Armor enters OPV manufacturing market with ?14 million investment

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 18:15 (PV-Tech)

Armor Group, a French supplier of coated films for the thermal transfer printing industry, is stepping into the OPV solar cell manufacturing realm by investing ?14 million (US$18 million) in a pilot OPV production line in La Chevrolière in western France, Les Echos revealed. Read more

EU PVSEC: Heraeus to debut improved metallization paste for high-efficiency cells

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 16:15 (PV-Tech)

Heraeus Photovoltaics Business Unit will be showcasing its new high-performance metallization paste, SOL9600 at EU PVSEC in Frankfurt next week. The new paste was developed to offer significant improvements in contact quality on regular and high sheet emitter wafers that have resulted in as much as a 35% reduction in contact resistance. Overall efficiency gains are claimed to be as much as 0.3%, compared to previous pastes such as SOL9235 and SOL9411. Read more

PV Recycling, CERES sign partnership agreement for dedicated recycling solution

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 15:53 (Solarserver)

PV Recycling LLC (Tempe, Arizona, U.S.) and CERES (Paris, France) have signed a partnership agreement to create a dedicated recycling solution for manufacturers of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules selling in Europe and the United States. The collaboration will include collection, handling, and material reclamation activities, and the organizations pledge that processing of PV modules will be done in an environmentally, socially and financially responsible manner. Read more

French PV producer Senersun improves module warranty

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 15:41 (Solarserver)

On September 17th, 2012, Senersun Ltd. (Bordeaux Cedex, France), a manufacturer of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, announced that it has upgraded its power output warranty to a linear performance warranty. Under the new warranty, Senersun guarantees that its solar panels will produce at least 97% of the rated power output during the first year. From the second year onwards and for the 24 following years, the company guarantees that its panels' power will not decrease by more than 0.7% of the rated power per year. Read more

Renewable energy portal Top50-Solar launches PV-Log, the first social networking site for photovoltaics

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 15:34 (Solarserver)

PV-Log, set up initially to provide a yield comparison for plant owners, now provides a unique social networking platform for PV owners. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of PV-Log is ?Solar-Friends?. This social monitoring device is allowing users to find other PV operators at the same location or using the same technology to compare their PV performance and exchange information. Installers in particular can now benefit by showcasing their installations through referencing. Read more

Walmart to install its largest PV system at distribution center in Buckeye, Arizona

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 15:22 (Solarserver)

On September 13th, 2012, Walmart announced that it will install its largest solar photovoltaic (PV) system at its distribution center in Buckeye, Arizona. The distribution center will feature more than 14,000 solar panels on a 1,000,000 sq. feet building and parking canopies that will cover up to 30% of the center's energy needs. Read more

Official: President of Suntech Europe departing

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 13:03 (PV-Tech)

According to informed sources close to those involved, Jerry Stokes, president of Suntech Europe has agreed a settlement with senior management of Suntech Power Holdings to leave the company. Stokes joined the company in 2006. Suntech?s newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, David King recently set about restructuring senior management roles with the exit of Andrew Beebe, Suntech?s Chief Commercial Officer and regional heads reporting directly to King. Read more

SEMI releases Q2, 2012 PV equipment market statistics report: book-to-bill ratio is below parity for the fifth consecutive quarter

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 12:46 (Solarserver)

SEMI (San Jose, California, U.S.) on September 18th, 2012 reported the worldwide solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing equipment billings and bookings for the second quarter of 2012. After declining to its lowest level in the previous quarter since the start of the data program, worldwide billings increased slightly in the second quarter, up 2% quarter-on-quarter. However, the reported billings of USD 706 million were only 35% of the billings reported in the same quarter a year ago. Read more

U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation approves USD 250 million in funding for South African PV project

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 12:20 (Solarserver)

The board of directors of the U.S. government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has approved up to USD 250 million in funding for a 60 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project in South Africa. SunEdison LLC (Beltsville, Maryland, U.S.) will build and operate the PV plant in the Free State province of South Africa, in collaboration with two South African companies. The project was secured through the nation's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Program (REIPP). Read more

Bulgaria retroactively cuts PV feed-in tariff rates up to 39%

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 9:35 (Solarserver)

The nation of Bulgaria has introduced new, temporary feed-in tariff rates, including cutting the rates for solar photovoltaic (PV) plants above 200 kW by 5-39%. These rate reductions were decided at a closed session of the Bulgarian Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SWERC). The new rates went into effect on September 18th, 2012, and will apply to previously commissioned plants. Read more

Solar Works begins final negotiations to take over operation of Schott Solar facility in Albuquerque

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 22:15 (PV-Tech)

Solar Works, part of McCune Works, advised that it is in the final phase of negotiations for the assumption of operations of Schott Solar?s Albuquerque, New Mexico solar facility. Solar Works expects for production to resume early next year under the new ?Hott Solar PV? logo. Full production is anticipated for Q4 2013, which means that nearly 130 employees will be working at the site with an annual payroll of over US$6.5 million. Read more

Vivint Solar and its parent company acquired by Blackstone

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 21:15 (PV-Tech)

Blackstone and Vivint have come to a definitive agreement, which under a fund managed by Blackstone on behalf of its private equity investors Blackstone Capital Partner VI, will acquire Vivint from its current shareholders. The transaction is estimated to be worth over US$2 billion, with current Vivint investors being bought out including Goldman Sachs, Peterson Partners, Jupiter Partners and other minority stakeholders. Read more

AlsoEnergy monitoring 200 North American solar installations

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 21:15 (PV-Tech)

AlsoEnergy revealed that it is currently monitoring over 200 solar installations throughout the US and Canada. The installations are found on public schools, colleges and universities, with the company providing energy production monitoring data, along with educational kiosks at each location. Read more

SunPower completes 1.3MW installation at San Francisco?s Embarcadero Exploratorium

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 21:15 (PV-Tech)

San Francisco?s Embarcadero Exploratorium is now sporting a 1.3MW SunPower rooftop solar system. The system is designed so that it can ultimately produce 100% of the site?s electricity demands. Once the facility is completed in spring 2013, system performance will be updated every 15 minutes and displayed in the Exploratorium?s lobby. Read more

Eneco and Susi Partners seek PV acquisition deals in France and Belgium

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 19:15 (PV-Tech)

Eneco Solar, Bio & Hydro BV, a subsidiary of the Netherlands-based renewable energy firm Eneco, and Switzerland-based investment company Susi Partners, have inked a deal whereby the two companies will collaborate to acquire PV power plants in France and Belgium over the next 18 months. Read more

ib vogt plans UK?s largest solar farm

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 18:32 (Solarpowerportal)

German solar developer ib vogt GmbH has debuted plans to install the UK?s largest solar farm ? a 47MW solar farm at Newlands Farm between Fareham and Stubbington, Portsmouth. Read more

PV project developers eye up new opportunities in China?s agricultural sector

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 17:15 (PV-Tech)

PV projects on agricultural land are playing a key role in China?s rapidly growing distributed PV power generation segment as identified by NPD Solarbuzz which is currently tracking more than 300MW of agricultural PV projects in the country in its China Deal Tracker report. Read more

Blackstone to Buy Vivint for $2B and Support Its Expansion in Solar and Beyond

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 16:45 (Renewable Energy World)

Home automation giant Vivint hasn't worked the solar market for long, but it already found a big investor who promises to expand the Utah company's reach into renewable energy and beyond. Blackstone announced Wednesday it will buy Vivint for over $2 billion. Read more

Yingli partners with Solar 360 for PV module distribution in Australia

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 15:46 (Solarserver)

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Ltd.'s (Baoding, China) Australian subsidiary has signed an agreement to appoint Solar 360 as a sales partner. Under the agreement, Yingli will provide Solar 360 with 30 MW of its solar photovoltaic (PV) modules for distribution through its dealer network in Australia. Read more

Concentrating solar power: Quebec awards Rackam with CAD 250,000 for commercialization of CSP technology

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 15:27 (Solarserver)

On September 17th, 2012, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions announced that Rackam Inc. (Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada) has received CAD 250,000 (USD 256,500) in funding for the commercialization of its concentrating solar power systems (CSP). Rackam has developed a concentrating solar thermal system for industrial use and started producing and commercializing its product. Read more

China Solar Manufacturer LDK Looks for Buyer

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

There are quite a few developments on the solar energy front today, led by the release of new financial results from LDK (NYSE: LDK), the weakest of China's major solar panel makers, that show a company in the midst of a meltdown. Meantime, Beijing has officially protested a US law that allows Washington to levy punitive tariffs against overseas in Read more

Libra Energy announces partnership with Canadian Solar

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 12:48 (Solarpowerportal)

Global solar distributor, Libra Energy, has announced a partnership agreement with Canadian Solar, one of the world?s largest solar PV manufacturers. Read more

Verengo Solar installs 5,000th PV system

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 12:25 (Solarserver)

Verengo Solar (Torrance, California, U.S.) has announced that it has installed its 5,000th residential solar photovoltaic (PV) system. The company notes that it reached this milestone in only four years. The 5.6 kW system was installed on a home in Thousand Oaks (California, U.S.) and utilizes Verengo's "Zero Down" financing option. Read more

David Cameron hails solar PV?s potential in the UK

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 11:23 (Solarpowerportal)

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has talked up solar PV?s potential to help the UK diversify its energy mix as well as curtail its escalating carbon emissions during a visit to his local constituency in Witney, Oxfordshire. Read more

KPMG: Indian solar market potential of 12.5 GW by 2016-2017

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 9:49 (Solarserver)

KPMG has released a new report which finds that rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) generation could be less expensive than consumer retail electricity in some Indian market segments as early as 2014. "The Rising Sun" also forecasts parity in the wholesale electricity market as early as 2017, the near end of the timeframe offered by a report released 16 months prior. Combined with the favorable economics of replacing diesel generation and renewable energy policies, the report estimates 12.5 GW of solar market potential in India by 2016-2017. Read more

Bridge to India: REC market volume to reach 480 million by 2016

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 9:42 (Solarserver)

Bridge to India (New Delhi, India) has released a new report which forecasts that 480 million renewable energy credits (RECs) will be issued and traded in India by 2016. "The REC mechanism: Viability of solar projects in India" predicts that previous lax enforcement of Renewable Purchase Obligations will be stepped up, and that REC projects will increase to 868 MW by 2016. If only 25% of RPO requirements are met through the REC mechanism, this will mean 480 million RECs traded by 2016. Read more

BioSolar back to basics as lower cost backsheet material needed

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 0:59 (PV-Tech)

Although heavily hyped as a low-cost alternative to conventional oil-based PV backsheet materials, start-up BioSolar said that it was to develop a new bio-based backsheet material that would aim to be of even lower cost in order to capture more customers. Back in March, 2011 the company had said it was supplying sample material for PV module manufacturers based in Asia for evaluation. Read more

BioSolar back to basics as lower-cost backsheet material needed

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 0:16 (PV-Tech)

Although heavily-hyped as a lower-cost alternative to conventional oil-based PV backsheet materials, start-up BioSolar said that it was to develop a new bio-based backsheet material that would aim to be of even lower cost to actually capture more customers. Back in March, 2011 the company had said it was supplying sample material for PV module manufacturers based in Asia for evaluation. Read more

Is the EU Abandoning Biofuels?

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 15:43 (Renewable Energy World)

In Brussels, a draft proposal is under consideration in the EU to eliminate food-crop subsidies for biofuels production by 2020, and cap crop-based biofuels to 5 percent of EU transportation fuels. Read more

Studies Cite Increased Demand for Wind Power, Other Renewables

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 21:05 (Renewable Energy World)

Last week, businesses still on the fence about exploring their options in renewable energy were given an encouraging nudge, an indicator that now may be the best time for private companies to take the plunge so many have delayed taking. According to one of two global studies commissioned by Vestas, the overwhelming majority of consumers want more renewable energy. And nearly half say they'd be willing to pay more for products made using it. Read more

Siemens to Cut 615 US Wind Energy Jobs as New Orders Dry Up

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 16:02 (Renewable Energy World)

Siemens AG will eliminate 615 jobs at U.S. factories producing windmills in response to declining orders, dealing a blow to Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher's push into environmentally friendly energy sources. Read more

Renewable Energy Certificates slashed by UK government

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 17:15 (PV-Tech)

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has revoked the statement made in July to take no immediate action on the Department?s renewable obligation certificates (ROC), which supports installations >5MW. As reported by Solar Power Portal, DECC is currently consulting over plans to slash support for solar PV from 2ROCs to just 1.5ROCs from April 2013. Read more

Mining for Energy Efficiency Opportunities in NYC Buildings

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

If markets thrive on information, then New York City recently unlocked a gold mine for the energy efficiency industry. The city became the first in the US to make public how well (or poorly) each large, private building within its borders performs when it comes to energy and water use. A city website displays information about 2,065 large commercia Read more

Bulgaria cuts FiT by 39%

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 12:15 (PV-Tech)

Bulgaria?s State Commission on Energy and Water Regulation has released a preliminary report of feed-in tariff prices for renewable energy sources, stating a 5-39% cut of the feed-in tariff for PV. According to the document, the implementation of the prices is based on applications from the electricity system operator and the operators of the distribution grids (EVN, Energo Pro and CEZ). Read more

Government to measure fuel poverty differently

Wednesday, 9.19.2012 - 10:30 (Solarpowerportal)

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has proposed a new method to measure fuel poverty following recommendations set out by Professor John Hills of the London School of Economics (LSE) during an independent review on the issue of fuel poverty. Read more