GE teams with Fraunhofer IZM to develop power electronics lifetime forecasting method

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 18:33 (PV-Tech)

Marking an important step in the verifiability of the service life of power electronics used in PV power plants, GE has teamed up with Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM) to develop a measurement system for the forecasting of the lifetime of electronic components. The first prototype of this measurement system will be presented in Berlin in September 2012 as the CoMoLeFo project (Condition Monitoring für Leistungselektronik in der Fotovoltaik or Condition Monitoring for Power Electronics in Photovoltaics). Read more

Fraunhofer CSP confirms Q-Cells offers PID protection

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 12:21 (Solarserver)

On June 5th, 2012, Q.CELLS (Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany) announced that its solar photovoltaic (PV) modules now offer protection against potential induced degradation (PID). As part of a cross-sectional study, the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics (CSP, Halle, Germany) has now confirmed that Q.CELLS solar modules reliably prevent solar module output loss due to PID. Read more

Advanced Energy commissions new AE 500 commercial PV inverters at school project

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 12:05 (Solarserver)

On June 7th, 2012, Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.) announced it has supplied its newest AE 500 inverters have been commissioned at one of 13 solar projects totaling MW installed capacity at the Toms River Regional School District in Ocean County (New Jersey, U.S.). The solar photovoltaic (PV) projects were developed by American Clean Energy. Read more

Dr. Geoffrey Kinsey to lead Fraunhofer CSE PV Technology Group

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 11:33 (Solarserver)

The Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.) has announced that it has hired Dr. Geoffrey Kinsey to serve as the new director of its Photovoltaic (PV) Technologies Group. At Fraunhofer CSE, Dr. Kinsey will oversee development of strategy for the Photovoltaics Research group, as well as the execution of research plans and contracts and business development. Dr. Kinsey previously served as senior director of research and development at Amonix Inc. (Seal Beach, California, U.S.). Read more

SMA unveils UL-certified PV inverters with AFCI in North American market

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 11:17 (Solarserver)

On June 7th, 2012, SMA Solar Technology AG (Niestetal, Germany) announced that it has introduced the first DC arc fault circuit interruption (AFCI) solar photovoltaic (PV) inverters for the North American market to receive UL certification SMA's Sunny Boy 3000- 8000-US inverters with AFCI detect and extinguish arc faults. The inverters have been tested to UL 1699B and comply with the PV requirement in the U.S. National Electric Code 2011 Section 690.11. Read more

California Public Utilities Commission approves SDG&E PPA for Mount Signal PV plant

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 8:26 (Solarserver)

On June 7th, 2012 the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved San Diego Gas & Electric Company's (SDG&E, San Diego, California, U.S.) 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Mount Signal 1 solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in California's Imperial Valley. 8minutenergy Renewables LLC (Folsom, California, U.S.) and AES Solar Energy Ltd. (Arlington, Virginia, U.S.) will develop the Mount Signal 1 facility in three phases, with a plan to reach between 150 and 200 MW in December 31st, 2013. The plant will be located in Calexico, near the U.S.-Mexico border. Read more

Talesun, CGN to build 500 MW of PV in the United states by 2015

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 8:23 (Solarserver)

Zhongli Talesun Solar has announced that its U.S. subsidiary has signed an agreement with CGN Solar USA Inc. (Sunnyvale, California, U.S.) to source, develop and construct 500 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in the United States by 2015. Talesun Solar USA Ltd. (San Jose, California, U.S.) plans to build 100 MW for the year 2012, 200 MW in 2013, and 200 MW in 2014. The company states that discussions about collaboration on project funding will start following the implementation of the first project under the build-and-transfer model. Read more

BRIDGE TO INDIA: U.S. tariffs could aid Indian PV manufacturing

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 8:18 (Solarserver)

BRIDGE TO INDIA (New Delhi, India) has released a statement indicating that proposed U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) duties against Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) imports will help India to become an alternative PV manufacturing destination, and that these duties may assist Indian PV manufacturers in obtaining similar tariffs against Chinese imports. BRIDGE TO INDIA explains that Chinese PV producers are expected to look for offshore manufacturing opportunities, which India could benefit from, and also notes that a surplus of Chinese PV could cause a further decline in module prices in India. The market research and consulting company is generally critical of the move, Read more

Intersolar EU: Conergy launches ?complete PV system?

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 19:32 (PV-Tech)

Conergy will be launching a complete PV system for roofs of all types and sizes at Intersolar Europe. The company has developed a system that will fit both, residential and commercial building rooftops, The Conergy Complete 500 for commercial rooftops and the Conergy Complete 300 for residential rooftops. The complete package includes three parts:  Conergy components, a set of services like packaging and customer-specific requirements and PV modules. Read more

Intersolar EU: Atersa launches Verified TES quality control equipment

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 19:22 (PV-Tech)

Atersa?s research and development department has designed quality control equipment called Verified TES, which will be integrated into Atersa?s PV module lines, the company has announced. Read more

Intersolar EU: SolarMax launches P series inverters for PV plants up to 5kW

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 18:49 (PV-Tech)

The SolarMax 4000P and 5000P inverters are specifically designed for PV plants with a capacity up to 5kW and will be presented for the first time at this year?s Munich trade fair. Read more

Local Solar Could Solve 'Massive Supply-Demand Imbalance' in Renewable Energy Financing

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 18:35 (Renewable Energy World)

In the next two years, the U.S. may get a lot less solar and wind power than it could. It?s not a shortage of solar panels or the cost of turbines.  Rather, it?s a problem of the perverse nature of federal incentives for renewable energy.  Right now, the owner of a solar or wind energy project can get a federal tax credit based on the value of the Read more

Fraunhofer ISE?s CalLab improves precision of PV module measurement to within 1.8%

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 17:32 (PV-Tech)

Fraunhofer ISE?s Freiburg, Germany-based PV Module CalLab has revealed that it has increased the accuracy of its precision measurements on solar PV modules to ±1.8% from ±2%, thereby improving the reliability and calculation certainty of a module?s efficiency. The new value was determined in accordance with IEC 60904-1, with the spectral mismatch correction determined according to IEC 60904-3. Read more

Intersolar EU: Power One launches second generation of micro-inverter range

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 17:15 (PV-Tech)

PV inverter manufacturer, Power-One, has announced the second generation of its micro-inverters, the Aurora Micro-0.3-I and Aurora Micro-0.25-I. Read more

Asia Report: As EU Trade Case Looms, Market Could Shift East

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 16:45 (Renewable Energy World)

Rumors are swirling that a trade complaint against Chinese solar manufacturers will be filed in the European Union, and that the announcement could land during the massive Intersolar Europe event that started on Monday in Munich, Germany. Read more

aleo solar?s Spanish plant faces closure

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 16:21 (PV-Tech)

aleo solar?s management board has decided to close down its facility in the Spanish village of Santa Maria de Palautordera, the company has announced. The Spanish facility has a capacity of 20MW and 92 employees, who will be directly affected by the closure, which is scheduled for the end of this year the latest. Read more

First Solar to build 159 MW-AC of PV plants in Australia

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 16:00 (Solarserver)

On June 11th, 2012 First Solar Inc. (Tempe, Arizona, U.S.) announced that it will design and construct two solar photovoltaic (PV) plants totaling 159 MW-AC for AGL Energy Ltd. (North Sydney, Australia) in New South Wales, Australia. First Solar will also supply its cadmium telluride thin-film PV modules. First Solar will build a 106 MW-AC PV plant in Nyngan and and a 53 MW-AC PV plant in Broken Hill, beginning construction on both in 2014. The Australian government will support these projects through its Solar Flagships Program, which aims to build large-scale demonstration PV and concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. Read more

Intersolar EU: Hanwha Solar to launch expanded product line

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 15:52 (PV-Tech)

Korean solar photovoltaic manufacturer, Hanwha Solar, is set to use Intersolar Europe as a platform to launch an expanded portfolio of products and services. Read more

PV record: Germany reaches 10% electricity production from solar in May; 4 billion kWh fed into the grid

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 15:28 (Solarserver)

May 2012 was a record month for solar photovoltaics (PV) in Germany, according to figures presented by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW). For the first time slightly more than four billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity from PV was generated and fed into the German grid last month. This electricity generation from solar corresponds to about ten percent of Germany's electricity consumption during May and represents an increase of roughly 40 percent over PV generation in May 2011. Read more

aleo solar AG closes PV production plant in Spain

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 15:20 (Solarserver)

aleo solar AG (Oldenburg, Prenzlau, Germany) will close its plant in the Spanish village of Santa Maria de Palautordera by the end of this year, at the latest. The Supervisory Board of aleo solar AG has approved the corresponding decision of the Management Board, the company reports in a press release. Read more

Benchmarking from the Bottom: An Introspection from Solar Executives

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

The international energy crisis is a frustrating conundrum. When I took a course on climate change during my senior year at Penn State, Professor Brown said something that simultaneously gave me feelings of hope and despair: "We currently possess all the technology needed to overcome climate change, the challenge to overcome lies in the political sphere." Read more

Marketing from the Ground Up: An Introspection from Solar Executives

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

The international energy crisis is a frustrating conundrum. When I took a course on climate change during my senior year at Penn State, Professor Brown said something that simultaneously gave me feelings of hope and despair: "We currently possess all the technology needed to overcome climate change, the challenge to overcome lies in the political sphere." Read more

Sharp launches complete solar PV kits

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 14:20 (Solarpowerportal)

Wrexham-based solar panel manufacturer, Sharp will now supply complete kit systems to the UK solar market. The kits are now available in the UK and will be rolled out across Sharp?s other European markets during 2012 and into 2013. Read more

The Promise and Unanswered Questions About CZTS Solar Technology

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 14:06 (Renewable Energy World)

After spending years working on commercializing copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) thin films, AQT Solar is now focusing on engineering thin films that use copper, zinc, tin and sulfur (CZTS) instead. Last week, the Silicon Valley company said it had created a prototype CZTS panel and could one day deliver cheap cells for its customers, who will then assemble the cells into panels. Read more

One in six farms will have solar installed by summer 2012

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 13:34 (Solarpowerportal)

Joint research published by the National Farmers? Union (NFU) and NatWest has revealed that 30 percent of farmers across England and Wales will be engaged in some form of renewable energy production by the end of the summer. Read more

Scatec and IFC enter agreement to develop PV plants in West and Central Africa

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 13:25 (PV-Tech)

Norwegian-based Scatec Solar and IFC InfraVentures have entered an agreement to develop a number of PV plants in West and Central Africa, the companies have announced. IFC will be financing the projects while Scatec will be responsible for designing, developing, constructing and operating PV plants with a capacity of 10MW or more in different African countries. Among the first countries in which Scatec and IFC are planning to develop solar power plants are Benin, Cameroon, Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso. Read more

Intersolar EU: Lapp Group and FPE Fischer set to unveil new range of joint developments

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 12:53 (PV-Tech)

German companies Lapp Group and FPE Fischer are set to announce a host of new joint developments at this year?s Intersolar Europe. Read more

Big Solar arrives in Australia with a 159MW PV plant

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 12:31 (PV-Tech)

The winner of the Australian Solar Flagship Program is a 159MW PV plant in NSW (New South Wales), the Australian Solar Industry has announced. This is not only a game changer, as John Grimes of the Australian Solar Energy Society (AuSES) calls it, because Big Solar has finally arrived in Australia but also because due to continuing price drops in solar the project will only cost approximately AUS$129.7 million, half as much as originally estimated. Read more

Big Solar arrives in Australia with 159MW PV project

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 12:31 (PV-Tech)

The winner of the Australian Solar Flagship Program is a 159MW PV project in NSW (New South Wales) developed by AGL and First Solar, the Australian Solar Industry has announced. This is not only a game changer, as John Grimes of the Australian Solar Energy Society (AuSES) calls it, because Big Solar has finally arrived in Australia but also because due to continuing price drops in solar the project will only cost approximately AUS$129.7 million, half as much as originally estimated. Read more

Korean delegation visits Qatar Solar Technologies to discuss potential collaboration in solar energy

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 12:12 (Solarserver)

On June 7th, 2012, Qatar Solar Technologies (QSTec, Doha, Qatar) announced that a Korean delegation visited the company's headquarters to learn about the organization's current activities and future plans in solar energy. Read more

CNPV PV systems receive ?A? certification from Inmetro

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 12:05 (PV-Tech)

Luxembourg-based CNPV Solar Power has announced that it has received the highest approval certification from the Brazilian National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (Inmetro) for its PV systems. Further, the company has announced that Donauer Solartechnik will be representing CNPV in Brazil. Read more

Targray to unveil new aluminum paste for passivated rear contact PV cells at Intersolar Europe

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 11:57 (Solarserver)

Targray Technology International Inc. (Kirkland, Canada) has announced that it will introduce a new aluminum paste for rear-side passivated and locally contacted solar photovoltaic (PV) cells at the Intersolar Europe trade show in Munich, June 13th-15th, 2012. Targray's M7 Aluminum Paste is designed for use on passivated surfaces to form a local back surface field for both mono and multi-crystalline silicon PV cells. The PERC and PERL PV cell designs for which the paste is intended offer improved efficiencies by more efficiently trapping light. Read more

Solar Frontier?s process upgrades provide 14.1% aperture area efficiency

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 11:20 (PV-Tech)

Incremental manufacturing process step improvements have led to CIS (copper, indium, and selenium) thin-film producer, Solar Frontier claiming its ?S? Series modules have an aperture area efficiency of 14.1% and a module efficiency of 13.0%. As a result of the efficiency improvements, the company said it was phasing out its 130W modules and replacing them with a product lineup spanning 140 - 160W. Read more

REC terminates long-term solar wafer sales contract, receives USD 35 million in compensation

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 10:51 (Solarserver)

On June 5th, 2012, Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC, Sandvika, Norway) announced that it has terminated a long-term wafer sales contract and received USD 35 million in cash compensation. REC entered into a number of long term take or pay wafer sales contracts in the period 2006-2008, and has agreed to terminate one of these. Income from the cancellation will be recognized in the second quarter of 2012. Read more

Renewable Rankings Galore: How G20 Nations Measure Up

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 21:07 (Renewable Energy World)

As world leaders from industrial giants and developing nations alike pack their bags for the Rio+20 Earth Summit later this month, the Natural Resources Defense Council used the opportunity to examine how G20 nations are faring on both renewable generation and clean energy investment. Read more

Prepare for launch: DECC seeks to seal the Green Deal

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 17:11 (Solarpowerportal)

Following the consideration of more than 600 responses to the consultation on the Green Deal and ECO, Government has today set out secondary Green Deal legislation. The changes to the original proposals include measures to strengthen consumer protection, reduce industry burdens, and to implement the Energy Company Obligation (ECO). Read more

DECC downgrades RHI budget for 2012/13

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 16:36 (Solarpowerportal)

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced the results of its consultation over the proposed cost-control mechanism for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme. Read more

Benchmarking:How Does Your Building Stack Up?

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 15:39 (Renewable Energy World)

By David Pospisil, Guest Blogger, Energy Efficiency Markets Energy benchmarking can help you better understand your commercial property?s energy use and monitor performance over time. It allows for comparisons among similar building types and helps identify which ones could operate more efficiently. The Environmental Protection Agency and its ENERG Read more

Benchmarking: How Does Your Building Stack Up?

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 15:39 (Renewable Energy World)

By David Pospisil, Guest Blogger, Energy Efficiency Markets Energy benchmarking can help you better understand your commercial property?s energy use and monitor performance over time. It allows for comparisons among similar building types and helps identify which ones could operate more efficiently. The Environmental Protection Agency and its ENERG Read more

RES Inbuilt Appoints Managing Director

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 11:49 (Solarpowerportal)

Renewable energy project developer, RES Group has appointed David Coyne as Managing Director of its Inbuilt division. Read more

RES Inbuilt appoints Managing Director

Monday, 6.11.2012 - 11:49 (Solarpowerportal)

Renewable energy project developer, RES Group has appointed David Coyne as Managing Director of its Inbuilt division. Read more