IKEA to expand PV system at Stoughton (MA) store by more than 50%

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 16:04 (Solarserver)

IKEA (Delft, The Netherlands) on October 9th, 2013, announced to increase the solar photovoltaic (PV) array atop its Boston-area store in Stoughton, MA. After beginning a 58,575-square-foot store expansion last month, new PV panels will be installed atop. The 51,516-square-foot solar PV addition, a 312-kW system, comprises 1,248 panels, and will produce 383,200 kWh of solar power annually for the store. Thus IKEA Stoughton’s PV generation capacity will total 902.8-kW, with 5,468 panels to annually generate 1,078,200 kWh of solar power. Read more

Semprius supplies Aerojet Rocketdyne with HCPV modules for commercial-scale demonstration

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 15:52 (Solarserver)

Semprius, Inc. (Durham, North Carolina, U.S.) delivered high concentration solar photovoltaic modules (HCPV), to Aerojet Rocketdyne (Sacramento, Calif.) for a 17.5 kilowatt DC demonstration system at the Solar Technology Acceleration Center (SolarTAC) in Colorado. Semprius also announced a new efficiency record of 35.5% for mass-produced HCPV modules. The SolarTAC demonstration system is being overseen by the Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI - Palo Alto, California, U.S.), and includes Semprius high concentration solar photovoltaic modules a standard solar PV inverter and a dual-axis tracker system capable of accurately following the sun throughout the day. Read more

Baltic Solar Energy preps ramp of Lithuanian solar cell production plant

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 15:48 (PV-Tech)

Lithuanian-based c-Si solar cell start-up, Baltic Solar Energy remains on track to start ramping its 67MW production line in the fourth quarter of 2013 with news that the facility will officially be opened in the Visoriai IT Park, Vilnius, Lithuania on October 15. Read more

Shunfeng secures loan to bolster PV project business

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 13:49 (PV-Tech)

Shunfeng Photovoltaics International, the company revealed yesterday as a bidder for struggling Wuxi Suntech, has secured a HK$980,000,000 (US$126,000,000) loan to expand its PV project development business. Read more

ClearSky Advisors: Australia, Hawaii are leading global residential PV penetration rates

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 10:31 (Solarserver)

ClearSky Advisors (Toronto, ON, Canada) evaluated the residential solar photovoltaic (PV) sectors of 12 international regions in Europe, Canada and the U.S., revealing that Germany is the largest PV market of the world, but this does not necessarily translate into also having the highest residential solar PV penetration rate. According to Clear Sky in Germany 1.5% of all households are containing solar PV installations. However, the world leaders are Australia with a 7.5% residential solar PV market penetration rate followed by Hawaii at 2.8%, and Italy at 1.9%. Read more

GTM: Major changes coming to the electric power industry

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 8:57 (Solarserver)

A new report by GTM Research Inc. (Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) predicts major shifts in power infrastructure, market design, and utility business models due to the growth of distributed electricity generation and customer energy management systems. “Grid Edge: Utility Modernization in the Age of Distributed Generation” says that this evolution is inevitable but impeded by the current structure of the electric power industry. It warns that instead of a harmonized development of distributed solar photovoltaics (PV) and smart grid infrastructure, solutions are being deployed in isolation and at times in conflict with regulatory structures and utility business practices. Read more

California Governor Brown signs bill to alter net metering policy

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 8:51 (Solarserver)

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law a bill which makes major changes to the state's net metering policy, as supported by Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA, Washington D.C.) and Vote Solar Initiative (San Francisco, California, U.S.). AB 327 will require the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to craft a standard offer for residential and small commercial solar photovoltaic (PV) system owners once utility caps on net metering programs are met. The bill also clarifies those caps, and makes changes to the state's electricity rate structure. Read more

Order Focus: Kyocera supplying 80,000 PV modules to SoftBank Izumiotsu Solar Park

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 20:10 (PV-Tech)

Kyocera Solar Corporation is supplying PV modules to the 19.6MW SoftBank Izumiotsu Solar Park being built for SoftBank by Mitsui and SB Energy Corp. Read more

Topaz Solar Farms pass 5 million module milestone

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 17:15 (PV-Tech)

Another major milestone has been reached in the 550MW Topaz Solar Farms construction with a total of five million, First Solar made CdTe thin-film modules having been installed. Read more

SEUK: Tata launches ground mount system for UK PV

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 16:54 (Solarpowerportal)

Steel company Tata has launched a ground-mount PV system for the UK market. The company offer systems built to order based on the needs of a customer base which, along with sourcing and constructing steel frames, includes independently sourcing the solar panels appropriate to each project. Read more

1 MW SolarWorld PV panels to be installed at carpet tile manufacturing plant in Cartersville, Georgia

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 16:10 (Solarserver)

SolarWorld Industries America Inc. (Hillsboro, Oregon, U.S.) will install about 1 megawatt of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules atop a carpet-tile manufacturing plant of Shaw Industries Group Inc. (Dalton, GA, U.S.), to feed about 1.4 million kilowatt hours of solar power into the Georgia Power utility grid. Read more

Watch This Great SEIA Video Roundtable on Solar Social Media Marketing

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 15:46 (Renewable Energy World)

Last week, SEIA presented a great video webinar about solar social media, a rare topic in the solar webinar world. In case you missed it, the full video is below. Speaking on Google+ Hangout (a free webinar service) were solar marketing pros David Almacy, senior vice president of international PR firm Edelman; Jason Deelstra, marketing director at Read more

Kyocera, Mitsui to join SoftBank to build 19.6 MW solar PV plant in Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 15:40 (Solarserver)

Kyocera Solar Corp. (Kyoto, Japan) and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (Tokyo) have formed a joint venture with SB Energy Corp. (Tokyo) to build a 19.6 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Japan's Osaka Prefecture. Read more

U.K. May Approve New Rules to Block ‘Inappropriate’ Solar Parks

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 15:35 (Renewable Energy World)

The U.K. may bring in sustainability criteria to prevent “inappropriate” solar parks from receiving subsidies if tougher planning guidelines don’t work, Energy Minister Greg Barker said. Read more

SEUK: Solar Log exhibits in UK for first time

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 15:23 (Solarpowerportal)

PV monitoring solution manufacturer, Solar-Log, exhibited its Solar Log range for the first time in the UK at Solar Energy UK 2013. Read more

Solar PV, CSP supply 7.4% of Spanish electricity in August 2013

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 15:15 (Solarserver)

Despite efforts by the Spanish government under the ruling Popular Party to dismantle the nation's support for renewable energy, solar photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) supplied 7.4% of the electricity generated in the nation in August 2013. Read more

SEUK: REC pledges R&D drive following company split

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 15:10 (Solarpowerportal)

Norwegian manufacturer REC’s division into REC Solar and REC Silicon has made it possible for the company to “invest heavily in research and development again”, according to REC Solar’s senior vice president for sales and marketing, Luc Graré. Read more

UK PV industry takes on the cowboys with installer ratings site

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 13:15 (PV-Tech)

The UK solar industry has united to build a new installer ratings website to help consumers avoid the cowboys. Read more

SEUK: Investor tax breaks could support mid-sized solar market, says Abundance Generation

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 12:17 (Solarpowerportal)

Senior UK solar industry figures have added their voices to calls for strengthened support for the mid-sized market for renewables with the suggestion that investor tax breaks could spur on the industry. Read more

Japan Next-Generation Farmers Cultivate Crops and Solar Energy

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 12:17 (Renewable Energy World)

Farmers in Japan can now generate solar electricity while growing crops on the same farmland. In April, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) approved installation of PV systems on existing, crop-producing farmland. Previously solar generation on farmland, productive or idle, was prohibited under the Agricultural Land Act. Read more

SolarCity looks to slash installation costs through Zep Solar purchase

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 12:15 (PV-Tech)

US rooftop PV provider SolarCity is to buy mounting manufacturer Zep Solar for US$158 million in a move aimed at driving down installation costs. Read more

First Solar selling unused manufacturing plant in US

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 12:01 (PV-Tech)

Thin-film PV manufacturer First Solar is selling its unused manufacturing plant in Mesa, Arizona, built at a cost of around US$300 million, for over US$100 million. Read more

Can Securitization Debt Fit with Tax Equity in the Solar Financial Landscape? Part 1

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 11:00 (Renewable Energy World)

Renewable energy finance is complicated — so is securitization. Fitting them together calls for some clever financial and legal engineering. This article is the first in a two-part series on the issue of commingling securitization debt and tax equity in the same project or portfolio capital structure. This first article will assess the challenge; the second installment will look at two proposed solutions. Read more

Fiera Axium, MetLife acquire 108 MW of Recurrent's Ontario solar PV projects

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 10:40 (Solarserver)

Fiera Axium Infrastructure Canada II LP (Toronto) and MetLife Inc. (New York City) have acquired ten solar photovoltaic (PV) projects totaling 108 MW in Ontario, Canada from Recurrent Energy Inc. (San Francisco, California, U.S.). The projects are being developed by Recurrent, and will participate in Ontario's feed-in tariff. Fiera Axium and MetLife will each acquire a 50% equity interest in eight of the projects totaling 86 MW, and Fiera Axium will acquire a 100% equity interest in the remaining two, totaling 22 MW. Read more

EuPD Research: Market for solar power storage is growing, needs more promotion

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 10:24 (Solarserver)

The market research company EuPD Research (Bonn) and the organizers of Intersolar hosted the "Storage & Solar Briefing" in Stuttgart for the second time. Alongside market experts and analysts from EuPD Research, manufacturers contributed their solar photovoltaic (PV) market perceptions and strategies to the discussion. Read more

The “Other” Type of Commercial Financing: PACE

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 10:00 (Renewable Energy World)

When a big box store, winery, or factory thinks about going solar, they often finance through a solar power purchase agreement (solar PPA). It allows your business to go solar with no upfront costs. But if you’re in California, there’s new way to finance solar with no upfront cost, and it’s called Property Assessed Clean Energy or “PACE.” PACE is a Read more

Top-tier Chinese solar PV makers seize larger market share on falling prices

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 9:04 (Solarserver)

NPD Solarbuzz Inc. (Santa Clara, California, U.S.) reports that fourteen top-tier Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers increased their market share to 50% of global sales in the third quarter of 2013, up from 40% at the start of 2011. NPD Solarbuzz Senior Analyst Michael Barker says that while there are several factors behind this shift, cost reduction by these manufacturers is a primary factor in shipment growth. He also notes that a nearly 75% fall in polysilicon prices in the last 2 ½ years has contributed to price declines. Read more

SolarCity Buys Zep: Behold The Power of Vertical Integration

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 6:40 (Renewable Energy World)

SolarCity is acquiring Zep Solar and its rackless mounting design in a $158 million stock deal, illustrating the growing importance of improving costs and complexity in residential solar. Read more

Brazil authority receives 700MW of PV project proposals

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 16:32 (PV-Tech)

The Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency, ANEEL, has received applications to approve 29 PV projects with a total capacity of 700MW, according to an official journal. Read more

Powerway, Nizam Energy to jointly enter PV markets in Pakistan and the Middle East

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 15:56 (Solarserver)

Powerway Renewable Energy Co. Ltd. (Foshan, China) and Nizam Energy (Karachi, Pakistan) have signed a cooperation agreement with a long-term perspective to jointly develop the solar photovoltaic (PV) market of over 1 GW in Pakistan and the Middle East. The two companies believe their cooperation will facilitate one-stop solutions for solar PV projects in Pakistan and the Middle East region. Read more

Green Energy Technology sales continue climb as capacity utilisation remains above 95%

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 15:20 (PV-Tech)

Continuing to benefit from increased demand, Taiwan-based solar wafer producer Green Energy Technology (GET) posted revenue of NT$1,159 million (US$39.4 million) for September 2013, up 2.8% month-on-month and up 226% from the same period of 2012. Read more

Green Energy Technology sales continue climb as capacity utilization remains above 95%

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 15:15 (PV-Tech)

Continuing to benefit from increased demand, Taiwan-based solar wafer producer Green Energy Technology (GET) posted revenue of NT$1,159 million (US$39.4 million) for September 2013, up 2.8% month-on-month and up 226% from the same period of 2012. Read more

Yingli Green dismisses anti-trust litigation by failed ECD

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 14:06 (PV-Tech)

Taking its lead from the US government’s previous investigation and findings in respect to anti-dumping and anti-trust claims, the liquidation trustee for failed flexible thin-film manufacturer, Energy Conversion Devices, is pursuing large China-based PV manufacturers such as Yingli Green for damages totalling US$950 million. Read more

Yingli Green dismisses antitrust litigation by failed ECD

Thursday, 10.10.2013 - 14:06 (PV-Tech)

Taking their lead from the US Governments previous investigation and findings in respect to anti-dumping and anti-trust claims, liquidation trustee for failed flexible thin-film manufacturer, Energy Conversion Devices is pursuing large China-based PV manufacturer’s such as Yingli Green for damages totalling US$950 million. Read more