News of the year 2012

Date: 21.05.2012



Photovoltaics

PV start-up Solexel raises USD 25 million in Series C round

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 12:07 (Solarserver)

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology start-up Solexel Inc. (Milpitas, California, U.S.) has raised USD 25 million in equity financing in a Series C round, according to its latest filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Gentry Venture Partners (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) led the financing round, which will be used to build a pilot plant in California. According to Bloomberg, SunPower Corporation (San Jose, California, U.S.), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (Menlo Park, California, U.S.), Technology Partners (Palo Alto, California, U.S.) and DAG Ventures LLC (Palo Alto, California, U.S.) also participated in the round. Read more

Californians take action to support solar photovoltaic generation, net metering

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 11:51 (Solarserver)

Proponents of net metering report sending 60,000 emails to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) urging it to increase the amount of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation which can participate in the state's policy, by challenging current utility practice in calculating the state net metering cap. The CPUC has indicated in a preliminary ruling that utilities are using an overly restrictive approach to calculating this cap, and on May 24th, 2012 the agency will vote on this proposal. The Vote Solar Initiative warns that under current policy, the cap could be reached as early as mid-2013. Read more

China Sunergy supplies 5 MW of PV modules to Bulgaria

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 11:42 (Solarserver)

On May 17th, 2012, China Sunergy Co. Ltd. (Nanjing, China), a specialized solar cell and photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturer, announced that it has completed delivery of 5 MW of PV modules for the installation at Yerussalimovo Solar Park in Bulgaria. Yerussalimovo Solar Park is located in the vicinities of Yerussalimovo Village in Southern Bulgaria. The PV modules were sold to Mitsubishi International GmbH and are being installed and managed by Helios Power, China Sunergy reports. Read more

PV production technology: Manz starts series of product releases for cSi solar cell equipment at SNEC

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 11:33 (Solarserver)

Hightech-Engineering firm Manz AG (Reutlingen, Germany) introduced new equipment for wet-chemical processing of crystalline silicon solar cells at SNEC 2012 fair. Purpose of the tool named IPSG CEI 4800 is to remove the highly doped layer from the backside and the edges of a wafer and thereby produce a chemical edge isolation (CEI). In a second process step the remaining phosphor silicate glass (PSG) layer on the front side of the wafer that was created during the previous diffusion process step, is removed. Read more

NADB to loan SunEdison USD 65 million for 20 MW PV plant in Arizona

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 11:13 (Solarserver)

On May 18th, 2012, SunEdison LLC (Beltsville, Maryland, U.S.) announced that it has signed a USD 65 million loan agreement with the North American Development Bank (NADB, San Antonio, U.S.) to support the building of a 20 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the U.S. state of Arizona. The plant will be comprised of MEMC crystalline silicon PV modules mounted on a single-axis tracking system, and will occupy 80-100 hectares of land owned by a department of the city of Tucson (Arizona, U.S.). SunEdison will serve as engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project. Read more

Chinese PV manufacturers promise to continue participation in U.S. PV market following DOC ruling

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 8:52 (Solarserver)

Major Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers and polysilicon maker Hemlock Semiconductor (Hemlock, Michigan, U.S.) have issued statements condemning a preliminary ruling by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) in its anti-dumping investigation of imports of Chinese-made PV products. Suntech Power Holdings Company Ltd. (Wuxi, China), Trina Solar Ltd. (Changzhou, China) and Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Ltd. (Baoding, China) have all vowed to continue their participation in the U.S. PV market, while warning of potential damage to the U.S. PV industry. The Chinese government has also expressed "extreme dissatisfaction" with the ruling, which industry analysts predict Read more


Thermal Power/Heating

Yesterday's Solar Eclipse ? Tomorrow's Healthy Solar Industry

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 20:20 (Renewable Energy World)

There was a solar eclipse yesterday. The kind in the sky where the moon partially obscures the sun. Read more

SolarWorld claims competition has been restored with DoC?s determination

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 19:45 (PV-Tech)

While some analysts are calling for calm and urging cooperation, the US head of SolarWorld has voiced confidence in the US Department of Commerce?s announcement for anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports of solar material claiming it will restore competition within the industry. Read more

SEMI urges cooperation through global trade agreement

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 19:19 (PV-Tech)

Last week, the US Department of Commerce imposed tariffs of between 31 and 250% on solar imports from China. Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) has issued a statement calling for all parties to work together on measures to eliminate trade and investment barriers to solar energy. Read more

Asia Report: Solar Stocks Tumble After Tariff Ruling

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 19:02 (Renewable Energy World)

It was another rough week for China's once booming solar manufacturers, who are already reeling from overcapacity and major subsidy drawbacks in the European market. Read more

Belectric installs 1GW of solar energy

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 18:38 (PV-Tech)

Belectric has announced that it has installed more than 1GW of solar energy. Following the commission of a number of different PV projects this week, in its tenth year of operation, Belectric is the first company worldwide to reach the 1GW mark. Read more

Ed Davey opens King Athelstan?s solar system

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 17:26 (Solarpowerportal)

Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change was invited down to King Athelstan School in Surrey to officially unveil its new solar array. Read more

Nanosolar installs 1MW at Camp Roberts, California

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 17:22 (PV-Tech)

Nanosolar has installed a 1MW ground mounted solar project at Camp Roberts, California, the company has announced. The installation at the National Guard?s training facility in San Miguel is equipped with 4,992 Nanosolar panels and part of the Department of Defense?s (DoD) Energy Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). Under this program, different green technologies are tested to optimize energy generation and cost reduction as well as reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Read more

SolarEdge ships over 1 million optimizers

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 17:01 (PV-Tech)

SolarEdge Technologies has announced that it has shipped an excess of 1 million of its solar power optimizing and monitoring solutions worldwide. The company ships its optimizers to over 30 different countries. Read more

Petra Solar to build 5 MW distributed "smart" PV project in Bahrain

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 16:41 (Solarserver)

On May 21st, 2012 Petra Solar Inc. (South Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S.) announced that it has signed an agreement with Bahrain's National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA, Hoora, Bahrain), the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO, Awali, Bahrain) and Caspian Energy Holdings LLC (Washington D.C., U.S.) to build a 5 MW distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) project at several locations in Bahrain. Petra Solar says that the project will bring both PV generation and smart grid benefits to the BAPCO township of Awali, the University of Bahrain, and other locations. The project is a collaboration between Petra Solar, NOGA, BAPCO, Bahrain's Electricity and Water Authority (Manama, Bahrain), Read more

Intersolar Europe announces nominees for the Intersolar Awards 2012

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 16:21 (PV-Tech)

The Intersolar Award 2012 will be presented on June 13th at the Intersolar Europe in Munich. In its fifth year, entries from Intersolar China, North America and India have been invited to enter for the first time. The ceremony is held on Jun 13th, 2012, at 4.30pm at the Intersolar Europe Innovations Exchange in hall B3, booth B3.450. Read more

Intersolar AWARD 2012: Intersolar Europe unveils the nominees for the solar industry innovation prize for the fifth time

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 16:14 (Solarserver)

On June 13th, 2012 the world's largest exhibition for the solar industry honors the innovative strength of the industry for the fifth year running by presenting the Intersolar AWARD for pioneering products and services from photovoltaics, solar thermal technologies and PV production technologies categories. The Intersolar AWARD is presented in a ceremony at Intersolar Europe's Innovation Exchange in hall B3, booth B3.450 at 4:30pm on June 13, 2012. Read more

Ascent Solar enters agreement to integrate solar panels in Chinese railway stations

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 15:45 (PV-Tech)

Ascent Solar has entered into a development agreement with Shenzhen Radiant Enterprise and the Third Railway Survey and Design Institute (TSDI), the company has announced. Under the agreement, the three companies aim to install Ascent solar panels into already existing as well as future railway stations in China. TSDI has been involved in designing over 50,000km of Chinese railways, as well as the design of the Beijing South railway station. Read more

Will SolarWorld's Brand be Helped or Harmed by the China Trade Dispute?

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

When one thinks of the solar trade dispute that has led to a 31 percent-plus tariff on Chinese solar manufacturers, the first brand that comes to mind is SolarWorld, who publicly led the CASM Coalition and filed the complaint. Now that the decision is in, will SolarWorld’s leadership benefit its brand relationship with installers or hurt it? Read more

Fluor Corporation finishes construction of LDK Solar?s Chinese polysilicon plant

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 13:13 (PV-Tech)

American-based Fluor Corporation has finished constructing one of LDK Solar?s polysilicon plants in China, the company has announced. Fluor provided EPC services for the plant in Xinyu City, China. Read more

Solar FiT cut deadline expected to be August 1

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 12:46 (Solarpowerportal)

The Solar Trade Association (STA) has today sent a notification to all members suggesting the upcoming feed-in tariff cuts will be moved to August 1. This news comes after the UK solar industry?s concerns that being kept in the dark about deadlines was adding further uncertainty to the market. Read more

SolarCity, Campus Crest to put PV plants at student housing in three U.S. states

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 12:12 (Solarserver)

On May 17th, 2012, SolarCity Corporation (San Mateo, California, U.S.) announced a partnership with Campus Crest Communities Inc. (Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.) to install PV plants on student housing at universities in the U.S. states of Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Through the partnership, SolarCity will arrange for the installation of more than 9,000 PV modules on student housing in the cities of Flagstaff, Arizona, Greeley, Colorado and Las Cruces and New Mexico. Read more

JinkoSolar supplies 50MW to GSHHSD PV project in Northwest China

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 12:02 (PV-Tech)

JinkoSolar will supply the state-owned Chinese developer GSHHSD with PV modules for a 50MW project in the Northwest of China. The PV plant is part of China?s plan to add 15GW of energy to the grid by 2015. Read more

Qatar Solar Technologies and Qatar Electricity and Water sign MoU to develop solar energy in Qatar

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 11:46 (PV-Tech)

Qatar Solar Technologies and Qatar Electricity and Water have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop solar power in Qatar. QST is currently constructing a US$1.1 billion polysilicon manufacturing plant in the Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar. Read more

SolarEdge: Over 1 Million PV power optimizers shipped worldwide; provider of distributed solar power optimization continues successful growth

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 11:23 (Solarserver)

SolarEdge Technologies (Hod Hasharon, Israel), a leading global provider of end-to-end solar photovoltaic (PV) power optimization systems and monitoring solutions, on May 21st, 2012 announced the milestone of one million power optimizers shipped worldwide. SolarEdge established the market for distributed solar power optimization and, on own account, is leading the market with over 70% share. Read more

Solar industry milestone: BELECTRIC becomes the world's first company to install 1 GW of PV generation capacity

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 9:10 (Solarserver)

Global market leader BELECTRIC (Kolitzheim, Germany) has achieved a historic milestone for the solar industry. With the commissioning of multiple photovoltaic (PV) systems in the middle of May 2012 BELECTRIC has become the first company in the world to install more than one gigawatt (GW) of photovoltaic power, which corresponds to the system output of a large conventional power plant. ?This is an outstanding event for BELECTRIC and the photovoltaics industry in general. My special thanks go to all the employees who have driven forward the development of the company in all parts of the world in the past 10 years,? stated Bernhard Beck, CEO of BELECTRIC, with no small measure Read more


Biomass/Pellets

There are no news available

 



Wind Energy

There's Something To Be Said for Having the Right Kind of Singular Focus

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 18:24 (Renewable Energy World)

Construction at the Youngs Creek powerhouse near Sultan, Wash., was moving along just fine when the day came to install the facility’s turbine. But there was one problem: It wouldn’t fit through the door. The casing on the turbine was too wide, and there was no way to reposition it to squeeze it in. (Left: The Young's Creek powerhouse Read more


Hydropower

There are no news available

 



Hydrogen/Fuel Cell

There are no news available

 



Geo Thermal/Heat Pump

There are no news available

 



Energy Policy/Climate/CO2

Polysilicon shipments up at Daqo New Energy but revenue down as losses continue

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 17:03 (PV-Tech)

Despite full-capacity utilization and increased shipments of polysilicon and wafers, Daqo New Energy suffered falling revenue and continued losses in the first quarter of 2012. Based-on previously guided poly production cost reduction timelines and current spot market pricing - Daqo is fighting a loosing battle to sell polysilicon above cost levels through 2012 and 2013. Read more

Greg Barker opens new Eco Community Education Centre

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 15:58 (Solarpowerportal)

The Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, Greg Barker, visited Norwich to open Broadland District Council?s Eco Community Education Centre. Read more

Germany's Storage Conundrum

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Nobody is guaranteeing the success of Germany’s seminal energy revolution, not yet. As good as the timetable looks, there are still a lot of unknowns. One of the big items — but still nowhere near a solution — is creating new storage options for electricity. This is imperative because of the fluctuations inherent in renewable e Read more

EAC: Governmental policies are ?stalling green economy?

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 12:23 (Solarpowerportal)

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has published a report lambasting the Coalition Government over its shortcomings concerning the green economy. Read more

Interstate Renewable Energy Council releases new report on strategies to improve the permitting process for rooftop PV

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 12:00 (Solarserver)

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC, Latham, New York, U.S.) has released a new report outlining strategies used across the United States to increase the efficiency of the permitting process for rooftop solar systems. IREC states that it intends "Sharing Success: Emerging Approaches to Efficient Rooftop Solar Permitting" to serve as both a means to begin discussions of permitting challenges and useful information for governments looking to improve the permitting process without compromising safety. Read more

DECC launches £10m competition for social landlords

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 11:32 (Solarpowerportal)

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is set to launch a £10 million competition where social landlords can battle it out for funding to install renewable heat technologies. The scheme will be officially opened on Monday May 28 at St Martin?s in the Fields, in Trafalgar Square, London. Read more

SunEdison signs UD$65 million loan agreement for 20MW PV plant

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 11:10 (PV-Tech)

SunEdison has signed a loan agreement over US$65 million with the North American Development Bank (NADB), the company has announced. The loan will finance the construction of a 20MW PV plant in Picture Rocks, Arizona. Certification for the plant had been approved in December 2011 by the NADB board and the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC). The generated energy will be sold to Tucson Electric Power (TEP) under a 20-year PPA in order to comply with the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) renewable energy standard. Read more

REC to open silicon applications and research center in China

Monday, 5.21.2012 - 8:45 (Solarserver)

On May 17th, 2012 Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC, Sandvika, Norway) announced that it plans to open a new applications and research center in Shangyu, China, to serve as a technology development and training facility. REC states that its Silicon Technologies Applications and Research (STAR) Center will provide localized support for its Chinese customers. Additionally, Tore Torvund, executive VP of subsidiary REC Silicon delivered the keynote speech at the silicon materials session at the SNEC conference in Shanghai. Read more


Solar-/Electromobil

There are no news available

 



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