Frost & Sullivan awards best European companies in 2012 including PV inverter producers REFUsol, Enecsys

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 17:11 (Solarserver)

On January 21st, 2013, Frost & Sullivan announced that it granted excellence awards in recognition of the best and brightest in European industry. Among others, REFUsol (Metzingen, Germany) received the 2012 European Solar Inverters Growth Leadership Award and Enecsys LLC (Cambridge, UK) took the 2012 European Solar Inverters New Product Innovation Award. Read more

Chinese exports to US falls to US$1.65 billion

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 19:03 (PV-Tech)

The Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) has announced that imports of Chinese cells and modules into the US fell to their lowest level in November 2012. Read more

Alta Devices Pursuing Military on Path to $20 Billion iPad Solar Market

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 17:35 (Renewable Energy World)

Alta Devices Inc., a U.S. maker of thin-film solar cells, expects military applications from drones to gadget-charging tents and backpacks will generate about 80 percent of its revenue this year. After that, Chief Executive Officer Christopher Norris is aiming at the global mobile-phone market. Read more

Brightsource Mothballs Rio Mesa Solar Thermal Project, Refocuses on Pipeline

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 17:35 (Renewable Energy World)

Brightsource's 500-megawatt Rio Mesa solar thermal project is being shelved after multiple delays, but the company is forging ahead with two similar projects that are further along in development. A Brightsource spokesperson confirmed the power purchase agreements (PPA) with Southern California Edison (SCE) for both Rio Mesa 1 and Rio Mesa 2 have been cancelled, and the permitting process for both sites have been suspended with the CED, though the company hopes to keep them available for future project consideration. Read more

Tiny solar-panels on microbes: UK scientists get GBP 800,000 to mimic photosynthesis

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 17:06 (Solarserver)

University of East Anglia (UEA, Norwich, U.K.) scientists have received GBP 800,000 for a research project to artificially replicate photosynthesis - the process by which plants transform sunlight into energy. This new process of harnessing energy from the sun to is likely to be far more efficient than existing solar converters, UEA emphasizes. The energy created will be used to produce hydrogen, a zero-emission fuel which can power vehicles or be transformed into electricity. Read more

PV Taskforce releases rooftop solar racking criteria filling a critical gap between solar and roofing industries

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 17:02 (Solarserver)

On January 9th, 2013, the Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing (Washington, D.C.) announced that its Center PV Taskforce has released a public version of a document called "PV Racking and Attachment Criteria for Effective Membrane Roof System Integration". Read more

BELECTRIC receives planning permission for its first solar PV plant in Australia

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 16:55 (Solarserver)

BELECTRIC Australia has received planning permission for 5MW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Mildura, Victoria. Mildura is a city in north-west Victoria bordering New South Wales which has excellent solar resources, BELECTRIC Solarkraftwerke GmbH (Kolitzheim, Germany) emphasizes in a press release. Read more

Project Focus: Conergy completes three Greek solar farms

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 16:23 (PV-Tech)

Solar system supplier Conergy has completed three PV projects in Greece totalling 1.5MW for solar companies Diasindesi and Photovoltaika Karditsa. Read more

STR Holdings to lose First Solar as a customer, undergoing restructuring

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 16:07 (Solarserver)

STR Holdings (Enfield, Connecticut, US) has announced that it believes that First Solar Inc. (Tempe, Arizona, US) will terminate the two companies' business relationship, likely in the first quarter of 2013. STR Holdings notes that First Solar is the company's largest customer, with 2012 sales of roughly USD 39 million. STR Holdings is currently preparing a restructuring plan and expects to reduce its workforce, including ending manufacturing at its facility in the US state of Connecticut by the end of the first quarter of 2013. Read more

Welspun commissions 15 MW solar PV plant in Rajasthan

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 16:02 (Solarserver)

Welspun Energy Ltd. (WEL, New Delhi, India) has commissioned a 15 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the Indian state of Rajasthan, which it says was completed ahead of schedule. The plant is the first of three PV projects, totaling 50 MW, that WEL's subsidiary won under Batch-2, Phase-1 of the India's National Solar Mission (JNNSM). The three projects will utilize modules from multiple vendors, which it says prevents project delays and speeds execution time. Read more

Global Logistic Properties to invest US$82 million in Japanese rooftop solar

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 15:31 (PV-Tech)

Global Logistic Properties (GLP) has announced it will install solar panels on 305,000 square metres of rooftop space over 22 buildings in Japan, including Greater Tokyo and Osaka. Read more

Merchant Solar: When and How Could Utility-Scale PV Enter the Wholesale Energy Market?

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

As the drop in the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) from 30 to 10 percent in 2016 approaches, solar financiers, solar installers, and other solar partners are wondering if the industry can overcome its current dependence on federal tax credits by entering wholesale markets. Solar PV-generated electricity from utility-scale projects could be sold Read more

Domestic solar market continues slow recovery

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 13:10 (Solarpowerportal)

The solar market in the UK is continuing to build steadily following the dramatic changes to the structure of the feed-in tariff policy, government figures show. Read more

Belectric receives planning permission for 5MW plant in Australia

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 13:09 (PV-Tech)

Belectric Australia has received planning permission for a 5MW solar power plant in Mildura, Victoria, supported by PV engineering consultancy Clean Technology Partners. Read more

Dow Corning and Crystal Solar to partner on high-efficiency silicon venture

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 11:50 (PV-Tech)

Silicon manufacturer Dow Corning and start-up Crystal Solar have announced a business relationship to develop high-performance silicon-based materials for PV cells and modules. Read more

New nano-architecture could increase light absorption for thin-film solar PV

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 11:43 (Solarserver)

A team of scientists led by Constantin Simovski of Aalto University (Helsinki, Finland) have revealed a new concept for light-trapping structures for thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) cells based on nano-antenna arrays. The team says that their design increases light absorption across the spectrum range, compared to conventional anti-reflective coatings. "Enhanced Efficiency of Light-Trapping Nanoantenna Arrays for Thin Film Solar Cells" was first published in Cornell University's arXiv system on January 15th, 2013. Read more

LDK Solar sells 12% of shares to Fulai Investment

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 11:25 (PV-Tech)

Vertically integrated PV manufacturer LDK Solar has sold shares worth US$31,110,000 to Fulai Investment. Read more

US imports of Chinese solar PV fall again in November 2012

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 9:03 (Solarserver)

US imports of Chinese crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules fell 33% sequentially to USD 50.5 million in November 2012, according to US Census Bureau data cited by the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM). This is the lowest volume in two years, and directly precedes the imposition of US tariffs between 24% and 255% on December 7th, 2012. Imports of Chinese PV in the first 11 months of 2012 totaled USD 1.7 billion, a 30% decline from the first 11 months of 2011. Read more

Schletter, Grupo Clavijo form joint venture to develop solar PV in South Africa

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 8:57 (Solarserver)

Schletter GmbH (Kirchdorf, Germany) and Grupo Clavijo ELT SL (Viana, Spain) have signed an agreement to jointly develop large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in South Africa. Grupo Clavijo cites its single-axis tracker design as a factor in the agreement. The companies state that the alliance aims to establish a benchmark for contractors, installers and promoters of large PV plants as well as to facilitate expansion of the South African market. Read more

Global Logistics Properties to install 29.6 MW of rooftop solar PV across Japan

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 8:52 (Solarserver)

Global Logistic Properties (GLP, Singapore) has announced that it will install 29.6 MW of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) plants on 22 of its properties in Japan. GLP estimates that the plants will represent an estimated USD 82 million investment, with a levered internal rate of return of 17%. The company plans to begin construction in April 2013, and to complete the plants by March 2014. Read more

BPVA: Solar damages claims against DECC will harm UK industry

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 16:57 (Solarpowerportal)

Plans by 17 solar companies to sue the government over last year?s feed-in tariff cuts will ?further damage? the UK PV industry according to its own trade body. Read more

Nine more solar companies join £140 million DECC damages claim

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 1:01 (Solarpowerportal)

It has emerged today that a further nine solar companies are seeking damages from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) following its ?legally flawed? cuts to the feed-in tariff scheme last year. Read more

Ikea to Double Renewable Energy Investment to $4 Billion by 2015

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 17:14 (Renewable Energy World)

Ikea Group, the world's biggest furniture retailer, will double its investment in renewable energy to $4 billion by 2015 as part of a drive to reduce costs as cash-strapped consumers become more price sensitive. Read more

Ikea to Double Renewable Energy Investment to $4 Billion by 2020

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 17:14 (Renewable Energy World)

Ikea Group, the world's biggest furniture retailer, will double its investment in renewable energy to $4 billion by 2020 as part of a drive to reduce costs as cash-strapped consumers become more price sensitive. Read more

Poll: 81% of British public have not heard of Green Deal

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 15:26 (Solarpowerportal)

With just five days left before the launch of the Green Deal, new research commissioned by USwitch.com has shown that just 19% of consumers have even heard of the Green Deal. Read more

China Needs A 'Game Changing' Renewable Energy Technology

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 15:03 (Renewable Energy World)

Despite all the evident progress in China in fostering renewable energy, energy conservation and other sustainability initiatives, there still is a 60-70% chance that the smart phones or tablets we use were manufactured in China using electricity generated from a coal-fired power plant. Read more

First Utility-Scale Wave Energy Testing Center to be Built in Oregon

Wednesday, 1.23.2013 - 15:00 (Renewable Energy World)

The Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, or NNMREC, which is based at Oregon State University, has chosen Newport, Ore., as the future site of the first utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy test site in the United States ? the Pacific Marine Energy Center. Read more