambition for the UK to ?lead the way? towards a low-carbon future. Read more