Decline in global PV market impacts Ferro's 2Q 2012 results

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 16:48 (Solarserver)

Ferro Corporation (Mayfield Heights, Ohio, U.S.) has released financial results for the second quarter of 2012, noting that a fall in demand for solar photovoltaic (PV) products contributed to a USD 90 million year-over-year decline in revenues in its Electronics Materials segment. Overall, Ferro saw a 19% year-over-year decline in net sales to USD 482 million in the second quarter of 2012, and a net loss of USD 2.8 million. Read more

Suntech investigates potential USD 685 million fraud, may delay 2Q 2012 results

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 16:02 (Solarserver)

Suntech Power Holdings Company Ltd. (Wuxi, China) has announced that it is conducting an investigation into potential fraud against the company in relation to its investment in Global Solar Fund Sicar SCA (GSF, Luxembourg). Suntech has filed lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions to assert control of GSF and its assets, and notes that due to potential impact on its finances it may delay the release of second quarter 2012 financial results until it completes the investigation. Read more

Talesun enters Japanese PV market with 26 MW module supply deal

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 15:56 (Solarserver)

Zhongli Talesun Solar Company Ltd. (Changsu, China) has signed an agreement to supply at least 26 MW of its TP660P and TP572M solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to Nice Corporation (Yokohama, Japan). Talesun notes that this agreement marks its entry into the Japanese PV market, following six months of evaluation and negotiation. Read more

Suntech claims to be victim of massive fraud over GSF investment

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 12:59 (PV-Tech)

Suntech Power Holdings said it had started multiple legal proceedings against a number of unidentified parties regarding investment guarantees it provided for a joint venture PV power plant project developer, Global Solar Fund, S.C.A., Sicar (GSF). However, Suntech has claimed that a pledge of ?560 million of German government bonds by a third-party investor of GSF, GSF Capital Pte Ltd., may never have existed. Suntech said that it may have to delay second quarter financial reporting as a result. Read more

France offers ?1 billion investment opportunity

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 20:15 (PV-Tech)

Perhaps not in the way Enerplan wished in a statement to France?s new president, Francois Hollande, but the country is pushing forwards with its plans for renewable energy generation. Delphine Batho, the new minister for ecology, sustainable development and energy, announced the results of two tenders for solar plants. Read more

Wal-Mart Beating Ikea, Apple in U.S. Solar Panel Installations

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 20:02 (Renewable Energy World)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, has installed more than 150 U.S. solar projects and expects to have as much as 90 megawatts of capacity by year-end, more than Ikea Group and Apple Inc. Read more

Heraeus hits back at DuPont?s IP theft claims

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 18:06 (PV-Tech)

Patent infringement and claims of IP theft by DuPont, on rival materials supplier Heraeus and customer SolarWorld, were put in question by the accused as the legal spat continued to be played-out in public. Heraeus said in strongly worded statement that DuPont was attempting to threaten customers over possible legal action, while Heraeus believes DuPont is attempting to discredit Heraeus products with misleading information. Read more

Dye solar PV technology: Dyesol wins Clean Energy Council innovation award

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 16:43 (Solarserver)

The Australian Clean Energy Council has presented an annual award in its newly created innovation category to Dyesol Ltd. (Queanbeyan, Australia). The Clean Energy Council presented the award at the 2012 Clean Energy Week Conference in Sydney, Australia. The Council recognized Dyesol for "ground breaking" work in the development of dye solar photovoltaic (PV) cell technology. Read more

Trina Solar to miss 2Q shipments guidance by wide margin

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 16:41 (PV-Tech)

Due to release second quarter results in only a couple of weeks, Trina Solar has significantly lowered its shipment guidance due to US market weakness after countervailing and anti-dumping duties were imposed as well as a push-out of unidentified PV power plant projects in China to the second-half of the year. Trina Solar said that PV module shipments would be in a wider range of 390MW to 420MW, down from 500MW to 520 MW. Read more

NLP Solar Sales Training Live Webinar August 8th & 9th

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 16:01 (Renewable Energy World)

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Enfinity UK experiences strong growth in 2011

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 16:00 (Solarpowerportal)

Belgian solar PV company, Enfinity, has revealed that its UK division more than doubled its target last year, supplying 6.5MW of solar PV systems across Great Britain. Read more

German flexible CIGS thin-film firm starts production

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 13:17 (PV-Tech)

A next-generation roll-to-roll CIGS thin-film firm, Solarion AG has started production at its first plant in a new industrial park in Zwenkau-Sued near Leipzig, Germany. Primarily planning to target the difficult BIPV and commercial rooftop markets, the company is claiming an initial 10% cell efficiency and a 20MW annual capacity. Read more

Solar Shakeout: PV project developer SunStrom goes bankrupt

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 13:15 (PV-Tech)

The German-based PV project developer, SunStrom has filed for bankruptcy, at the Wienberg Dresden court, according to the provisional liquidator HWW Wienberg Wilhelm. The firm was a subsidiary of Solarwatt, which filed for creditor protection in June 2012. Read more

German flexible GIGS thin-film firm starts production

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 13:15 (PV-Tech)

A next-generation roll-to-roll CIGS thin-film firm, Solarion AG has started production at its first plant in a new industrial park in Zwenkau-Sued near Leipzig, Germany. Primarily planning to target the difficult BIPV and commercial rooftop markets, the company is claiming an initial 10% cell efficiency and a 20MW annual capacity. Read more

Solarion AG starts production at new PV manufacturing facility near Leipzig (Germany); EUR 60 million investment, 100 jobs created

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 12:11 (Solarserver)

On July 27th, 2012, Solarion AG started production at their newly-built integrated solar photovoltaic (PV) cell and module manufacturing facility in the presence of The Minister of State of the Saxon State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport, Sven Morlok. Located on a 3 hectare site in a new industrial park in Zwenkau-Sued by Leipzig, the production hall was erected in 14 months and is Solarion?s first facility for the mass production of their patented flexible thin film solar cells and module products. Read more

A "Third Way" Approach for U.S.-China Solar Trade

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 12:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Last October, SolarWorld led a U.S. manufacturer coalition that asserted trade law violations by Chinese makers of solar cells. The coalition's filing with the Department of Commerce led to significant tariffs being levied on solar products originating in China entering the U.S. Read more

Trina Solar, regional organization speak out against PV trade cases

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 9:07 (Solarserver)

In the wake of recent actions intensifying the solar trade war between the United States and China, and extending this war to Europe, more organizations are challenging the petitions filed by SolarWorld AG (Bonn, Germany) in both the United States and European Union. Trina Solar Ltd. (Changzhou, China) has issued a statement declaring that it expects the European Commission to clear it of unfair trade allegations, while the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.) has filed a formal letter of protest to the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and International Trade Commission regarding the pending tariffs. Read more

Time To Honor the Great Renewable Energy Projects

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 20:53 (Renewable Energy World)

There is nothing more important than celebrating the victories of an emerging industry. The wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and hydropower industries have been putting projects online this year with gusto. Even though project development may slow down for some of those industries in 2013, now is a good time to honor some of the outstanding accompl Read more

The Green Electrician launches new heat division

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 18:01 (Solarpowerportal)

Cheshire-based solar installer, the Green Electrician, has announced the launch of a new renewable heat division. Read more

ZBB Energy's China JV opens energy storage and controls factory

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 16:56 (Solarserver)

On July 25th, 2012, ZBB Energy Corp. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.) announced the opening of Anhui Meineng Store Energy System Co. Ltd.'s advanced manufacturing center in Wuhu (Anhui Province, China). The factory is designed to have an annualized nameplate production capacity rated at 100 MW of energy storage and control products. The 3,000 square meter production area is configured with state-of-the-art equipment, designed to assemble and test ZBB EnerStore advanced energy storage technology and ZBB EnerSection power and energy control systems. Read more

Energy From Waves, Tides May Bring 3 Billion Pounds to U.K.

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Wave and tidal energy has the potential to bring 3 billion pounds ($4.7 billion) a year to the U.K. economy, according to the Carbon Trust, a group set up to advise business and government on how to reduce emissions. Read more

Clean Energy Stocks Decline to Nine-Year Low on Policy Uncertainty

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

The WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index, a global index of clean-energy stocks, declined to a nine-year low as the industry faces oversupply, falling prices and uncertain government support. Read more

?Unlawful? REAL consumer code called into question

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 12:34 (Solarpowerportal)

The law firm behind the Supreme Court victory, which ruled premature cuts to the feed-in tariff as unlawful, has challenged the legality of the Renewable Energy Assurance Scheme?s (REAL) code of conduct. Prospect Law, acting on behalf of Crystal Windows and Doors Ltd, claims that REAL changed crucial parts of the code without consent from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Read more

Powerway ships first production line from China to South Africa

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 12:04 (Solarserver)

Powerway Renewable Energy Company Ltd. (Foshan City, China) has announced that it has shipped its first production line from Guangdong (China) to its new PV mounting structure factory in Kimberley (South Africa). The company estimates that this initial shipment will arrive towards the end of August 2012. Powerway has announced that it will build six manufacturing facilities in South Africa. Read more

Lime Energy, or Lemon Energy?

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 12:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Last week, when Lime Energy (NASD:LIME) announced that an internal investigation by its audit committee had revealed up to $15 million in misreported revenue, my first instinct was to sell, especially because the misreported revenue included not only revenue assigned to the wrong period, but possibly completely fictitious revenue. Read more

Lime Energy or Lemon Energy?

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 12:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Last week, when Lime Energy (NASD:LIME) announced that an internal investigation by its audit committee had revealed up to $15 million in misreported revenue, my first instinct was to sell, especially because the misreported revenue included not only revenue assigned to the wrong period, but possibly completely fictitious revenue. Read more

Indian renewable energy credits suffer from oversupply, unclear regulations

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 11:58 (Solarserver)

Indian market analysts are expressing concern over aspects of the renewable energy credit (REC) market in the nation, with the new REC supply reaching more than double demand in July 2012. Bridge to India (New Delhi, India) notes that there is currently a lack of clarity on both minimum renewable energy project sizes, interconnection rules for REC-eligible projects and intra-state distribution open access regulations for renewable power projects. Read more

German PV supplies more than 5% of electricity in 1H 2012

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 9:25 (Solarserver)

Solar photovoltaic (PV) generation supplied 5.3% of German electricity needs in the first half of 2012, according to statistics released by the nation's Federal Association of Energy and Water (BDEW). BDEW notes that this represents a 47% increase in PV generation over the first half of 2011. PV and other renewable energy sources generated 67.9 billion kWh in the six-month period, and allowed the nation to meet more than 25% of its electricity needs with renewable energy for the first time. Read more

NREL releases state-by-state assessment of renewable energy potential, finds nearly 155,000 GW of PV potential

Monday, 7.30.2012 - 9:16 (Solarserver)

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL, Golden, Colorado, U.S.) has released a new report providing "upper-boundary" renewable energy potential by resource on a state-by-state basis in all 50 U.S. states. "U.S. RE Technical Potential" finds nearly 155,000 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) potential and 38,000 GW of concentrating solar power (CSP) potential across the United States. This is well in excess of other renewable energy sources, such as onshore wind, which shows only 11,000 GW of potential, or hydropower. Read more