EU PVSEC: Full programme of over 1,600 presentations online

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 17:05 (PV-Tech)

In preparation of the 28th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC), organizers have posted the full programme of over 1,600 presentations online. Read more

Ellomay Capital acquires 12 MW of PV plants in Italy

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 12:34 (Solarserver)

Ellomay Capital Ltd. (Tel-Avis, Israel) on July 3rd, 2013, announced the successful closing of the purchase of two photovoltaic (PV) plants in the Veneto Region of north Italy. Immediately prior to the transaction, Ellomay received bank financing of EUR 13.5 million. The final purchase price of the PV Sites was adjusted to EUR 23.5 million to reflect payments made to the seller from the companies that own the PV plants since the transaction cut-off date (September 30th, 2012), Ellomay notes. Read more

1,000 children take part in sponsored skip to get schools solar panels

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 18:48 (Solarpowerportal)

Nearly 1,000 children across England will be skating, skipping or staying silent today to get their schools solar panels. Read more

Solar ‘rent-a-roof’ scheme opened up to small investors

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 16:57 (Solarpowerportal)

A “rent-a-roof” solar investment firm has begun selling leases on installations it owns to small-scale investors. Read more

Date set for start of India’s solar anti-dumping investigation

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 16:17 (PV-Tech)

The Indian government has announced a date for a preliminary hearing for its investigation into anti-dumping allegations against PV module manufacturers in China, Taiwan, USA and Malaysia. Read more

NPD Solarbuzz: Global solar PV industry set for recovery

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 15:51 (Solarserver)

NPD Solarbuzz (Santa Clara, California, US) has published an analysis which states that the global solar photovoltaic (PV) industry is beginning to recover after a period of declining investments and an ongoing shakeout. Read more

Punjab, India awards 32 MW of solar PV projects to Welspun

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 15:10 (Solarserver)

The government of the Indian state of Punjab has awarded two solar photovoltaic (PV) projects totaling 32 MW to Welspun Energy Ltd. (Mumbai) through a competitive bidding process. Read more

Intersolar NA: Heraeus offers 45% less silver content in ‘SOL202’ back-side tabbing paste

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 14:16 (PV-Tech)

Heraeus Photovoltaics Business Unit is featuring its newest low silver content back-side tabbing pastes for conventional c-Si solar cells, the SOL202 Series, at Intersolar North America. Read more

Sungevity gets GE backing to push international growth

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 14:10 (PV-Tech)

GE Ventures, part of global power equipment giant General Electric, has taken part in a US$15 million equity investment in leading US solar rooftop installer Sungevity. Read more

Sunny South Africa Attracting Solar Inverter Manufacturers

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Two major manufacturers are looking to capitalize on the bur- geoning South African solar market by opening production centers in the country. Read more

The Ups and Downs of Solar Industry Optimism, Irrational and Otherwise

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

It’s the time of year when quarterly results are anticipated (or dreaded) and bad news is magically turned upside down under the heading: losses were lower than expected. Of course…losses are not good news and in any case, Q1 results are not great indicators of what the scope of the year will bring. Read more

Pro-solar French energy minister sacked

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 13:06 (PV-Tech)

France’s energy and environment minister Delphine Batho, widely acknowledged as being a supporter of solar energy, has been summarily dismissed from her post. Read more

Gehrlicher Solar completes three PV plants totaling 9 MW in Romania

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 12:28 (Solarserver)

Gehrlicher Solar AG (Dornach n. Munich, Germany) realized three ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) systems for a Romanian private investor in the county of Mures.   The three solar parks are located approximately 360 km north-west of Bucharest and built on almost 19 hectares overall. Just six weeks after the start of construction all three PV plants have been completed. Read more

Tata Solar chosen for 50MW Madhya Pradesh PV project

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 12:20 (PV-Tech)

India’s largest power company, NTPC, has chosen PV developer Tata Solar Power to build a 50MW solar PV project at Rajgarh in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Read more

Solar farms to provide lifeline to British bumblebees

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 11:22 (Solarpowerportal)

Ground-mounted solar farms are to become a safe haven for the declining British bumblebee under a new initiative from PV project developer Solarcentury. Read more

VCs invest $176 million in solar as project funds boom: Cleantech Group

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 10:00 (PV-Tech)

The gulf in confidence separating the downstream and upstream solar markets continues to grow as investments in third party lease companies continue to boom, according to second quarter data released by the Cleantech Group yesterday. Read more

Imec, Solliance achieve 9.7% efficiency with CZTSe solar PV technology

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 8:39 (Solarserver)

Imec (Leuven, Belgium) and research and development consortium Solliance (Eindhoven, The Netherlands) have produced a 9.7% efficient copper zinc selenium (CZTSe) thin film solar photovoltaic (PV) cell, which they will present at the Intersolar North America trade show in San Francisco, July 8th-12th, 2013. The 1 square centimeter PV cell utilizes a Cu2ZnSnSe4 photovoltaic layer. The organizations note that CZTSe is an potential alternative to copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film PV, with the advantage of much more abundant components. Read more

TÜV to introduce new PV module and plant testing services at Intersolar North America

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 8:28 (Solarserver)

TÜV Rheinland PTL (Tempe, Arizona, US) will present new testing services to evaluate solar photovoltaic (PV) modules for large-scale PV plants at the Intersolar North America trade show in San Francisco, California on July 8th-12th, 2013. Quick Performance Check and Quality Benchmark are designed to inform developers and investors if individual modules and the overall plant will operate as designed, and will be offered as part of TÜV Rheinland's quality program for PV plant investors. Read more

Utility Pulls Plug on World's Largest Biomass Plant

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 19:28 (Renewable Energy World)

RWE npower has pulled the plug on its UK biomass plant at Tilbury – the largest 100 percent biomass plant in the world. Read more

Avoiding Negative Impacts from a Biomass Energy Strategy

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 17:32 (Renewable Energy World)

  At first glance the conclusion drawn by a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) sounds like an impossibly tall order. The report argues that, while biomass is an important part of the renewable energy mix, more should be done to ensure that the maximum amount of energy is extracted from the same material input, while avoiding any Read more

Finavera Wind Energy's Path to Cash

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 17:00 (Renewable Energy World)

On June 21st, Finavera Wind Energy (TSXV:FVR, OTC:FNVRF) announced the ratification of the sale of its Tumbler Ridge and Meikle wind energy projects to Pattern Energy with 99.63 percent of votes cast in favor (a two-thirds majority was needed). Read more

Statkraft Seeks Hydropower Profits in Turkey as Europe Margins Shrink

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 16:36 (Renewable Energy World)

Statkraft SF, Europe’s biggest hydropower producer, is boosting capacity and trading in Turkey to offset falling demand and profitability in western Europe. Read more

Power for Seaports May Be the Next Job for Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 11:37 (Renewable Energy World)

Providing auxiliary hydrogen power to docked or anchored ships may soon be added to the list of ways in which hydrogen fuel cells can provide efficient, emissions-free energy. Read more

India’s REC Market Crashes

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 21:29 (Renewable Energy World)

India’s Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) trading fell by 87 percent in May, according to the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), with sellers outnumbering buyers for the first time. Total trading volume fell to 19,212 compared to 153,130 in May 2012, IEX said in a statement. Read more

NREL names Santiago Grijalva new director of Power Systems Engineering Center

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 17:33 (PV-Tech)

Santiago Grijalva has been named the new director of the Power Systems Engineering Center at the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Read more

China’s Efforts at Industrial Energy Efficiency Are Proving Ineffective

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 14:00 (Renewable Energy World)

The Chinese government has attached much importance to energy efficient industrial development in recent years through heavy investment and a series of policies and measures. However, problems still hobble the development of its energy efficiency industry, including the generally small size of companies in China and difficulties in paying for implementation of any policy under the current financing system. Read more

Yingli Green strikes module materials deal with HIUV Electronic

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 13:49 (PV-Tech)

China-based PV module package material manufacturer, HIUV Electronic Company, has struck a supply and technology development deal with Yingli Green Energy. Read more

Policy Certainty is Key to Meeting Europe's 2020 Climate Goals

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 12:32 (Renewable Energy World)

Another week, another prediction on Europe’s ability to meet its 2020 renewable energy targets. This time the forecast comes from the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC). Following last week’s EU Sustainable Energy Week, the Council’s Keep On Track! project has published its EU Tracking Roadmap, a publication which it says will be produced again in 2014 and 2015 in order to measure where Europe stands in relation to its climate goals. Read more

German renewables surcharge to rise above EUR 0.06/kWh in 2014

Thursday, 7.4.2013 - 8:21 (Solarserver)

The Institute for Applied Ecology eV (Freiburg, Germany) has released a report which predicts that the renewable energy surcharge (EEG surcharge) in Germany will rise EUR 0.008 in 2014 to EUR 0.061/kWh (USD 0.079/kWh). In “Outlook 2017”, the Institute also forecasts that the surcharge will stabilize after the removal of accumulated deficits in recent years. In addition to the Institute's forecast, German Government experts have also predicted that the EEG surcharge will rise to EUR 0.06-0.065/kWh in 2014. Read more